Hi!
I’m moving to the Washington DC aria in the very near future. I am currently a trainer in Florida and would like to find a show Barn to keep my Hunter at. Nice friendly environment is a must!! Any Recomendations?
I’m also curious in finding a barn to teach at (could bring my school ponies) or ride for or maybe a nice tack store to work at 
any information about riding in the Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria area would be great!
Thank you!
You better look outside the city, Aldie, Middleburg, Leesburg area, or even MD and be ready to commute. It totally depends on what area of NOVA you live in as to what the best area for you to board at. Traffic is insane here. I moved here in Sept. I don’t know of any boarding barns in the areas you have listed. I will say though you need to schedule a trip to the Galloping Grape and Sibbys BBQ in Warrenton. It is worth the drive.
If you find something let me know! I’m moving to Arlington at the end of this month and planning on having my horse an hour north. Couldn’t really find anything suitable nearby.
What barn are you boarding your horse at?
If you’re looking for somewhere to board out of and work as a professional, be prepared to lease/buy/run your own place.
There is no boarding in Arlington or Alexandria. The last place in Alexandria was Woodlawn, and that was taken out by the expansion of Route 1 the other year. There may be a few small private facilities on the south edge towards Fairfax/Prince William, but no “show barns.”
I think Rokeby in McLean and Stoneridge in Great Falls are both Fairfax county. They’re probably the closest-in in Virginia that do showing. If you keep going out towards Leesburg or Middleburg/The Plains, you’ll have too many options to list.
If you want to go over the the Maryland side, into Montgomery County around Potomac/Boyds you’ll have several options, like Lohman Stables, Surmont, Big Easy, or if you go north of DC on the edge of Montgomery/Howard, you can look at Rolling Acres or Walnut Pond. East of DC, in PG or Anne Arundel, is Hunter Ridge, Bay View, or Summerfield.
Most of us in the DMV have accepted we either have to commute to work or commute to ride. I know of very few people who ride who don’t make a 1 hour or more drive for one of those things. Usually more, given traffic.
Because I can’t edit: do a search on here for boarding in NOVA, or look at the Similar Threads below this, because it comes up often.
You probably haven’t gotten a lot of responses, because my initial thought was to laugh and assume you’re a troll who’s never seen NoVA, and I’m surely not the only (former) resident to think that.
Thank you for responding
Ditto what JenEM said. Alexandria and Arlington are both densely populated cities, and suburbs expand far out from there with literally no show barns for ~45 minutes to an hour. You’ll find some options in Aldie, which is going to be your closest real option in Virginia (it’s not actually much shorter to get to Stone Ridge than to get to Aldie, and it’s MUCH more expensive).
The other good option is to go up the GW parkway and over the bridge into Maryland. There are a bunch of places in Poolesville - there are several barn on Partnership Rd, which is going to be ~45-50 mins outside of rush hour, or then across town over off Edwards Ferry Rd, about an hour out.
If you don’t need to ride over the winter and don’t need an indoor, there are going to be some smaller/closer options, maybe in Potomac MD or Fairfax Station VA, but otherwise the above are your best options for show barns.
Feel free to PM me if you want any more info.
OP - do you want a place to board or do you want to do your own lesson program?
Originally posted by JenEm…If you want to go over the the Maryland side, into Montgomery County around Potomac/Boyds you’ll have several options, like Lohman Stables, Surmont, Big Easy, or if you go north of DC on the edge of Montgomery/Howard, you can look at Rolling Acres or Walnut Pond. East of DC, in PG or Anne Arundel, is Hunter Ridge, Bay View, or Summerfield.
Unfortunately these places have trainers in place so if the OP wants to start their own lesson program she might be out of luck. There are some close-in boarding barns where the OP might be able to teach Calithea and Merry-Go-Round are both in Potomac and pretty decent commute from Alexandria/Arlington. 2 tack shops would be The Surrey in Darnestown and All About Equestrian in Poolesville. Those would be closest to Alexandria. Out Rt 50 towards Middleburg is Dover Saddlery.
If the OP wants to show rated hunters - what are you competing in - Working/Green/Conformation? If you are keen to show rated Alan Lohman or CB Farm, or Big Easy, or JET, LLC (all in Poolesville, Dickerson/Boyds, would be the closest to Alex/Arlington in Mont County.
There are no longer properties zoned for livestock in Arlington. And as another poster said, the last place in Alexandria is gone.
If you want close to Arlington, and don’t mind spending a TON ($1000ish per month for board alone), I’d look in Great Falls or Mclean.
However, if you want something that costs less, I’d look further west, in Loudoun, Middleburg, Leesburg, maybe even The Plains. It really depends what level of care/training you’re after, and how much you want to spend. Check out VirgininaEquestrian.com. There are a lot of great resources there, both for boarding and facilities/stalls for rent.
I board close to Stone Ridge (South Riding), and it’s roughly 40 minuted from my house in Arlington. The drive sucks, but it’s the closest barn I could find in VA (and I love it). I’m not a fan of driving to MD, though I know there are lots of great barns in basically the same vicinity. But tbh, unless you want to spend a lot, expect a 45+ drive. If you’re looking for a facility to rent out, or dry stalls, same goes. The closest place I know of currently with dry stalls is in Middleburg.
If you are looking for a barn that you might be able to ride for or teach at, your best bet would be to go through your current trainer and see what connections they may have to get your foot in the door someplace.
Another place relatively close in is Angelica Run, and the Hunter Valley Riding Club (associated with the Hunter Valley Homeowners Association), in Oakton/Vienna.
[QUOTE=Janet;9002506]
Another place relatively close in is Angelica Run, and the Hunter Valley Riding Club (associated with the Hunter Valley Homeowners Association), in Oakton/Vienna.[/QUOTE]
Last I heard, they were closed, and the property is for sale.
Last I heard, they were closed, and the property is for sale.
Could be. Though I drove by a couple of weeks ago and did not see a for-sale sign, and there were jumps in the ring. Don’t remember if I saw an horses, but it did not look abandoned.
And there are still a number of private barns in the Hunter Valley Riding Club, any of which might have room for a couple of boarders.
The sign for sale is not for Angelica Run, it’s another home down the same drive way. To my knowledge Angelica Run is still operating.
