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Input on Boarding Facilities: Montgomery/Anne Arundel County Maryland.

Off Course
#1

Hi!

I have a friend who is moving to the area and is looking for a place to keep her horse. Her priorities are (in order of importance) Low Drama, High Care (good feed, hay, knowledgable help), Jumps, Indoor, places to hack out. It doesn’t have to be a new fancy place, just safe and good people. She events, does some jumpers, and is a very low-maintenance boarder (pays on time, difficult to rattle, etc.). She’d like to keep it around $600 full care

I’ve lived in the area a long time, so I was able to make some recommendations as far as realistic expectations for price and travel time (Sorry, Love, you’re not going to find a place 15 minutes away from your house near the city). Northern Montgomery and AA county are OK. I drew a map to highlight the areas that would work for her regarding work and home.

These are some of the places I’ve found from my research. I literally know NOTHING about the facilities. I’d love to get ANY input you may have. If you don’t want to make your opinion public, please feel free to Private Message me. Obviously if a place I’ve mentioned or someone else mentions is a disaster, PLEASE let me know, I’d like to keep this person as a friend :smiley:

These are all in Montgomery county, because I’m not very familiar with AA county, so I’d love to get any recommendations about those options. (doesn’t want to be south of 50).

TIA

#2

Input on Boarding Facilities: Montgomery/Anne Arundel County Maryland.

Hi!

I have a friend who is moving to the area and is looking for a place to keep her horse. Her priorities are (in order of importance) Low Drama, High Care (good feed, hay, knowledgable help), Jumps, Indoor, places to hack out. It doesn’t have to be a new fancy place, just safe and good people. She events, does some jumpers, and is a very low-maintenance boarder (pays on time, difficult to rattle, etc.). She’d like to keep it around $600 full care

I’ve lived in the area a long time, so I was able to make some recommendations as far as realistic expectations for price and travel time (Sorry, Love, you’re not going to find a place 15 minutes away from your house near the city). Northern Montgomery and AA county are OK. I drew a map to highlight the areas that would work for her regarding work and home.

These are some of the places I’ve found from my research. I literally know NOTHING about the facilities. I’d love to get ANY input you may have. If you don’t want to make your opinion public, please feel free to Private Message me. Obviously if a place I’ve mentioned or someone else mentions is a disaster, PLEASE let me know, I’d like to keep this person as a friend :smiley:

I am aware of Waredaca, and that wont fit her needs. I’m also aware of A Bit Better, but they have a waiting list. These are also SLIGHTLY farther west than she would like to travel.

These are all in Montgomery county, because I’m not very familiar with AA county, so I’d love to get any recommendations about those options. (doesn’t want to be south of 50).

TIA

P.S. Mods, I double posted this just because I know some eventers don’t go to off-course and I wanted their input.

#3

I am not much help as I’ve not been to any of the farms that are listed, although I’ve seen positive references for Evergreen and Windsor Manor in discussions here. I found this publication to be quite useful. It has maps of licensed stables in MD (2012) by county along with a brief description of services provided (boarding, training, amenities, etc).

http://mda.maryland.gov/horseboard/pdf/mhib_guide_2012_optimized.pdf

#4

Merry acres has the BEST hacking out for being relatively close to civilization. Great barn. Usually a waiting list. Not that many spaces for mares, generally.

#5

Finding full care for $600 will be a challenge in this area. You might look at Waredaca.

#6

Those aren’t all Montgomery County. Several are actually Howard (I used to live right up the road from Bucks Haven, for instance, and it’s definitely Howard county). On that note, while I never boarded there, I inquired about boarding and they seemed very polite and helpful and I always thought they looked nice and the horses happy when I drove by. Plus the Grey Pony tack store is nearby and I’m a fan of their consignment section. :slight_smile:

Pretty sure Bucks Haven also backs up somehow to Schooley Mill park which has some trails, a bit of a cross country course for schooling, and a nice big outdoor arena that is free to use as long as nobody’s hosting a show there.

#7

Pleasant Prospect is primarily a foxhunter barn, no indoor but a lovely outdoor lighted ring, the place is huge so plenty of hacking out including a nice hack from barn to ring - good care, amazing pastures -it’s a fairly social place as lots of Howard County Hunt functions there including hunt races. Knew someone who boarded at Brook Grove and they liked it. They have an indoor and plenty of riding out as well - it’s the home of the Redland Pony Club Trials - both these facilities are in Howard County… I’d also toss Waredaca out there as is a nice facility - so nice I put my name on their waiting list, it’s been 7 years now and still haven’t gotten a call about a stall…Out that way there’s also Sunset Hills -

#8

It’s fairly easy to travel around MD and if someone wants to keep the cost of boarding reasonable and get top care, it might be necessary to travel a little. Olney Farm in Joppa is a really great place to board. Indoor, good care, good hacking, shows, eventing course and best of all they have imported Shetland ponies (Thelwell type!) that are a hoot to watch with the wee kids!

http://www.olneyfarm.com/

#9

Sending you a PM

#10

[QUOTE=Broff;6892487]
It’s fairly easy to travel around MD and if someone wants to keep the cost of boarding reasonable and get top care, it might be necessary to travel a little. Olney Farm in Joppa is a really great place to board. Indoor, good care, good hacking, shows, eventing course and best of all they have imported Shetland ponies (Thelwell type!) that are a hoot to watch with the wee kids!

http://www.olneyfarm.com/[/QUOTE]

Olney is great - But it would be quite a hike from where the OP is looking…definitely over an hour…probably closer to 1.5hrs in traffic after work!

