A visit to beautiful Sand Hill Stables in Shalersville Township | Along The Way

Janet and I drive at least once a month along state Route 303 from Streetsboro to Shalersville to attend Portage Parks Foundation meetings, and I have always been curious about Sand Hill Stables, one of Portage County’s many fine horse farms, as we pass along the way.

So, when Virginia Shaw, who with her daughter, Betsy, owns and operates the horse farm, recently invited us to come for a visit, we jumped at the chance.

Located west of state Route 44, which part of their land abuts, and north of 303, facing Hillside Cemetery, Sand Hill Stables consists of 130 acres of beautiful pastures and woodlands that over the centuries have grown up and cover omnipresent deposits of sand and stones that the glaciers brought with them and left across much of Portage County some 10,000 years ago.

The stables consist of a large east-west, single floor, rectangular building that was constructed in 2007.  It can accommodate more than 40 horses. Individual stalls line the rectangular building along with special purpose rooms for showering the horses, tack storage, and assorted tools.

The center of the building opens up to a large, north-south, arena where those who lease from Sand Hill can practice equestrian skills with their horses. Betsy Shaw is the equestrian in the family and with horses and other animals to look after, she soon excused herself.

Meanwhile, Virginia kept us moving.  She said she designed the building so that it captures breezes regardless of their direction giving the interior a freshness. An enthusiastic environmentalist, she has installed solar panels all along the southern pitch of the roof that capture the sun’s rays, generate electricity and lower her utility bills.

A large garage to house vehicles and equipment stands behind the main building.  Immediately to the west is a big compost pile where manure is mixed with soil and grass. Virginia said the planted grasses that surround their buildings were chosen for adaptability to Northeast Ohio’s soils and climate.

Squeezing aboard a small gator type, stick-shift tractor with Virginia at the wheel, we drove the grounds circling a coral where approximately eight or nine fillies were feeding and then entered woodland via a trail that the Shaw’s, with their staff, have created.

A bubbling headwaters stream running southwest within the Cuyahoga Watershed, its banks filled with watercress, bifurcates the woodland.  The gator tractor we were riding forded the stream.  Every so often as she drove, we watched deer running through the woods.  In the spring, she told us, the trail we were riding is ablaze with brilliant white trillium flowers.

We emerged on to a large flat pasture of lush grass that Virginia told us they have used for a hunter course in which horses jump over barriers. The field is divided by a constellation of large boulders, deposited thousands of years ago by the glaciers. They are so mammoth that people can climb up on to them and even picnic on them.

She drove us east across the field toward route 44.  We soon realized we were paralleling the Ohio Turnpike with its loud, semi-tractor trailer trucks speeding alongside.  North across the turnpike stands the huge one million square foot warehouse development that Geiss Construction has built and is adding on to thanks to the Joint Economic Development District that Shalersville Township and Streetsboro have created.

Wanting to retain Portage County’s rural charm, Virginia told us she would prefer a  more country themed building if she ever lets her corner of her land abutting State Route 44 be developed: a nice country inn perhaps. She said Jack Kohl, the Realtor who with his wife, Heidi, operates a horse farm on Peck Road, has suggested a horse hotel for weary travelers who transport their horses to competitions around the country and might stop for an overnight’s rest.

As she drove us back toward the main buildings, we encountered a coral of ponies. In front of the main barn, is another coral with donkeys which Janet and I were able to feed carrots and apples that Janet had thought to cut up, bag, and bring with us.

From Sand Hill where Virginia and Betsy Shaw had welcomed us, we could appreciate the view south across route 303 toward hills filled with maple and oak trees, rich with their fall colors showing brightly in the sun. Moments like that remind a person of how beautiful Portage County and Northeast Ohio are and of the importance of stopping every now and then, to look, and appreciate.

The Shaw family, hoping to protect Portage County’s rural beauty, in 2014 after the Park District’s proposed half-mill levy was approved, generously donated the 145-acre Shaw Woods in Ravenna Township, to the Portage Park District.

As I watched Betsy Shaw work and listened to her mother explain how they had created Sand Hill Stables, I saw hard, but satisfying labor plus a great love of the land and of horses and other animals.

Betsy Shaw runs parties for children so they can visit a horse farm and have fun.  She offers riding opportunities to campers staying at Camp Asbury. Adults can enjoy musical evenings and holiday themed gatherings. All this plus the normal caring for horses whose owners lease the stalls, go into making a horse farm like Sand Hill Stables financially sustainable.

These two ladies are self-made. They are knowledgeable about the care and riding of horses, about respecting the geology and plant life of Shalersville Township, about providing activities for the public, and about trying to keep everything going in a way that makes business sense.

As Janet and I drove home, I felt I had a new appreciation of all that goes into operating a successful horse farm.

David E. Dix is a retired Record-Courier publisher.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Sand Hill Stables in Shalersville Township a beautiful spot in Portage