We are moving our family of five to northern Virginia from California for my husband’s job. I am an avid rider and show in the hunter/jumper circuit here. One of our three children also rides. I have only been to Virginia once to look at houses/towns and probably have a few more trips to look before we make an offer on a house. I’m very torn between moving to the country, more rural areas (Purcellville etc) and somewhere where the schools are all rated 9/10 or 10/10 which looks to me to be more the Mclean area. Does anyone actually ride five days a week coming from the McLean area? Is that doable? Also- any advice on show barns that are not over the top expensive and all leave for WEF in the winter would be appreciated. We are also looking for kid friendly and positive, supportive trainers to work with. Finally, we are not bringing horses with us, but will be leasing or looking to buy in the next year. Sorry for the super long post! Lots of dynamics at play, and I really appreciate any and all advice! Especially on schools and towns! Tell me what you love or dislike about your northern Virginia area. (Anyone recommend Maryland vs VA?) My husband will be commuting into DC, but works often until 9 pm or later and goes in very early, so he’s hoping to avoid the commute drama. I’ll add one final thing (sorry, longest post ever) I much more a hunter/eq rider then jumper, so a barn that focuses on the eq/Hunters is preferred.
welcome! I moved to the Purcellville area nine years ago with two kids who have gone to elementary, middle school in the area and are now in high school. Regardless of the ratings you see on Great Schools, the schools in Loudoun county are just about all great, especially western Loudoun (Purcellville, Waterford, Hamilton, Round Hill). McLean and Purcellville could not be more different, McLean is basically a city with a great commuting location to DC and Purcellville is as “Mayberry”, small town as it gets. Purcellville is much better located for riding opportunities though my daughter rides in Poolesville MD because we like the trainer there. There are LOTs of barns in our area, most of which do not go to FL every winter, or if they do, they leave an assistant home to do the winter circuit here. Feel free to PM with any specific questions!
I live in Northern VA within a mile of DC and commute out to Purcellville to ride anywhere from 2-5 days a week. It is feasible, especially if the barn is convenient to the main roads - I can make it out to Purcellville from the city in 55 minutes or so. I highly recommend Jess Fortin at Cut to the Chase in Purcellville, VA.
Her facility is great, she’s a fantastic rider, and her work ethic and horse management are second to none. Plus, she specializes in sales, which is ideal for having her help you pick out the perfect horses to lease/buy in the next year. New horses come in and out every week and she works with all budgets - from a first pony to buying the next Cassini Z (who she found for Darragh Kenny). She was featured in an August Chronicle article about Amice Z because she saw him doing the 2’9 hunters in VA and knew he could do more - now he is winning in the WC Qualifiers with Charlie Jayne.
Her pricing and show schedule is on her website. I cannot recommend her enough: https://www.c2cshowstables.com/
ETA: The schedule says Tryon but I think we are actually going to Ohio for the Fall III show to scope it out for the winter.
For commuting to DC, Leesburg or McLean would be better options. Depending on where he works there is now the Silver Line metro option for getting into DC so living within close proximity to Silver Line might be worth looking into. Fairfax County Schools are rated some of the highest in the nation.
As far as riding places I also agree with the C2C show stables, a couple of others to try would be Terri Young, trainer, owner of Clairvaux at Beacon Hill Stables in Leesburg. Katie Petronelli is also located out there -Shades of Bay Farm. Both these places are not too far from town of Leesburg which would be a handy commute to /from barn. Leesburg may still run van pools into DC or to one of the silver line stops to get into DC. Hubby would need to expect a long commute to DC.
Another option if you want good schools, is to jump across the river to Maryland. Poolesville High School is ranked very high in the country.There are plenty of good H/J, eq trainers there too and the commute may be a tad better heading into DC; Montgomery County schools are also ranked high but you there are certain districts that feed into better high schools - like Wooten, Whitman, Churchill, which are in the Rockville, North Potomac, Potomac, Bethesda area. From Bethesda to Poolesville A barns is about 20-30 commute. And most likely a better commute into DC. My sister and husband live near the canal, for years they biked to work in DC.
As far as wanting to be near the country, I have to say I live in the heart of suburbia in Germantown but a couple of right hand turns out of my neighborhood puts me in bucolic farmland in 5 minutes, and 15 to the barn.
Oh A barns in Poolesville = Alan Lohman, CB Farm are probably the top 2. There are some other places worth looking into as well
Try Jenny Graham (Cedar Creek) in Sterling. She is wonderful and ticks most of your boxes. Great with Adults and kids. Some jumpers but more Hunter focused. There are ton of great options going further out but I wouldn’t want that commute, even in off hours, but people do it.
I moved to Purcelville a little over 3 years ago with my now 13 year old daughter. She has thrived in the schools here, and we love our town. Our horse is boarded with Terri Young at Clairvaux in Leesburg. I can’t say enough good things about the positive environment, as well as the riding and Horsemanship skills my daughter has acquired since training with Terri. The barn has quite a few moms and daughters who ride, and a fun group that shows on both the local and rated circuits here. There really is something for everyone and I have been thrilled with my daughter’s progress in her 3 years at Clairvaux.
