Even on a blustery March day, with heaps of frozen snow along the driveways, Legacy Equestrian Center looks like a horse farm in Kentucky or…
Even on a blustery March day, with heaps of frozen snow along the driveways, Legacy Equestrian Center looks like a horse farm in Kentucky or Virginia.
Six horse barns, miles of black painted fencing around huge pastures, an enormous indoor arena with an elegant lobby, three ponds and riding trails positioned around the 140-acre breeding and training facility make up the former Eutrophia Farms.
That was the name of the center before last October’s auction that pitted the Enger family and their two horses against four housing developers champing at the bit to plant 70 homes on the seven parcels.
“They were just going to rip it down,” Dawn Donich said last week, sounding dismayed by the development plans.
She and her husband, Jim Enger, had been searching for the right place to board her quarter horse and their daughter’s Hanovarian hunter with one sticking point: they wanted their horses pastured daily and, when the weather heats up, put out during the cooler, fly-free nights, she said.
At the time, they heard the Eutrophia facility was coming up for sale, they hadn’t found a stable willing to do that, Enger said.
Owner Elisabeth Alexander, 85, was retiring and selling the racing operation she had spent years building, he said.
Everything came together for the purchase, including Enger’s desire to buy a place in 2013.
“We’d been looking for something smaller,” he said, but when Eutrophia showed up for auction, they decided to give it a try. In the space of a day, it was their farm, valued by the Geauga County Auditor Frank Gliha at $2 million.
When they took possession of the estate, they realized it was not just huge — it was empty.
Workers, horse owners, horses and trainers had all abandoned ship.
“There was nothing here. They all kind of took off,” he said.
Building the Business
The family brought their two horses to the main barn in mid-December and started to cast about for more horses, horse owners, trainers and riders to fill the barns.
By mid-March, there were three trainers lined up to bring their horses and students to Legacy.
Magan Bash filled seven stalls with hunters and jumpers, Enger said.
Scheduled to fill more stalls when they return from the Florida show circuit are Nancy Smith, who specializes in dressage, and Jenna Hoy, who also trains hunters and jumpers, he said.
“A lot of the horses are in Florida,” Enger said. “Everyone in Florida has been watching our weather and put off their return until April.”
Even if the temperatures are still low by then, the horses will have a heated indoor arena for their daily exercise, he said. The arena is sprinkled to keep down the dust and groomed daily.
“Our goal was to have 20 horses by March 12. We’re now at 27,” Enger said.
When the Florida contingent arrives, they should fill more than 50 stalls, with board ranging from $650 per month in the trail barn to $950 per month at the show barn.
“We’d figured it might take a year to fill up. We’re very much ahead of schedule,” he said.
There are still about 30 stalls available, although the main barn attached to the arena is pretty much full, Enger said.
The staff of 10 full-time and part-time employees keeps the stalls and barns spotless, horses blanketed in cold weather, fed, watered and groomed.
Even with frozen ground and snow falling, horses are turned out in the many large pastures for part of each day. Some, like the three black Friesians who get along, are turned out in the same field.
Fields of Turn-Out Dreams
Enger said the property has a good balance of stalls and turn out, with the entire 142 acres fenced in.
Donich passionately believes horses need time outside to just wander around, graze, visit and act like horses.
They are far more willing to cooperate safely with their riders and trainers when they have that kind of freedom and aren’t trapped in their stalls 23 hours per day, even stalls as roomy as those at Legacy, she said.
Having ridden as a child, Donich picked up the hobby again when her own children started taking lessons.
Her experiences over the years built her philosophy about horse turn-out.
When they learned the stable where they were keeping their horses was closing, she was appalled to discover most boarding stables don’t pasture their horses, especially not at night.
“In the summer, horses just want to go out at night and sleep in their stalls all day,” Donich said.
Horses that have bad habits like chewing wood, cribbing, weaving, pacing or being hard to ride often shed their tension-based behavior when given more time at pasture, she said, adding making horses happy satisfies her.
Family Time at the Farm
Donich also likes having Enger and their four teenagers helping out at the farm.
As a radiologist physician, she values the time she and Jim can spend with their teens, Austin, Justin, April and John.
Enger said he has the time now to dedicate to the farm since he sold 23 of his Enger Tire Centers to Mr. Tire, retaining only two tire and auto parts stores to manage.
So Legacy Equestrian Center will be something between a career and a hobby for the Engers, with Donich the equine expert; Enger the property manager, scheduler and fixer of broken things; and their offspring helping the staff take care of the four-footed boarders and their people.
“It’s like a family affair,” Donich said, with all six riding, to one degree or another.
Her husband, prefers to canter along without a saddle. April, a junior at Kirtland High School, has placed in national interscholastic competitions.
“I’m the one they look for when they can’t find anyone else to ride with,” Enger laughed.
The acres of woods and rolling hills provide more than two miles of trails and some outside cross country fences, Donich said.
Non-boarders may use the facilities for $15 a visit, except for the three-furlong track, which has to be groomed.
For further information, visit www. legacyec.com or call 440-479-4151.
