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featuring a covered bridge.” Also avail- able for lease above the barn at Porto- fino is a large, fully furnished two-bed- room luxury apartment complete with a kitchen, dining area and seating area with a fireplace. Jack Roth says Three Runs Plantation
attracts all sorts of horse people. “Even- ters, a lot of dressage people and hunter/ jumpers and foxhunters, Western riders and people who like to ride trails,” he says. “We have 2,400 acres and about 32 miles of trails. We have a cross-country schooling area and five arenas; four are
silica sand with fiber, and one is a grass arena—two for dres- sage, two for jumping and the grass for whatever they need.”
to everyone. At the end of the day, 90 percent of the people will just want to do a casual trail ride and the property has beautiful trails, too. You’re likely to see English and Western saddles in the ring.” Property owners are given priority for boarding at the
barn, Brad explains, but there are also outside boarders. “The owner’s association can determine whether it’s a public or private facility; for the next two years it’s public with com- munity boarding rights,” he says. “We want the involvement; we want the trainers and clinicians to be a part of facility. We have all these resources and we want to invite people in rather than exclude them.” Sandra Thompson says she and Norwood traveled to
Texas, Canada and Kentucky looking at barns before they settled on the design for the stables at Portofino. The barn is modeled after Ted Turner’s daughter’s barn in Kentucky, but with a more modern aesthetic. “We plan to build an indoor arena, and currently have
four outdoor arenas including a jumping ring, a dressage arena with mirrors, and a couple of all-purpose arenas with all-weather footing,” she adds. “We also have a cross-country course with jumps, up to about preliminary level, built by Eric Bull that include banks, ditches and a water complex
60 May/June 2015
Other Attractive Factors Often the equestrian center takes the place of a golf course in these developments. Other amenities typically include a swimming pool, community pavilion and trails. Hiking is very popular, as are fishing and boating when they are available. At Three Runs, for example, Jack says, “We have a 2,500-square foot clubhouse. They do equestrian yoga on Wednesdays, there are barbeques in the summer and we have a bunch of overstuffed chairs where people can sit in front of the fireplace in the winter. Next door is a large pavilion—we’ve had 140 people in it—with a grill, and next to that is a swimming pool with a bathhouse, so it’s a nice facility. There are also small picnic facilities scat- tered around the property. In the next month or so we’re building a 500-square-foot fitness center with separate rooms for massage and things like that.” To enjoy all this, residents pay an annual homeowners association fee of $1,500. Both Portofino and The Oaks are part of the Audubon
International’s signature program where minimal environ- mental compliance goals are met and certified for long- term management of their properties. The Oaks’ Brad Dicks says environmental sustainability is very important. “We have a big awareness for nitrates entering back in the soil, and we use Lifetime Lumber, which is an environmentally friendly product. Audubon International will come in and look at your sustainable practices, from the little things, such as do you test your soil or just fertilize; do you return your manure to the soil or haul it out? How do you protect the water—do you store chemicals properly? Do you use fly sprays or more natural products? We’re not organic in every single product we use but we try hard to be consci- entious in our practices,” he says.
Photos this page:
equestrianlakes.com
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