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| Horse Fever |
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f all the kinds of love that exist, perhaps one of the most sacred is between
horse and human. Ask horse lovers why they love horses, and you’ll be met with a
dumbfounded pause.
“That’s just too big a question there, girlfriend – way too big,” sputters Mary Ellen
Tobias, equine marketing specialist for the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.
But she tries to explain the unexplainable: “It’s something that gets in your blood.
Being on a horse is the closest thing to being in heaven. It’s nature and God and
trees and companionship. It’s something that people who’ve done it understand.”
Ms. Tobias is not alone. "South Carolina has as many horses per capita as the
state of Texas," she reports, adding that more than 1,500 equine events occur
in the Palmetto State.
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ore than 40,000 people own more than 100,000 head. In
North Carolina, the horse population climbed from 61,000 head in 1955 to an estimated
225,000 today. Each of North Carolina's 100 counties has equine activity. No doubt
that explains why that state's 4-H program, with 15,000 horse projects, is the
second-largest in the country.
Mild weather, stoneless turf and a low cost of living have been bringing horse
lovers to the Carolinas since the 1800s. Wealthy equestrians from the Northeast
spent their winters in Aiken and Camden, South Carolina, and Pinehurst and Southern
Pines in North Carolina. Their legacies were large. In Aiken, the 2,400-acre Hitchcock
Woods offers 2,000 miles in the middle of town for horseback and carriage riding.
That city also hosts The Aiken Trials, three successive weekend races each March.
In Camden, the Colonial Cup and Carolina Cup draw thousands of revelers in the
fall and spring, respectively. Every April, more than 25,000 people head to the
Stoneybrook Steeplechase near Southern Pines. As Ms. Tobias says, "This is indeed
outstanding horse country."
Horse lovers don't like being separated from their animals. Soon, Camden Plantation,
a 940-acre equestrian residential community will be selling real estate. "I've
ridden all over the property, and it's just pristine," Ms. Tobias says. The design
includes farms from five to 50 acres, paddocks, barns and a riding trail around
its perimeter.
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In Aiken, the 2,400-acre Hitchcock
Woods offers 2,000 miles in the middle of town
for horseback and carriage riding.
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There are more than 50 breeds of horses in the Carolinas, and equestrian events
are wonderfully diverse. You can hang with the aristocrats on the polo fields
or the cowboys at the rodeo. If you love horses, the Carolinas will love you.
Raleigh exhibited that hospitality in 1983, when the James B. Hunt Horse Complex
was completed. The Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Asheville is
used year-round and contains three arenas. The Bob Martin Eastern North Carolina
Agricultural Center in Williamston boasts a 150'x300' main arena with 400 stalls.
Near Clemson, South Carolina, the T. Ed Garrison Arena offers a variety of events
year-round in its football field-sized facility.
The South Carolina Horsemen's Council (803-734-2187) has more than 2,000 members
and is one of America's top statewide horse organizations. The North Carolina
Horse Council (919-821-1030) promotes legislation for the equine industry and
tries to solve problems detrimental to its growth.
You'll find respected programs at The Equine Educational Center at North Carolina
State University, NCSU's veterinary college, St. Andrews College in Laurinburg
and Martin Community College in Williamston, with its teaching barn and indoor
arena. Likewise, the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service sponsors various
clinics and seminars.
Training facilities in Aiken, Blythewood, Camden and Elloree have been home to
Secretariat and Kelso. Polo is played in the Carolinas, usually as elegantly dressed
crowds enjoy picnics and mimosas.
"The horse: Here is nobility without conceit, friendship without envy, beauty
without vanity - a willing servant yet no slave."
(Anonymous)
That Anonymous. Whoever that was, he or she sure was smart.
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Aida Rogers has worked in newspapers,
magazines, legal newsletters, and television.
The USC graduate and Lexington, SC native currently
is managing editor of Sandlapper,
The Magazine of South Carolina,
for which she writes a column about the most popular restaurants
in The Palmetto State. Call her with your favorites at 803-808-1664.
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