Going to chime in with (another) plug for Terri Young at Clairvaux. It’s a great crew of people, fantastic coaching, nice facilities, and opportunities to show at whatever level you’re looking for. She also helped me buy my horse and made the whole process easy and fun. Really can’t say enough good things!
I would say live out in the country, but sounds like your husband already is gone for hours-living closer in would probably save him 2 hours a day if you just have to worry about getting to the barn and back and don’t have to follow a specific schedule, as traffic is a bear.
Thank you for the recommendation. I agree about the commute, but my husband seems game to take it on, so I’m not complaining! He will likely work from home a few days a week as well so that should help…
I will ride while the kids are in school, but I do need a barn that is close enough to take my daughter to after school that’s a short drive as she will be in middle school and have plenty of homework to do!
Thank you for the recommendation! Horse shopping should be fun, right?!
Lots of folks in this area stick around for the winter - we do have a good winter ‘circuit’ in this zone between the McDonogh shows in MD, shows at Swan Lake in PA, The Barracks in VA, and shows in Lexington VA. I haven’t been in VA for a while, but others that come to mind are Cavallo Farm (the Bertozzis) and Alan Lohman in Poolesville MD (also doable from McLean). If you’re willing to venture to MD and want to be in Montgomery Co as gottagrey mentioned, Rolling Acres is in Brookeville MD. There’s a few others outside the “quick drive to take the girls after school” radius if you’re interested.
The closer you get to DC, the worse traffic will be on either side of the river. McLean is lovely, but is definitely more expensive than Purcellville. Totally depends on what you want. Commuting to and from the barn every day can be a nightmare in this area, but if you time it right and avoid rush hour it can all be ‘reasonable.’ Good luck!
the OP will need to find a place to ride that will also have horses available - so the barn needs to have something for OP to lease or get into a lesson program. OP also needs to decide what else is on their list… do all of her children ride, will they be involved in other sports or school activities? Do the kids prefer to be in a neighborhood with other kids around. There are some places here where you can be out in the country but not feel isolated, vs. being in a neighborhood and be at the barn in 15-30 minutes I wouldn’t want to be like Pioneer Woman where going to the grocery store is an all day outing, I like knowing that I can meet friends for a spontaneous dinner in 30 minutes or less. And this area does have lots to offer outside of horses.
Agree, I can’t be going an hour to the grocery store. But, don’t the smaller towns have stores, soccer etc? I definitely would love a country feel (I grew up in the New England countryside on many acres of land, so that feeling isn’t unknown to me), but I absolutely don’t want to be somewhere so remote that people don’t want to bring their kids to my house for a play date. Only one child rides, she is in middle school. Of course the other kids do other sports/activities, but nothing super intense (they are early elementary school age.) On a side note, how common is it to get into fox hunting if you are into riding? Clearly we have a ton of variables and there is no clear or easy answer- but, I appreciate all the advice! Top of the list is schools for the kids. It seems like there are so many barns that we will have some choices. And, yes a barn with a few lesson horses or horses that we could lease quickly will be key at least to start out. I don’t think I can stay sane staying out of the tack for long!
I’m out in Western Loudoun (around Purcellville / Leesburg) and yes, we have quite a few stores nearby. That wasn’t always the case but times are changing. Purcellville has multiple grocery stores, 2 Starbucks, a Dunkin Donuts, and a surprising number of restaurants, to start. Leesburg is growing like crazy and has stores like Wegmans, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s. Oh, and a Barnes & Noble with a bar! It’s not like living in the city with a restaurant next door, but there aren’t that many amenities you’ll miss within a 10-15 minute drive.
I believe the Loudoun County school system is still #1 in the nation? If it isn’t, it’s very close to the top.
Something else to consider is if you’re a little north of Purcellville, your husband could drive up to Brunswick or Point of Rocks and catch the Maryland Marc commuter train (real train, not metro). Country roads for the drive with few, if any lights. The train can take him into the city and he can read a book in peace the whole way.
There is not anyplace in Northern Virginia anymore that does not have accessible infrastructure.
Grocery stores and such are everywhere. Traffic is horrendous all the time! keep that in mind as the further out you live just the longer one drives in it.
Barns are all over the place. You will have tons of choices no matter where you live.
Bottom line-pick where you want to live that benefits you, the kids, and the hubbie’s commute. Then find a barn.
Commuter traffic on highways during peak hours, yes, but not all Northern Virginia driving is in traffic, lol. We can drive into the city for evening events or on the weekends without hitting much traffic. If she’s coming from CA, it won’t be too much different.
For a small town feel, check out Lovettsville. My brother lives there and is a teacher. It is an adorable little town.
Are you set on living in VA? There are plenty of places in MD, with great schools and H/J trainers, that will also allow your hubby to commute to DC. My husband and I moved from Long Beach (SoCal) to Annapolis, and we were both working in Crystal City at the time. We took the Orange line (Metro) from New Carrolton to work every day - easy peasy. 
