August 2019 Issue

OUR TH YEAR 3 - PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT 280 LANC., PA 17604 Vol. 26 No. 8 (Continued on page 23) August 2019 By Stephanie Lawson A couple hundred people in the former indoor arena of the Quentin Riding Club watched as the historic facility was auctioned on July 13. The bidding started at one million dollars, above the minimum of $950,000—the club’s total indebtedness. It continued as multiple bidders, including one bidding by phone, raised the price to $2.1 million. The gavel fell to a local develop- er, who outbid at least one other bidder who was trying to pre- serve it as an equestrian center. The winning bidder, Louis Hurst of Alden Management Co., Inc., developed the nearby retirement community, Alden Place. Once a premier horse show facility that in 2000 hosted 16 multi-day rated shows and many smaller ones, the club has fallen into disrepair. The ring where countless champions were crowned is overgrown. Roofs are in disrepair. Paint is peeling. The Clubhouse is closed. From more than 600 members the number has fallen to 85 to 100, leadership said. Days before the July 13 auc- tion QRC attorney Ken Sandoe said, “The bank is pressing for foreclosure and the tax author- ities are pressing for a tax sale. That stuff is going to happen within the next 60 to 90 days. We gotta sell it, get the money to pay them off, get them off our backs. They came to me at the eleventh hour. Those sales could happen as early as August or September so we need to move.” Greg Shaffer is the current QRC president. “I started as a volunteer in 2016,” Shaffer said, after returning from Afghanistan as a disabled vet. He became president in 2018. “I came here as a child. It had such mystique. It was like the shining castle on the hill. To get to be a member was really special.” More recently, “We couldn’t get help. The club was run by all volunteers. Our indebtedness was growing every day,” he said. He recalls keeping the 46 acres mowed with a riding mower because they couldn’t afford to fix the tractor. A local farmer baled the fields and split the hay with the club. Throw- ing the bales into the hayloft wors- ened his Multiple Sclerosis and helped confine him to a wheelchair 70 percent of the time, he said. “We closed the clubhouse in October because the overhead was more than the revenue. We had to get rid of the horses in November when we lost our insurance.” Did it Have to Be This Way? The interest from the eques- trian community to keep QRC in equestrian use never flagged. One couple at the July 13 auc- tion bid the price to $1.5 million before dropping out. They wanted it as a training facility for their son. In August 2018, as the Lebanon County Tax Bureau announced the property would be auctioned in September to The Quentin Riding Club’s main ring is overgrown. A lack of maintenance drove shows to other locations and began the historic showground’s demise. Right, the QRC sign that welcomed exhibitors for more than seven decades will likely be among the club’s contents to be auctioned August 13. The Strange, Sad Tale of the Quentin Riding Club's Demise Inside... NEW Fall Fix Up feature... pgs. 10-14 Operation GELD turns stallions into more adoptable geldings … pg. 4 Babington finishes first, second & third in Lake Placid Grand Prix … pg. 6 World, National titles come home with local Appaloosa exhibitors … pg. 15 …and much more!