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Removed post due

Deleting the post since all it seemed to do was create a discussion on how far away everything is. Thanks for those who sent the private messages.

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Long time South Central PA hunter rider. Two hours gets you to Philly outer burbs or even to Leesburg/Westminster with near countless suggestions. Staying within an hour the break point will be what you consider full care and whether or not you are able/willing to go to Florida for with winter. The real deal full care programs (mostly) head to Florida (Ocala or WEF) for a weeks or months. Feel free to PM me.

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No part of VA is 2 hours from Harrisburg. There are… several whole states between PA and VA.

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Only Maryland in some cases. Harrisburg to Leesburg is about 1 hour 45 minutes, a straight shot down US 15. Now that’s not something I’d want to do multiple times per week, but it fits the OPs bill. (Just maybe not during rush hour.)

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Check out Erika Kurtz and Serenity Farm in Bernville, PA. She also has a facility in Lititz, PA. Both locations are less than an hour from Harrisburg.

https://www.serenityfarmberks.com/

Erika is a well educated professional, who always has the horse’s and rider’s best interests at heart. She goes above and beyond when it comes to care. I have had my horses at home for the last 25 years, and if I ever had to go back to boarding, she is probably the only person with whom I would board.

She has a great lesson program, as well as lesson horses. Many of her boarders have been with her for many years and she usually has a waiting list for boarding. I cannot say enough good things about her.

New Jersey has a fair number of barns that would likely meet your specifications, but two hours (especially if you’re not looking for a barn to board a horse at) is a fairly brutal riding commute. Have you lived in the Northeast? Two hours on the map can be considerably longer at certain times/ seasons.

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You absolutely can :blush: . According to Waze, it’s 2 hours & 8 minutes between my house in SW LoCo & Harrisburg. From Leesburg or Lovettsville, especially, you’d shave 30 minutes off that.

Proximity to the Route 15 corridor is the key factor: The fastest route to Windurra from my house, for example, takes 3.5-4 hours because you have to swing all the way east to I-95 through Baltimore & the Fort McHenry Tunnel. But Harrisburg is more or less a straight shot up R-15 from my house. I can make it there in 2 hours, Hershey in about 2.5.

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Okay, let me clarify. If you’re not planning to go at 2am on Tuesday morning in your turbocharged sportscar… no barn in VA is going to really be a legit “2 hours” from Harrisburg for a normal commute when you include traffic.

To each her own, and I respect the OP’s goals, but I’ve got to say that it is inconceivable to me that one would drive up to 2 hours to a barn in the northeast with 4 kids and maybe also a job. I drive an hour each way to my full-care barn three times a week. I show up, they give me the horses to ride and I leave. I wish it were not that way, but it is the only way I can swing it with work and my kids’ schedules. With two young kids, a stressful job, and a husband to keep, I can barely manage it. Tell me your secret!

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Waze calculates trip length based on real time conditions. :blush: So 2 hours & 8 minutes was the actual travel time based on Sunday morning traffic. I drive R15 from VA-MD fairly often as my SO lives in Frederick. Even during rush hour it’s really not bad until you hit the stretch around White’s Ferry. (Which, if they would open again :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:…) 40 out of 50 minutes of the drive to his house is spent traversing LoCo. For a Harrisburg resident, travel time to a barn in northern Purcellville/Lucketts/Lovettesville would be very similar to that of a DC resident making the trip to a barn near me. Which they do. They’re usually boarding at a full service place for $2000+ a month, coming out on weekends, & the trainer riding the horse weekdays.

However, I do agree that anything close to 2 hours one way seems onerous/ overly- ambitious. I have 2 kids & a job & find it difficult to make it to the barn 20 minutes away many days.

I was gonna suggest Quentin Riding Club, but it appears that it’s been closed for 2 years… how sad. That was always a fun end of summer horse show!

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