Testimonial

I have been a member of the horse community in Northern Virginia long enough to remember when Phyllis Dawson was in Pony Club. I started out in Great Falls on Springvale Road, leasing Taffy, a sweet Palomino mare. My friends and I would ride from there either to Riverbend Park or Great Falls Park, or around the new “Country Estates” being built. We would laugh when people who had supposedly
moved to the country yelled at us not to let our horses poop on their lawns. One time all us riders got invited to Grace Dawson’s (Phyllis’s mom) house on Springvale Road to a meeting organized by Grace and Dr. Howard. They wanted us to help with the Old Dominion 100 Mile Endurance Ride by following the vets from stop to stop and keeping records for them as they and their students checked the health of the equine contestants. The ride went from the Morven Park Estate in Leesburg, around Loudoun County to the Shenandoah River (the 50-mile stop), up to Mt. Weather at the 60-mile stop (that was our favorite because they let us use their bathrooms!), then around to Hibbs Bridge and back to Morven Park.

I bought my first horse, Rissraff, a 3-year-old green broke Arabian gelding, from a nice man in Arcola, right off Route 50. I kept him in Chantilly and did trail rides with the barn owner. One of our favorite rides was to cross Route 28 (then 2 lanes) and ride in all the green area on the other side. Rissraff and I did pretty much everything, from egg-and-spoon, to cubbing, hill topping and the 25 Mile Ride at the Old Dominion.

Needless to say, Northern Virginia and Loudoun County very different now. It is imperative that the horse community make itself heard to preserve what we have, gain trails (and trailer parking!) and show how valuable horse farms and activities are. I hope I can help with that.