Sunset Hill Rises Again as an Entrepreneurial Horse Farm

By George Berkheimer



With more fallow farmland growing thick with residential construction

as opposed to brush these days, folks in the country are predictably a

little suspicious of developers. Not surprisingly, the alarm bells

went off in Woodbine a few years ago when Patrick McCuan, CEO of

Columbia's residential development giant MDG Companies, put in a bid

on 117 acres of disused land there.



But today, the land McCuan purchased in February 2005 is far from

being just another jumbled clump of monotonous housing. It has been

transformed into something a little more unique in this rural part of

Howard County: a working horse farm with big plans for the future that

could serve other landowners as a model for profitable farmland

preservation.



Actually, he admits, the spread on A. E. Mullinix Road, now known as

Sunset Hill at McCuan Farms, was designated farmland preservation

property before he acquired it. But that's not to say there hasn't

been development.



"We thoroughly rebuilt every building on this property inside and

outside," McCuan said. He paved the access lanes, installed 7.2 miles

of new fencing, added a new water system and methodically upgraded

every aspect of the property's infrastructure.



So far, he has invested $2 million in property improvements and Sunset

Hill's trail network now exceeds 15 miles, thanks to the cooperation

of three adjacent landowners who have agreed to interconnect their

private trails.



Evolving Opportunity



Now that the preparation work is complete, McCuan is champing at the

bit to move on to the next phase of development: bringing his

investment online as a training and boarding facility with a first

rate equestrian competition program. Venues at Sunset Hill include

three outdoor dressage and jumping arenas - one Olympic-sized - and a

lighted indoor arena.



"Beginning in 2008, we will begin hosting a number of events here,"

McCuan said. "Local events for sure, and hopefully some state events

as well," provided the idea gains traction with the initial contacts

in Maryland's Department of Agriculture and the Department of Business

and Economic Development (DBED) who have heard his pitch.



DBED Secretary Aris Melissaratos acknowledged that his office would be

eager to support a public-private partnership aimed at promoting

Maryland's equine heritage. "I haven't heard any specific proposals

yet, but it's definitely worth considering," he said.



Howard County has an incredible number of people involved in the

equine business, McCuan said, but it still lacks a first-class riding

facility. "Equine businesses can be profitable here, but they're

mostly mom and pop operations. I want to demonstrate that, like

Montgomery County or Baltimore County, we can provide a really good

riding and equestrian experience."



Moreover, he said, a lot of county residents with disposable income

are looking for opportunities to enjoy it, and offering them a chance

to keep, rent or own part of a horse bears consideration. "Most riders

have to go to adjacent counties to do eventing and competition," he

added.



Olympic Connection?



At the moment 34 horses are boarded at Sunset Hill, and that number

will increase to 50 in the near future. The farm can accommodate a

total of 60 horses, 20 of which will be owned by Sunset Hill and used

for riding lessons. McCuan has already hired two full-time trainers.



The farm's head trainer, Amy Knapp, has been training horses

professionally for the past two years and began riding when she was

eight years old. Now 22, she plans to make training her career.



"This is a state-of-the-art farm that can offer the best of

everything," Knapp said, observing that McCuan's venture has presented

her the opportunity to pursue a vocation she enjoys. "It can be a

rough field to get into, because trainers want to stay in their

positions once they're hired," and openings for head trainers are

rare.



The arrangement could also allow her a chance to work toward an

undeclared goal, that of competing in an Olympic equestrian event. "If

I found a horse with the right mix of talent and experience, I think I

could be there in the next three years," she said.



Raise the Farmer



McCuan, who grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, said finding a way to

create opportunities for others was part of his motivation for buying

the property.



"Next summer we'll start some camps for kids who want to work the

farm, ride and involve themselves in the operation," he said. "We also

started a joint program with the Paca Street Elementary School in



Baltimore through the Brown Advisory Group. Starting this fall we'll

bring out busloads of students and introduce inner city kids to a real

farm and treat them to a real experience with horses."



In the future, McCuan plans to hire two high school graduates who want

to get immersed with the trainers and learn the farm business from the

ground up. "I see it as a way to bring quality people into the

business," he said. "They will be trained to run a farm in an

entrepreneurial way ... that will benefit themselves and others, and

hopefully allow more of our farmland to be fertilely used for

agricultural business."



The biggest problem for many of Howard County's part-time gentleman

farmers and dabblers is that they can't make a living off their land,

McCuan said.



"No matter how much politicians want to dream or how much people want

to keep farmland as farmland, it's not going to happen unless they ...

[begin to] utilize it for raising horses instead of raising soybeans.

It's tough to get by with farming here, and I'd hate to see this land

be fallow."



Old Horse, New Trick



McCuan's farm, it turns out, has a rather lengthy pedigree. In

existence since before the turn of the 20th century, it started as a

sheep and goat farm and was later devoted to vegetable crops. In the

1970s it was acquired by former Orioles owner Jerold Hoffberger, who

turned it into a thoroughbred horse farm.



Under an interim owner, the property deteriorated. "It was completely

run down and just a sorry state of affairs when we bought it," McCuan

said.



Jean Pierre, his farm coordinator, agreed. "Neighbors constantly tell

us they can't believe this is the same farm," he said. With two

turnout barns, five stables, five houses, an office building, a bank

barn, workshops and a number of other buildings on the property, the

renovation took 15 months to complete.



"Neighbors here were scared this was going to be turned into housing,"

Pierre said, "but now they tell me Pat McCuan is a hero."



McCuan can't help but relish the irony. "I'm blessed," he said. "It's

exciting to be able to take something great that was allowed to

deteriorate and bring it back beyond its original grandeur. ... I'm

not used to being a hero. Developers are never the hero. We're used to

being the bad guy."