History

The vision of the Friends of the Orange County Horse and Farm Center is of a large, multi-use, state-of-the-art facility capable of attracting local competitors and local competitions along with national and international competitors/competitions. It will be the jewel in Orange County to attract and keep equine events available along with open space. A world class destination for tourists and families as well as horse people, complete with a covered arena capable of seating thousands of spectators to allow for year-round showing, horse sales, etc., as well as other equestrian, para-equestrian and other agriculturally related events, Two (or more) regulation-size ridden dressage rings, One larger regulation-size dressage ring for the combined driving competitors, a grand-prix outside jumping course, a cross-country course, a marathon course for driving competitions, a steeplechase course, 3-4 warm up rings for 3-4 outdoor arenas, some equipped with lighting for night showing, trailheads or a connection to existing trails in the county and a permanent vendor area. The need for many show rings derives from the need the various disciplines have regarding ring footing – one ring/ring size does not fit all.

We also envision a place where a possible future connection to an educational institution for courses related to equine studies. An equine sports medicine and rehabilitation center could also be part of the horse park’s offerings. The synergy of a horse park comes from the ability to offer all these amenities in ONE location. A horse park needs to have the ability to host more than one competition per day/weekend and must also be able to attract large regional and national shows which would bring 1000’s of horses to the facility. To attract the larger, multi-day shows, a large amount of acreage is needed. Successful horse parks throughout the country offer RV parking, overnight camping, trailer parking and spectator parking. Combined driving marathon courses run 3-15 kilometers in length and require 80 to 100 acres; cross-country eventing courses require approximately 80 acres. On top of that, there must also be acreage for permanent stalls. Many horse parks have 500 or more permanent stalls with some having over 1000 permanent stalls. There is NO OTHER STATE in the Northeast with a horse park such as we envision, although these facilities do exist in other states.