If you’re free August 17th between 12 and 4 pm – and based in the Frederick, MD, area – come out and join us for a day of fun events. There will be local crafts, an antiques community yard sale, talks from local politicians and passionate people like you, food, horses to meet and play with, and more!
Check out our Facebook event page for more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/492477817562647/.
Hall’s Choice Open House – August 17th (12-4pm)
Farms are bought up by developers in the Frederick area, thus:
Hall’s Choice Farm in New Market, Maryland
A development only pays for roads within itself, not within the town around it…
Hall’s Choice on a hot summer day
Average cost per acre of farm land in MD: $4,120
About 1 million acres of land per year are lost to development, according to the American Farmland Trust, and much of this land is prime agricultural land that can never be replaced(http://www.sprawlwatch.org/farmlandpreservation.html).
Ray Garibay, head of the Maryland Agricultural Statistics Service, said farmland values vary greatly within the state, with the most expensive being land near the urban areas of Baltimore, Washington and Annapolis (http://www.extension.iastate.edu).
Delightfully cool bank barn at Hall’s Choice
Impact: horse farms are pushed to areas that developers either don’t want, or haven’t reached yet. They are at greater and greater risk of having to sell out to developers.
Want to learn more? Hall’s Choice has an album on Facebook full of information on the impacts of development on our community.
Planning & Zoning Commission “By-Law” Changes (which may also be for BoCC Public Hearings):
Tractor
The county government has made changes to gain more control over citizen input at public hearings. Is Frederick County’s government trying to quiet our voices and concerns?
As New Market resident Stan M. surfed Frederick County Government Channel TV (FCGTV, Comcast 19) at midnight on Saturday, he found an interesting segment on new “By-Law” changes & proposals by Kathy Mitchell and P&Z Commission discussion that affects changes “to make it known early at the public meeting your intentions and opportunity to cross-examine Frederick County staff and presenters for the development team.”
With this, failure to speak up early in the process will cause citizens to lose the opportunity to ask questions. It will not allow those last-minute speakers to have the floor at the microphone. All concerned citizens will need to speak up early at the meeting of their intention to participate in the cross-examination proceedings.
“It may also change the 3-minute speaking limit per person to being longer if there are few speakers, or be made shorter if there is a huge turn out like MTC.”
Jim Gugel stated something like this at the 7/9/14 P&Z meeting: “During MTC hearings I thought there were only 5 more speakers – and all of a sudden 10 more speakers were lined up to speak. Controlling the time for each speaker is better than allowing each 3 minutes. The time can be made longer or shorter.”
Please watch this FCG TV programing for your own clarification. This midnight ten-minute segment (there was more) seemed to explain that individuals may need to request and make known intentions to speak early in the meeting, or else forever be silent.
*No copyright infringement intended.*
The riding clinic held at Hall’s Choice Farm was a success – lots of riders came out and enjoyed great lessons with USDF-certified trainer Erin Sweeney. Here are some photos for you to enjoy (please excuse the blurriness of a few, as the dust was affecting the camera!):
Want to see more? You can check out the full event album on Flickr.
Sunday the 29th was Erin Sweeney’s riding clinic, which meant a day of cleanup and barn chores to follow. I spent Tuesday with fellow intern Melissa feeding horses, cleaning stalls and sacrifice lots, and generally cleaning up. We even both had a lunge lesson on Hanoverian gelding D’Olypmic (aka “Flirt”) once the hard work had been done. It was an unbelievably hot day – the temperature outside hit 97F! Not the worst it’s been, nor the worst it will ever be, but it was stifling enough that the horses and humans were both pretty much melting. Thankfully, the indoor arena stays nicely cool, as do the barns!
Highlight of the day? Not running over anyone while learning to drive and operate a tractor.
Tacking D’Olympic up for our ride.
Catching a horse.
Riding clinic schedule
Erin Sweeney’s riding clinic is TOMORROW!
We are looking forward to another great opportunity to work with Ms. Erin Sweeney. She is newly USDF-certified and has started over 300 young horses, developing them into young horse champions. She excels in her unique approach towards the challenges that keep your horse from achieving its best! Come watch her do her magic both with her riding and yours. Erin is a diagnostic expert, bringing teaching techniques from German, Danish and American instructor giants (who she works with regularly herself).
Join us this Sunday!
Audit fee is $25
Sadly, no riding slots are available as we have been full for several weeks; however, we invite you to come audit, enjoy gourmet lunch with us, and plan to ride with her in the future!
See you there!
Some of the horses at Hall’s Choice, including a few of our very happy boarders!
June 22nd, we held a lovely open house to raise awareness of our farmland on behalf of Clean Water Linganore. With much of the surrounding watershed area in New Market slotted for development, Hall’s Choice feels it is incredibly important to promote an understanding of why we should stand against this. Enjoy the photos!
Founded in 1990, Hall’s Choice Farm in New Market, Maryland, is a beautiful and exclusive 30-acre farm that specializes in Hanoverian Warmblood breeding, training, and sales. Our horses are bred for health, performance, and temperament – all are animals with good minds! They are horses for competitive riders.
We also host events at the farm. It is a beautiful venue for rent near Frederick, Maryland. With its convenient, scenic location, we readily accommodate horse clinics, birthday parties, family reunions, company picnics, weddings, memorial services, and more. If you need a large but still lovely venue for your event, please, contact us via our “about us” page.
On this blog, you’ll hear lots about the horses and events here. With fifteen stunning mares and stallions, an assortment of barn cats, and some adorable dogs, there are plenty of adventures!
Want to learn more about Hall’s Choice? Check out hallschoice.com.
Hall's Choice Hanoverians 