by Suzy Kessenich

For many years, people have relocated to the northshore for a change of pace. And nowhere can you find a pace more different from the hustle and bustle of city life than in the quiet pastures of the majestic horse farms dotted across the area’s landscape. The northshore has become well-known for its equestrian life, as well as for the incredible complementary facilities that sit amid acres of the area’s farmland. From the richly appointed environment of a barn found at a world-class breeding farm in Folsom to one of Covington’s most rustic and beloved simple barns, each structure featured below demonstrates typical elements of design specific to its function.

Hil-Cat Farm

In the rolling hills north of Folsom, down several long country roads, is the beautiful Hil-Cat Farm, owned by Hilhire and Ethel Lanaux and their daughter, Hilda Lanaux. Visitors enter through a magnificent gate flanked by bricked columns that displays a bronze horse and the Hil-Cat Farm insignia. Once down a gravel road, through horse paddocks and majestic old oaks and over a wooden bridge that runs across scattered ponds, the farm’s two barns come into view. It is at this point that the visitor can appreciate the Lanaux’s property—a place of tranquility and peace hidden away on 60 acres.

After spending weekends in a smaller apartment above the farm’s original, octagonal-shaped show barn, the Lanauxs decided to build a larger dwelling for their horses and transform the show barn into their Folsom residence. With clever ideas from architect Bryan Parr, what once housed stalls and a show arena for stallions is now a family home—a point that prompts Hilda to chide, “I actually did raise my kids in a barn!” For the new horse barn, they duplicated the octagon shape of the original. The barn is now a mere 30 feet away from the rustic, yet elegantly appointed, home, with a walkway joining them. The two are built of the same materials, giving the impression of one massive structure.

The octagon shape was repeated because it maximizes the barn’s stall space and allows for ease of function. The center of the octagon serves as a working space, with wash and grooming stations. Spanning out from that central area are mare stalls, a feed and supply room, tack room and two foal stalls. “I like the function of the shape,” says Hilda. “Today, we only keep mares and their foals and geldings here. We breed with Oak Hill Ranch stallions and then return the mares here for the birth of the foals.”

Oak Hill Ranch

The Oak Hill Ranch that Hilda speaks of is located south of Hil-Cat Farm, in the rolling hills off Highway 25 that connects Folsom to Covington. The ranch specializes in breeding some of the finest Danish Warmblood horses in the United States, and is intricately involved with the North American Danish Warmblood Association. Oak Hill’s prize stallion—a short-listed Olympian horse named Rambo—recently retired from international competition and enjoys a life of breeding and maintaining his dressage skills.

The ranch’s 600 acres of lush green landscape and serene ponds are mere accents to the uniquely designed rectangular barn, covered round pen and an arena that is landscaped with well-laid-out paddocks. Covington architect Arthur Middleton designed all of the location’s captivating, yet functional, buildings. The covered arena contains a wall of mirrors so the riders can position their horses precisely for dressage training, which is offered at Oak Hill, along with riding clinics and training sessions with World Class Dressage Champion Heather Blitz.

Owner Richard W. Freeman, Jr. and his wife, Sandra, take great pride in the ranch’s breeding achievements and use the strict breeding standards set forth by the Danes after centuries of experience. Diligently overseeing the process is 13-year ranch manager, Sharon Londono. Most operations take place in the main barn, which has a fully equipped breeding station. A pre-production laboratory allows the facility to perform all aspects of modern breeding technology, including artificial insemination, embryo transfers and freezing and shipping of semen. The barn’s design allows stalls to be sectioned off for the stallions and other, larger stalls to be used for mares to foal out.

Although not essential to the farm’s function, the contemporary sculpture found throughout the grounds is notable. The Freemans’ private collection includes a variety of pieces by well-known artists such as Lynn Emory, William Cravello, George Dureau and Koss. The creative contemporary sculpture is an interesting juxtaposition to the creation of exquisite equine champions.

