I know that I’ve seen this farm, but cannot for the life of me recall the name! It’s in Faquier County VA.
Thanks!
Is it Buckland Farm off of Vint Hill?? Looks familiar (like I drive by it all the time!) but it is an older picture…
I’m told it was taken in 1988, but other than that, I don’t know the location (or name) of the farm.
[QUOTE=easykeeper;4928278]
Is it Buckland Farm off of Vint Hill?? Looks familiar (like I drive by it all the time!) but it is an older picture…[/QUOTE]
I don’t think it’s Buckland, but then again, without the main house in the photo, it’s hard to tell.
Is it Rockburn Farm in Rectortown? (Where Linkage stood, IIRC).
This is a shot of the barns on Maggie Mangano’s Sunridge-Erwin Farm in Upperville Virginia. It’s close to the town of Upperville on the Delaplane Grade Road. It used to be one of Paul Mellon’s farms until Maggie bought it about 14 years ago. The half-moon/horse shoe barn at the top of the pic is pretty famous. Mellon used to keep race horses here. Denise Derisio-Perry has leased the barn in the lower part of the pic for the past 12 years for her hunter/jumper clients.
Is this the stable tour barn?
Paul Mellon had a famous broodmare barn that was on the stable tour each year and another race horse barn that was amazing. Ithink one of his daughter’s wedding reception was held at the broodmare barn.
Seeing his stable was such a learning experience. It was light years ahead of its time in stable management.
That half-moon barn was the yearling barn back in the day. The broodmare barn is a three-sided square, not curved like this one is. The yearling barn was on the barn tour before Mr. Mellon passed, and after that only the broodmare barn was featured on the tour. The yearling barn was on the other side of the road from the broodmare barn. It was a ways back off the road, past the cattle pastures and behind the airstrip and greenhouses. I remember they would only show the yearling fillies on the tour, as the colts were too beat up from roughhousing with each other…
Saw a Northern Dancer filly there one year, out of his last crop, that was valued at $8million. :eek:
Tell Us More, Please
Which one had the statue in the courtyard? I thnk it was of Mill Reef.
Have you been down to the new Va Museum of Fine Arts? The glorious statue of Christmas Goose is back on display. It is displayed in a dark room with extraordinary lighting. It looks like a real glowing silvery gray horse in a dream, galloping.
Goose was Mr. Mellon’s endurance horse. He was the winner of the Old Dominion 100 Endurance Ride and a jewel to ride, according to Mr. Mellon. I saw Goose in the pasture, when I met Mr. Mellon foxhunting at his farm. I had a horse that looked like Goose and I was quite drawn to Goose. It was fun to see Mr. Mellon get excited talking about him.
Mr Mellon wrote an autobiography. Reflections in a Silver Spoon, that is a a joy to read. He loved his horse and hunting, as well as the fine arts and philanthropy. He was very quiet, so it was amazing to see how passionate he was.
Are you sure Christmas Goose won the OD100? I think he won the Homestead 100. A big difference.
Are you sure Christmas Goose won the OD100? I think he won the Homestead 100. A huge difference.
The broodmare barn had the statue of Mill Reef in the courtyard. Along with a wooden horse named Dobbin in one of the stalls. 
“In the middle of the courtyard stands the half-life-size bronze by John Skeaping, honoring home-bred Mill Reef, the first racehorse to win the Epsom Derby at Epsom, England, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Logschamp, France, and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, England, in the same season.”
Years ago when the Mellons still owned this property, this half moon barn was on the stable tour - at least every once and awhile. After the Mangano’s bought this farm, Maggie opened it up to the public on the stable tour once around 2001. Maggie’s half moon barn does not have the statue. Like Cammie said, I believe that’s the Mellon’s broodmare barn. The current Mellon barns (and the jet run way) are off Rokeby Road in Upperville. Whereas Maggie’s farm in your pic is off Delaplane Grade. In this pic, the Mellon’s runway is off to the lower left of your pic. The whole area is just breathtaking to ride.
Also, you really can’t see any of Maggie’s barns from the road. From the road, in the far distance after enormous cattle fields, you can see the machine shed which is the large building in the lower right corner of your pic.
Hunter’s Rest, you are probably right. Tonight, I will have to head up to the attic to ferret for the book.
If you look at Google maps with the satellite photo, you can clearly see both the broodmare barn and the half-moon yearling barn. http://maps.google.com/ Look up Blue Banner Road in Upperville. The yearling barn is on Blue Banner Road past the riding ring (zoom in for close detail on the barn). If you pan to the right on Mill Reef, back over to the other side of where it meets Rokeby Road, you’ll see the square three-sided broodmare barn off Loughbough Lane. It’s on the unnamed 1st right on Loughbough. If you zoom in, you can just see the statue of Mill Reef in the courtyard.
The stable tour entered both properties off of Rokeby Road back then, so you reached the yearling barn the long way, versus coming in the other way on Delaplane Grade Road.
That’s the only time I’d seen that farm - the photo looked familiar but I couldn’t place it. I must have toured the yearling barn - it was definitely before Mr. Mellon passed away.
That barn had that terrific flooring from 3M in the aisle. Fabulous barn.
Mr. Mellon also had a lovely big bay horse named Skeaping (by Arts and Letters) that we were fortunate enough to borrow as a staff horse for a few years.
Dobbin was always fun in the broodmare barn, with a very creative pedigree!
What else do you remember?
What was that flooring? I remember being in shock that there was special flooring. I had never seen anything like the concept before.
He also had special hand muck carts, modelled after a design for Williamsburg. They were beautiful!
He also had the staff pick up all the manure in the pastures. I was in shock about that one. He was light years ahead of the rest of us in stable management.
whicker - from what I remember it was made by 3M. It was also used for playgrounds. When I looked into it I found it was no longer made. (that particular product)
I think it was the precursor to pour in flooring and other types of mat products we use in dairies and horse barns now.
He certainly was ahead of his time.
Those who knew him or worked with or around his horses are very fortunate. What an experience that must have been.
Oh - and the polished brass. What struck me about the barn I toured was that in the grand scheme of things, it really wasn’t “fancy”. It was clean. Neat. Tidy. A place for everything, and everything in its place.
Certainly the barn of a wealthy person, but not ostentatious. Good horsemanship and stable management, plain and simple.
