Horse Farm

Saddled with a 160-acre horse farm they don't want, Baltimore County officials have now learned that the spread comes with a horse no one can ride.The bay gelding's existence was revealed this week in a report by the county auditor, who also found that lax county oversight of the Merryland horse farm in Long Green Valley has contributed to the property's decline."

An Anne Arundel County circuit jury convicted a stableman yesterday of trying to rape his employer's au pair, a Croatian teen-ager who had been in the United States only a few days.Robert Brown, 42, of Lineboro could receive a maximum term of life in prison when Judge Eugene M. Lerner sentences him Jan. 26. Brown was convicted of attempted rape and five related charges stemming from the assault on the 18-year-old at a Gambrills horse farm Nov. 22, 1998."I am very satisfied with the verdict," said M. Virginia Miles, the assistant state's attorney who prosecuted Brown.

Friends and family members remember former western Howard County resident Adelaide Close Riggs as a woman who appreciated the beauty of her 489-acre horse farm in Daisy.She loved it so much, they say, she offered 283 acres as an environmental easement in December 1994, in part to eliminate any prospect that it would be developed.Since her death Dec. 31, developers, county officials and residents alike have wondered whether her land partner, Dr. Michael Cavey, would grant an easement on his 206 acres or become one of the many neighboring property owners to develop this traditionally rural part of the county.

Merritt Properties LLC, flush with cash and aided by the robust economy, said yesterday that it will spend about $50 million to develop a 20-acre site in Columbia with four office buildings, two restaurants and a day care center.A partnership in which Merritt controls a majority stake -- Horse Farm-Linden LLC -- acquired the property last month for $3.775 million from the University of Maryland System.Merritt, a large Baltimore-based commercial real estate developer, plans to develop 350,000 square feet of class "A" office space on the tract of land, known as "the Horse Farm."

Stung by criticism over their plan to sell the Merryland horse farm in Long Green Valley, Baltimore County officials say they would consider keeping it as an equestrian park -- but only in the unlikely event someone comes forward with an acceptable plan and $750,000 for repairs.The county's decision to sell the 160-acre farm, donated to the county six years ago by a wealthy New York businessman, angered those who helped arrange the gift and caught neighbors and the area's councilman by surprise.

William M. Rickman Sr., the chairman of a Delaware horse racetrack who hopes to open a track in Maryland, says he wants to buy the Merryland horse farm, a Baltimore County site that once was a premier breeding and training facility.Rickman said he and his son William M. Rickman Jr. flew over the farm in a helicopter last week to look at the property, which the county plans to sell at auction despite protests from residents who want to see it developed into a public park."I'd like to buy it," said Rickman, a Montgomery County builder.

Rumbling combines, hay bales and grazing horses have dominated the landscape along Old Taneytown Pike for more than 50 years.But the farm landscape will soon change as men and women wearing masks and carrying guns hide behind enormous electrical spools and fire guns, pelting each other with brightly colored paint pellets.The Carroll County Board of Zoning Appeals agreed yesterday to allow William Hartman and his son Rick to use 42.6 acres southeast of Taneytown for commercial recreation: paintball.

The Merryland Farm in Long Green Valley is back on the market -- put up for sale by businessman William M. Rickman Sr. the same day he concluded his purchase of the property from Baltimore County.Rickman, a wealthy Montgomery County developer and chairman of a Delaware horse track, said he decided to sell the land after the farm's longtime manager died about two weeks ago."It's hard to get good people on a horse farm," said Rickman, 78. "It got to the point where I said, I don't need the aggravation."

Saddled with a 160-acre horse farm they don't want, Baltimore County officials have now learned that the spread comes with a horse no one can ride.The bay gelding's existence was revealed this week in a report by the county auditor, who also found that lax county oversight of the Merryland horse farm in Long Green Valley has contributed to the property's decline."

After months of trying to preserve Longwood Farm for another generation of Goldsmiths, Robert Goldsmith has decided not to buy the Howard County estate of his father, C. Oliver Goldsmith, who died last spring.Robert Goldsmith, 30, a veterinarian, has retained some of his father's horses for himself and family members. But he said last week that he could not afford to buy the 100-acre Longwood Farm, his father's beloved horse farm -- and site of Oliver Goldsmith's famous parties."I tried to make the numbers work, but I just couldn't do it," Robert said.