Oak Haven Farm

Not far from Oak Hill Ranch sits Oak Haven Farm, owned and operated for 22 years by Rick and Genie Harper. Surrounded by enormous oak trees, a majestic pond and numerous paddocks, the outstanding hunter jumper training facility consists of a covered arena, an outdoor ring with an all-weather surface and two barns that house 20 stalls. The main barn of 14 stalls includes sliding wooden doors and natural wood beams, with show trunks lining the center aisle of the space. A recent addition provides riders a cool place to relax and a kitchen area for enjoying refreshments. A well-designed tack area houses saddles and riding tack. The tack room is unique, as it includes central air and heat, easy-to-maintain wooden floors, a comfortable sitting area and a wonderful view of the property and its facilities. The second barn houses six stalls; a third building nearby is used to store the impressive mass of maintenance equipment necessary for the farm’s upkeep.

The organization and orderliness found throughout Oak Haven allows Genie to focus individual attention on her hunter jumper students during training, which she finds quite rewarding. Some of her students are young adults who are now returning to train at Oak Haven after having completed college. Genie says that they have developed into quality riders. “They appreciate the discipline and organization that is required of them in the sport,” she says.

Lagniappe Farm

Lyn Owens Willingham, manager of Lagniappe Farm located north of Folsom, agrees. “It takes a tremendous amount of responsibility and discipline for a young student to excel in jumping and working with their horse,” she says. Lagniappe is a top-rated hunter jumper training and horse show center that is dedicated to inspiring such discipline. Under the direction of Lyn and assistant trainer Kathleen Aertker, many young junior students begin their training at Lagniappe Farm as young as seven years old. Lagniappe hosts annual schooling shows that attract up to 300 exhibitors per event. Jumpin’ with Jazz, one of the northshore’s most popular equine events, is an annual charity horse show held in June at Lagniappe. Fundraiser proceeds support community projects such as Habitat for Humanity, Hospice and therapeutic horse centers.

Owned by Dr. Hildreth McCarthy, the 300-acre equestrian center has a covered lighted arena with 20 stalls, three show and training rings and a warm-up schooling area. There are an additional 168 permanent show stalls on the grounds. The farm also offers several timber stationary jumps for events and training use.

Hildreth is an avid equestrian disciplined in the lesser-known skilled sport of carriage driving. While the physical structures found at Lagniappe are impressive, the cross-country course is its most unusual feature. In the spring, Lagniappe Farm hosts the annual Watershed Horse Trial, a three-day marathon event that combines the three different riding disciplines of cross-country, dressage and stadium jumping events. Sponsored by the Southern Eventing & Dressage Association, the event is held on the ground’s 80 acres of lush property that features an obstacle course trail that travels across fields and winds through Lagniappe’s rustic woods.

Serenity and Amen Corner Farms

Another highly respected hunter jumper facility is spread out between the neighboring sites of Serenity Farm and Amen Corner Farm, which sit on beautifully manicured grounds in northern Folsom. Five years ago, Serenity Farm owners Kathy Posey and Albert Perreand, along with Rene and Lawrence Kurzius of Amen Corner Farm, formed a partnership named Gallop Around Louisiana. Through their joint effort, they planned, built, renovated and achieved the outstanding regional show grounds that are home to horse shows held year round, including the Spring Fiesta, the Pontchartrain Fall Festival and the January Jazz. All GALA shows are rated and recognized by the United States Equestrian Federation, the North American League and the United States Equestrian Team Grand Prix, as well as by all regional hunter jumper associations of the southeastern states.

GALA’s premier facilities consist of two classic barns, permanent show stalls, lighted outdoor rings, a covered arena, a 90,000-square foot Grand Prix Field and numerous schooling rings. The outdoor rings feature all-weather limestone footing. With an ongoing expansion plan, recent improvements at Amen Corner Farm include the addition of 100 permanent stalls, for a total of 404 show stalls. The show grounds have numerous camper sites with hook ups, which proved beneficial during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—many of the New Orleans Police Department’s horses were housed at the Amen Corner site.

Elite Thoroughbreds

Several miles east of GALA on Hwy. 40, a much different type of working farm can be found just off Chenel Road. Elite Thoroughbreds is a full-service breeding farm owned by husband and wife attorneys Lee Thomas and Michelle Rodriquez and managed by Carole Pickering. In December 2004, Elite Thoroughbreds completed construction of a state-of-the-art stallion barn that houses eight stalls. The renovated stucco structure was designed to emulate lavish Kentucky farm standards, with pristine oversized stalls filled with soft bedding straw (to seduce the selected mare) and sliding iron stall doors painted black, featuring shiny brass handles. The stalls’ design features richly stained tongue-and-groove wood walls and stained wooden beams. On the roof top of this impressive structure is a large cupola and amazing skylights. A newly constructed broodmare barn features 21 additional stalls. Both barns are painted white on the interior and exterior.