#11

Twostinkydogs, that document is AWESOME! Thanks so much!

I know there have been a MILLION posts asking about MD/DC boarding in the past, and I’ve looked and most of those are about generalities. If anyone has any SPECIFIC info about places mentioned I’d love to hear it. There are a TON of them out there and the idea of my friend having to go and visit all of them is making her head spin :wink:

The document that 2stinkydogs posted has added some others to the list. Like I said, I know NOTHING about these places…some of the websites maybe gave of a bit of “the crazy” but I don’t want to write something off in case maybe it’s just their webdesigner is crazy :wink: :

Brighton Stables, Clarksville

Camelot Farm

Stonebrook Farm, Clarksville

Belle Cote Farm, Burtonsville

Broad Field Farm

Greystone Farm (it looks like this may be a place where you have to train with the trainer, who I am not familiar with)

Millhaven, I think I’m familiar with this one and may have a “Oh hell no” memory, but can’t put my finger on why.

#12

Evergreen is (or was the last time I was there) a dresssage barn. Facilities are nice and I saw nothing that set off alarm bells for me in terms of care, but definitely has the dressage mind-set and I never saw any jumps on the property so that may not work for an eventer. This was 5 or so years ago when I took some dressage lessons with a visitng trainer there so my info is a bit dated.
Brook Grove: decent facility and, from what I can tell, good care. I called them when I was looking to board and liked everything I heard except they would not get/hold for the farrier and you could not just have the horse left in. Small detail and certainly does not reflect badly on them, but my schedule doesn’t accomodate that. As someone mentioned, the Redland Pony Club Horse trials are held there (in a few weeks) if you want to scope it out) so there is some xc schooling available on the property.
Windsor Manor. Another dressage facility but they have jumps on one of their properties (it is actually 2 separate properties that are a hackable distance from each other. One had a field with some jumps in it and one didn’t. I looked at them when I was shopping for boarding and liked what I saw but they, at that time, had a long wait list.
Periwinkle- you are right. When there is any moisture, horses are turned out individually or in small groups in a bluestone paddock for short periods of time and this is the only turnout they will get. That was a dealbreaker for me- again this was back when I was looking so possible it changed. Also, a dressage place.
Millhaven: my experience leaves me with the same reaction you vaguely remember having :slight_smile:

#13

[QUOTE=Altercation Avoided;6892909]
Millhaven, I think I’m familiar with this one and may have a “Oh hell no” memory, but can’t put my finger on why.[/QUOTE]

I looked there because it was very close to where I was moving at the time. This was years ago, but it was not for me. Mostly I remember not feeling like the grazing/grass was quite what I wanted to see (it looked like all the horses went out in one huge group and there was not much other area for turnout - looking at their site now they mention other turnout areas, though, so I may have had the wrong impression). Overall it seemed OK, but not like the right fit for us.

Though, you know, I still can’t figure out why this is a good idea.

Greystone looked really nice - I didn’t check it out at the time because I was looking for cheaper options but I drove by it every so often. I’d at least go look, if I was in that area now.

#14

That is their pepperoni trainer :smiley:

#15

OP - I am so glad you found the document helpful, I did too. RE: Greystone - I can’t speak from a boarding perspective but I take lessons there and I really like it. They are extremely knowledgeable and take excellent care of the horses. I am not sure if they require training or lessons with board, but please feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

#16

Western Monkey County past Poolesville, but Potomac Riverside Stables is under $600 ($500 or so), big indoor, good hacking out and excellent hay. Little drama.

Website: http://www.potomacriversidestables.com/

#17

Calumet Farm is in Clarksville. I used to take lessons there until I moved. Great manager/trainer - not crazy (just British :wink: BHS-certified, ex-vet tech. Not sure what the board is, but definitely under $600. Good turnout from what I remember, lighted dressage ring, grass jump field. No indoor though. There are places to hack nearby (i.e. Schooley Mill) but I don’t think directly from the property.

#18

I would also recommend Bucks Haven, yes it’s Howard but a stones throw from Montgomery County. Main highway is close by (between DC and Baltimore), as well as another that runs right into AA County.

Not sure of their pricing, I knew the former owners, and also know one of the current trainers. Dicipline wise it sounds right up your alley.

#19

We merged two duplicate threads on this topic.

Thanks!
Mod 1

#20

[QUOTE=Altercation Avoided;6892909]

Millhaven, I think I’m familiar with this one and may have a “Oh hell no” memory, but can’t put my finger on why.[/QUOTE]

I’m not personally familliar with this place but we recently had a short-term boarder leave to go there and your memory is the same as the general consensus I heard when people found out where she was going.

I have a friend who keeps her hunt horses at Pleasant Prospect and she has been happy with it there. The only complaint I’ve heard from her is that there isn’t an indoor so riding this winter has been tough with the ground being frozen. But she’s very happy with the care.

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