Waxahachie(ellis county) is a great place too.... My brother lives in Mckinney,but also a nice area and like someone mentioned it's #1 place to live. Mckinney traffic is bad though(least I thought it was). Waxahachie,you can pretty much drive 30 minutes or less and be in DFW or all the other surrounding cities. we are building up pretty fast out here as well. The schools are EXCELLENT here. Plenty of country around here and I doubt horses will be any issues. taxes are getting bad in DFW......As much as I like DFW area...I wouldn't really want to live there. I grew up in Dallas for the most part.