With a total of 677 acres of sprawling oaks, tall pine, several ponds and rolling hills, Elite’s facility boasts more than just its four large barns. There is a 60-foot Euroexerciser Gait Master, a 60-foot round breaking pen and numerous paddocks. The facility’s half-mile racetrack has been renovated with a new clay base, and is covered with river sand to run the premier horses. Some of the stake horses trained at Elite have raced on the prestigious racetracks of Belmont, Saratoga, Arlington Park, Chicago, Oaklawn Park, Louisiana Downs and the New Orleans Fairgrounds. And, while these accolades have made Elite well known in the horse world, it was the beauty of the farm itself that drew Hollywood executives’ attention. In October 2004, scenes of the movie “Dreamer,” starring Kurt Russell, Kris Kristofferson and Dakota Fanning, were filmed on the property.

Hunter Bluff Farm

On over 100 acres just outside of Covington is Hunter Bluff Farm, owned by Heather and Lincoln Case. The site breeds champion hunter jumper horses and hosts annual schooling horse shows. The facility, which has offered training and boarding for more than fifteen years, is designed in traditional Kentucky décor. The main barn features gray batten wooden board, with shutters painted in royal blue. There are 16 stalls with classic black iron slide stall doors and darkly stained inner walls. Tack trunks line the stall aisles on concrete decking. The barn’s second level features a tack room and an air-conditioned sitting area for clients to cool off after long riding sessions. Two sets of outer stalls were built in duplicate design of the main structure and surround the main barn, offering ten additional stall spaces. The magnificent property boasts 15 paddocks, 40 permanent show stalls, a covered arena and two outdoor show rings.

Heather is an avid amateur rider, and daughter Maggie is an accomplished junior rider. They both train with the facility’s resident trainer, Rick Harris, a champion professional rider. Lincoln handles the facility maintenance and makes most of the travel arrangements for Heather, Maggie, Rick and Hunter Bluff riders to attend many horse shows. “We want to raise the bar for our clients and our barn by attending rated shows,” says Heather. “It improves the rider and the horse to be able to compete at a higher level with competitive horses and riders from other parts of the country.”

A few miles south of the main facility is Hunter Bluff’s annex broodmare barn, used strictly for the breeding of 20 mares. Most of the breeding is done by artificial insemination; Lincoln has also been very successful in transferring embryos to surrogate mares. Professional champion horse Tabasco, ridden on the national circuit by Holly Shepherd, was bred at Hunters Bluff.

The Barn at Tchefuncte Club Estates

Tucked away near the entrance of the guard gate of Tchefuncte Club Estates is undoubtedly the most simple and rustic of all the barns mentioned here. “The Barn,” as it is affectionately and simply called, is run by a group of Estates residents who strive to preserve and improve it for recreational use.

The structure was built in 1942 and originally used as a dairy barn, then sold to Tchefuncte Estates developers in 1956. The Tchefuncte Barn Association took over operations in 1994, under the direction of Linda Feringa. At that time, with the help of contractor Steve Owens, a group of “Barn Dads” took on the task of repairing the barn. They replaced rotten wood, built a handsome deck on the second level, rebuilt an old staircase, updated electrical circuits and painted the entire structure. The association has since provided a new roof and repaired the fences that enclose the nearby pasture.

“The cypress barn is all fixed up now and has 10 stalls filled, with a waiting list,” says Linda. “It has been a joy to see this dynamic group of people working together on all these projects.” She emphasizes that the boarded horses are fed by volunteers who follow a schedule of barn chores. It’s that sort of community aspect that gives the barn its unique feel. The structure isn’t fancy, yet it carries on a tradition for the riders who use it. And the residents who board their horses there only have to walk down the road to enjoy an afternoon gallop through the pasture.

That, perhaps, is the most appreciated barn design of all.