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.
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.
No part of VA is 2 hours from Harrisburg. There are… several whole states between PA and VA.
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.)
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.
You absolutely can . 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.
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!
Waze calculates trip length based on real time conditions. 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 …) 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!