Unless you have 1.5 million to spend, you will not have a place to keep horses within a 20 mile radius of Fremont. You will have to board them and that is expensive too. $500 each is easily spent a month. You can put a mule on a pasture for $200, but for real boarding, expect to be paying a grand for both horses.
Here is a house with 4 acres in Livermore that is right on a very busy shortcut street, and on the corner of another, MINES ...
http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListing.asp?snum=72&mlsttl=&frm=bymap&pgnum=8&mls=xmls&js=on&target=&ct=Livermore&st=CA&sbint=&sbls=&sblo=&areaid=77514&mnsqft=&fid=so&vtsort=&mnprice=0&mxprice=99999999&mnbed=0&mnbath=0&typ=1&poe=realtor&x=11&y=0&sid=04676167AD37C&snumxlid=1043406023&lnksrc=00002
MINES is where we go canyon carving on a regular basis. So we could meet at your house.
Fremont isn't great, but I would not even attempt to commute. If you do, go only as far as Pleasanton or Livermore. Stay away from the Valley (brentwood, tracy etc.). That has just been voted one of the 10 worst commutes in the country.
There is decent neighborhoods in Fremont. I recommend that you rent a house close to work to get started and to get familiar with the area. Rent is comparably cheap. 2k a month will get you a decent 3 or 4 bedroom house. I do not expect the house prices to continue to rise at double digit rates per year. They may even soften a bit, who knows. So, there is no hurry to buy right away.
The Livermore to Fremont commute is hefty, so be careful. Before you buy a house or settle where you would have to commute, do the commute for a couple of days, just for "testing". I think a lot of people buy their bedroom community house on sunday and then get a rude awakening when they go to work the first day!
And one word about reverse commute: SURE, but usually the reverse direction is the direction where the prices increase. Yes, you can probably get from the Peninsula to Fremont quickly in the morning, but prices on the Peninsula are prohibitive. There is a reason commutes are going one direction and not the other!!!
Unless you make six digits, life will really suck here. Especially if you are used to a decent standard of living now. Two people can fairly easily make that much in this area. There is plenty of opportunity and business has really picked up.
We are enjoying ourselves greatly here. The area and the people are very diverse and there is tons to do in your spare time. I am into a lot of different things, and I can find it all here.
I may have a small house with only a two car garage, but I also have Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Thunderhill, Buttonwillow, Fernley Reno and soon another track in Merced. What else do you need?
If this area would not be attractive, people would have long quit moving here...
George