New Facilities – A New adventure
With our move to Black Mountain comes an adventure of building our new facilities from the ground up. Most of the arena and stable pictures on the website are from the former property in Raeford, NC, so while they are representative of the level of training and care that goes into our horses, they are not representative of the appearances of our new location. Our new property consists of over 100 acres of pasture, forest, creeks and rivers, and mountains, but it had no other infrastructure when we purchased it. As of April 2023, we have built or installed:
- 16 temporary pastures/paddocks with temporary shelters
- Solar panel power array
- One complete yurt and the foundations for a second
- Camper hook-ups
- An outdoor Rossfechten arena with GGT footing for lessons, training, and demonstrations
- The Sr. Priscilla Jean Wright Pavilion
- The beginnings of our new permanent fencing
These first steps were immense in getting us to our new location, but these are just the beginnings.
We are also thrilled to announce that the Community of the Transfiguration, which is passionate about conserving land and animals, has generously donated toward a gazebo, which will serve as an enclosed observation area at the arena as well as a classroom and gathering space for a wide range of activities! This gazebo is dedicated in honor of Sister Priscilla Jean Wright, who was a passionate and active member of the Community for many years and an avid horse lover. We are proud to honor her memory, and we look forward to future collaborations with the Community and its members.
Our next focus in development is:
- Our first 8-stall barn with an apartment, which will become the “guest” barn
- Tiny house bedrooms for guests
- Installing a regulation-sized covered arena
We are still fundraising for this next stage in building, which will allow us to stable some of the horses and house core staff and guests for our programs. The covered arena will allow us to train, perform, and work various programs in all kinds of weather. After these next two vital steps, we will start building our other stables, which will have apartments above for guest, intern, and employee lodging. We have big plans for our stables, and we can’t wait to share those with you!
If you’d like to contribute to our building efforts, please consider making a tax-deductible donation. Any amount is greatly appreciated. For more information, please contact us, and we’d be happy to share more details of our plans!
