PLENTY Spring 2020 Plenty Spring 2020-WEB | Page 23

beer-tasting room and picnic area
overlook beautiful horse pastures.
A relatively new way to enjoy
horses without taking on the full
responsibility of owning a horse is
to lease or half lease a horse. The
horses are generally at a boarding
facility and the owner arranges for
the lease of the horse depending
on the rider’s level of experience
and type of riding suitable to the
horse. Riding clubs such as Trail
Riders of Today, the Seneca and
Potomac Pony Clubs, the Con-
gressional Polo Club, the Potomac
Hunt, and the Sugarloaf Riding
Club also create a welcoming com-
munity for riders and non-riders
who enjoy socializing, picnicking
and sharing horse stories.
Competition venues, such
as Loch Moy and Waredaca, host
dressage, show jumping and
eventing shows as well as clinics
offered by high-level professionals.
Many boarding stables also offer
friendly competitions and clin-
ics. Spectators are welcome! This
is a good way to visit a farm or
competition venue in the Reserve.
Bittersweet Field on Partnership
Road hosts the Seneca Pony Club
Eventing competitions as well as
the popular Potomac Hunt Races
where the tailgates include fanciful
decorations as well as plenty of
food and drink. And there’s polo,
too! The Congressional Polo Club
on Hughes Road has a polo field
where you can enjoy local and
international quality polo. Again,
spectators are welcome for a day
in the country watching this fast-
paced sport.
Horses connect us to the
natural world through their lively
animal spirits and the outdoor
recreation and sports we can
enjoy together. The horse com-
munity promotes the economic
viability of open land near urban
areas and the preservation of rural
areas with pastures, hay fields,
trails and woodlots. For example,
the Potomac Hunt maintains the
trails and values relationships with
over 200 land owners who provide
riding access to their properties.
The volunteers at Great and Small
stables who assist the trained staff
at the therapeutic riding barn on
the 100-acre Rickman Farm Horse
Park have a wonderful experience
of helping horses help people in
a very special environment. The
friends of the Woodstock Eques-
trian Park commit to maintaining
this wonderful public facility with
its riding fields, ring and trail net-
work. Without a doubt, the love of
horses brings people together who
enjoy and appreciate the value of
the Agricultural Reserve, just as the
horses appreciate its green pas-
tures and peaceful environment.
Jane Thery is a life-long equestrian and
president of Green Horse Enterprises,
promoting the horse health and envi-
ronmental benefits of well-managed
horse farms. She serves on the advisory
committee of the national Equine Land
Conservation Resource organization
and chairs the Maryland Horse Coun-
cil’s Farm Stewardship Committee. She
has held senior positions in interna-
tional diplomacy and economics with a
focus on Latin America. 
Now that’s a lot of horse manure!
Horse manure is a marvelous gift of natural nutrients from our horses to our soil.
Each horse produces an astounding 55 pounds of horse manure every day. Now
multiply that by 10,000! Horses are grazing animals whose stomachs digest fiber
mostly from grass and hay, supplemented by grain feed. Great ways to recycle
horse manure include composting it for enrichment of your garden’s soil, or,
if bedding horses on straw, growing mushrooms! There are major mushroom
growers in our region that use horse manure as a substrate for many varieties of
mushrooms. As chemical fertilizers are phased out, composted horse manure is a
great alternative for slow-release, natural soil nutrients.
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