It wasn't just a 425-acre swath of one of the prettiest sections of Baltimore County. The place pulsed with history. Its red-roofed barns had housed some of the 20th century's greatest thoroughbreds. The remains of Native Dancer, the genetic link between many modern champions, lay beneath a tombstone at its center. Sagamore Farm fit the ambitions of Under Armour founder Kevin Plank. When he plucked his high school buddy, Tom Mullikin, from a Kentucky farm to start a racing and breeding outfit, Plank said the only goal was to win a Triple Crown.

The state's effort to become home to a Mid-Atlantic animal import-export center has taken a step closer to reality. A recent feasibility study has recommend that a proposed $60 million animal quarantine center be located near Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The center, which would primarily serve the horse industry, would be like a holding pen where animals coming into or leaving the country would stay for three to five days while being checked for diseases.

The state's continuing effort to become home to a Mid-Atlantic animal import-export center has taken a step closer to reality. A recent feasibility study has recommend that a proposed $60 million animal quarantine center be located near Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The center, which would primarily serve the horse industry, would be like a holding pen where animals coming into or leaving the country would stay for three to five days while being checked for diseases.

Horse owners, who have not had much to cheer about lately with the struggles of Maryland's racing industry, can take heart in a couple of government-sponsored projects aimed at corralling more equine activity and income for the state. The latest development, which could be a boon for the racing industry as well as for farms that raise horses for recreational riding, involves the proposed construction of a $60 million animal quarantine center near Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Two horses were humanely destroyed yesterday after an accident in which a sport utility vehicle pulling a trailer overturned on northbound Interstate 95 - tying up evening rush-hour traffic northeast of Baltimore, state police said Two other horses were injured and taken to a horse farm in nearby Fallston. State police were still investigating the accident last night. The driver of the Ford Excursion, accompanied by three passengers, was towing the horse trailer north toward a farm in Darlington when he lost control of the SUV about 3:15 p.m., two miles south of the Mountain Road exit, and it ran onto the right shoulder, said 1st Sgt. Russell Newell of the state police.

One of the few rural enclaves left in the triangle formed by Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington, Gambrills is a haven of rolling hills and small farms. But residents are worried that a $100 million horse park the state wants to build on a shuttered dairy farm could attract more than horses. People and their cars could strain area roads and disrupt a slow-paced lifestyle that residents covet. While the Maryland Stadium Authority faces significant hurdles before it can break ground on a major equestrian center on the U.S. Naval Academy's pristine 850-acre farm property - formerly used as a dairy for the brigade - state officials have conducted a steady march toward the goal since last spring.

IT'S BEEN A YEAR since we moved to a house on a horse farm in northern Baltimore County - as tenants, of course, not owners. The experience has been exciting and, on many days, very educational. The cycle of birth and death among the animals has been marvelous and sad. When we arrived last spring, two opulent magnolia trees were in fragrant bloom. All sorts of creatures occupy the farm in addition to the 20 or so horses, half a dozen dogs, an uncertain number of barn cats and scores of championship birds kept by Charlie, one of the resident farm hands.

Oak Tree Farm, a family horse farm in western Baltimore County for more than 50 years, was sold yesterday at public auction for $1.5 million. Neither the seller - identified in auction documents as the estate of Alice F. Keech - nor the auctioneer would say who purchased the property in the community of Relay. However, developers have expressed interest in building homes on the 32.7-acre tract, on the southwest corner of Interstate 95 and Route 166. As recently as last year, a private company examined the possibility of developing the land, but the idea was dropped because of community opposition and lack of public water and sewer service.

Anne Arundel County officials got mixed news at the state Board of Public Works meeting yesterday in Annapolis. They received $1.1 million to preserve a horse farm in West River but failed to win support to expand a park in Harmans. County officials said they were thrilled to receive state Rural Legacy funds to protect the 179-acre Leatherbury Farm. The farm is home to the stables of the nation's third most-winning horse trainer, who asked that he not be named. "I cannot express how excited I am that we have been able to preserve this beautiful horse farm," said County Executive Janet S. Owens.

GOT A HORSE in your life? With at least 87,000 beating, equine hearts in the state, it's quite possible that you do. Maybe your child takes riding lessons after school or at camp. Maybe you go to the racetrack once in awhile, or bet on races from home. Maybe you're a trainer, a breeder, a show rider, a trail rider or a fox chaser. Maybe you just live near a horse farm or drive by one occasionally, enjoying the bucolic view. In what may seem startling news, a recent census revealed that the Maryland horse industry is huge and growing.