A Tale of Two Horse Farms
By Jane Thery
Loudoun County ’ s long tradition of raising , riding , competing and admiring horses continues today . Although the days of using horses for basic transportation and farm labor have gone by , horses are omnipresent in the countryside . Following are the stories of two horse farms with a view toward the future of horses in the life of Loudoun County .
Magic Arch farm is in Hamilton . Kim Fry , a full-time senior financial officer at an insurance firm in nearby Waterford , owns the 13.1-acre farm which is home to six horses and borders on the South Fork of Catoctin Creek . She named the farm for two of her early horse friends , Black Magic and Archie . Purchased in 2014 after a long search , the property includes a modern house , a five-stall barn and five fields . The horses live in the fields , only coming into the barn at feeding time and in harsh weather .
Kim enjoys riding her dressage horse , traveling to local trails and giving children ’ s riding lessons . She dedicates about two hours per day to riding and caring for the horses and the farm , with welcome assistance from her retired father , Bill Fry .
Kim ’ s goal is to clean out old wire fencing , improve the soil and pastures , build new fence and minimize erosion . She aims to have the five fields upgraded as well as a loafing area with blue stone footing for the horses when the fields are too wet or to help slim down the chubby ones . The five-stall barn is already in fine shape as home for the horses .
There is a ground spring on the property . Kim is channeling this water to a grass verge between her pastures and the creek to slow the water down and filter it before entering the Potomac watershed . Her father helps with the ditch digging and mowing . She maintains a blue stone riding area for training and lessons .
Magic Arch farm demonstrates the application of best management practices by the owner to upgrade
Kim is a member of the Farm Bureau that is very focused on farmland preservation and currently advocating for Loudoun County to protect its prime agricultural soils from development .
“ What I don ’ t think people realize is the connection between our prime soils here in Loudoun and interruptions to the food chain . It ’ s important to realize that once we lose our farmland — an abundant source for local meat , vegetables and dairy products — to development , it cannot be recovered , whether it ’ s for a horse farm or a food producing farm .”
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