Before we talk about your dream horse farm, I want to give you a bit of insight into my own personal journey and experiences with horses and horse farms.
In my younger days I managed horse farms in Northern California, Southern California and deep east Texas. My vagabond days ended when I took a job as trainer for a superb Egyptian Arabian breeding farm in Afton, Virginia about 25 minutes west of Charlottesville, Virginia. I remember arriving for my first day in 1982. It was my birthday, May 21 and the soft green fields smelled earthy and rich. There were dogwood trees blooming at the edge of the woods. The morning air was cool and moist. The horses in their pastures all had their heads down grazing on the new grass. What a contrast from the dry, pipe fenced paddocks of Santa Barbara and the shallow, rocky soils of the Texas piney woods. Here was country made for horses with deep rich soils, ideal forage and a history and culture where fine horses have always played a central role.
It wasn’t long before I knew I had found my home. I opened my own training stable at Waverley Farm in Orange County and got my real estate license in 1983. In 1985 I decided to dedicate all of my energies toward real estate and my horses happily moved to hobby status where they remain even today. I have specialized in all types of country property for nearly forty years but particularly enjoy working with horse owners helping them find that ideal horse property in the seven county area surrounding Charlottesville, Virginia.
Charlottesville Real Estate
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Country living in Virginia’s Piedmont
Good signs for 2025 Walk score? Nah..not unless you mean walking in the woods Convenient to shopping? Not really but you begin to realize that 25 minutes to the grocery store just requires a little more planning. Fabulous neighborhood? Absolutely! We know there are...
Does it snow in Virginia? Maybe Monday!!
Does it snow in Virginia? It used to get much colder in the winter and we would expect snow every year. Recently we have had years with no snow at all and so far this year (January) we’ve just had a flurry or two. Our milder winters are actually quite nice. We could...
Is Virginia wine country?
Much is made of Thomas Jefferson’s dream of producing fine wines in Virginia and especially his failure to do so. How happy he would be to learn that 200 years later Virginia is the 5th leading state in America in wine production and the Monticello AVA that includes...
Curb appeal
The first carriage to pull into the circle drive in front of Frascati in 1823 was very likely bringing James Barbour and his wife, Lucy, to the just completed home of his brother, Phillip Barbour. Certainly the carriage would have slowed, the lathered horses catching...
Is Charlottesville, Virginia a good place to retire?
I wrote this article about my parents in 2014. They are both gone now but I find myself in those same happy shoes these days, enjoying the fruits of our labor and feeling blessed to have wound up in such an extraordinary place. I would love to help you find your last,...
Is land expensive in Charlottesville, Virginia?
Land close in to Charlottesville can be quite expensive with demand for nice building sites being in very high demand. A good building lot up to five acres for a single family home with can be anywhere from $65,000 to $500,000 depending on location, amenities and the...
