After Years Of Challenge, Zoar Ridge Stables Looks To Its Future

By Kaaren Valenta

Annette Sullivan grew up on a six-acre backyard farm in Weston, where her family kept three horses, a few goats, and chickens. Today she and her husband, Brian, are the owners of Zoar Ridge Stables, a 30-acre commercial horse farm that is opening for business this month.

“Growing up, my sister was the one who had the passion for horses. She did the pony clubs, but we shared the work,” Ms Sullivan said, smiling at the memory. “I went to college at Colorado State University for equine science, and was on the equestrian team, but I wound up instead with a master’s degree in history.”

When she got married in 1992, she and her husband began looking for a house with about five acres where they could keep animals.

“I worked for the Connecticut Humane Society in horse cruelty cases and took in other animals as well – chickens, ducks, goats,” she said. “I wanted to have a barn because I had three horses.”

“We looked in Newtown but we couldn’t find anything we liked in our price range,” she said. “So we asked to look in the back of the book at the land listings. It was at a time when many developers had gone bankrupt, so there were tracts of land available.”

The 30-acre property at the end of Morgan Drive, a dead-end road, had been a farm for many years.

“Back in the 50s and 60s Val Hair, a local developer, bred Morgan horses here,” Ms Sullivan said. _“Before him, there were crops. It had always been a farm.”

There was a small building on the property, a house that the current owner had converted into a five-stall barn. But the price was right: just $250,000 for the land and the building.

The Sullivans turned the barn back into a house where they lived while they began to make improvements to the property. In 1993 they began to build barns on the property, and in 1996 they built a large three-story house. They also began to board and train horses.

Neighbor George Fitzgerald was impressed by the Sullivans from the beginning.

“When I moved here years ago the property was a dump, full of briars and junk cars, probably because it was so secluded,” he recalled. “There was a garbage pit full of car parts. The place was up for sale for a long time – no one seemed to want to purchase it. Brian and Annette made this property 100 percent better than it was originally.”

Mr Fitzgerald, who said he has been shoeing horses for more than 30 years, was glad to see the property become a horse farm.

“I raised two children here. I kept them out of trouble by keeping them busy with horses. A horse program keeps kids out of trouble,” he said. “So I couldn’t understand all this nonsense that began when the development started going in. The development was the culprit.”

As homes were built on Stone Gate Drive, adjacent to the Sullivan property, a few of the homeowners began to oppose the use of the property as a commercial stable for the boarding, riding, and training of horses and their riders. The Sullivans were forced to shut down their operation in 1998.

For the next three years, their effort to reopen slowly made its way through a series of hearings before the Planning & Zoning Commission and in Danbury Superior Court. Finally there was a compromise. The Sullivans could reopen their business as long as they limited the number of boarded horses to 15, rather than the 28 allowed under zoning regulations, and gave up plans to build a 10,000-square foot indoor arena. In addition, the facility cannot be open after sunset, and the Sullivans were forced to remove outdoor lighting for evening horseback riding.

“I can live with that,” Annette Sullivan said, adding that she hopes her neighbors will reconcile their differences over the operation of the farm.

“We’ve been through a couple of rough years,” she said. “The town people at the land use departments were always helpful and supportive, as were most of my neighbors. The Connecticut Horse Council and the Farm Bureau supported us, as did many of the horse people in Newtown. But it was still very difficult and at times it felt like it would be easier to just sell the property to developers.

“Because of the principle involved, we dug in our heels more than most people would, more than probably was sensible,” she said. “It’s a great property, and we were so fortunate to find it, but taking care of a 30-acre farm is an exorbitant amount of work and requires a staff.”

Besides Annette Sullivan and her husband, there are two full-time employees.

“The upkeep, the mowing, is expensive – we couldn’t possibly have kept it as a gentleman’s farm,” Ms Sullivan said. “We’ve always meticulously maintained it, so some of the comments [by their opposition] were very hurtful.”

The property offers a magnificent view of Lake Zoar from a high ridge that gives the farm its name. A large horseshoe-topped iron fence designed by local artist Rosemary Barrett and constructed by welder Scott Koszinski marks the entrance to the property. There are two large outdoor arenas and three separate horse barns. There also are two golf putting greens.

“They are a diversion for the poor husbands who have nothing to do,” Ms Sullivan explained. “Generally the boarders [of the horses] are adult women, most of whom are in dressage rather than jumpers, but that can change with the wind.”

The Sullivans offer a full board that includes feed, turnout, and daily care, as well as full service, a plan that also includes grooming and training. For more information, call 426-9907.