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Cherokee Stables: A Horse of a Different Color

Tuesday November 28, 2006

By Julie Maheu

   When Carol Krawczyk decided to throw in her currycomb, so to speak, Tammy Forbes heard opportunity knocking. The owner of what was previously Krawczyk Horse Farm in Bridport had run her equestrian facility for 18 years when she decided to lease out the property and sell the business.

   “It was just time for a change. I'm still doing what I've always done which is work with children,” said Krawczyk, whose primary focus is working with socially and emotionally disturbed children. She used her horses as a form of therapy for some of these children and continues this work with the animals on her husband's dairy farm.

   Thus, Forbes' dream of running her own horse facility became a reality last  June when she began leasing the 18-acre farm from Krawczyk and bought the 16 school horses already living there.

   “When I found out she was selling, I jumped into action,” said Forbes, a mother of three. “I really wanted to make it work and she did too, so we worked together and it happened really quickly.” Within a week of the initial conversation with Krawczyk, Forbes found herself with an already-thriving equestrian business.

   “This is my dream,” said Forbes, who has been involved with horses since she was a child. “(Working with horses) has always been a hobby, but I've become more serious about it in the past five or six years.”

   Forbes grew up in Lincoln and now resides in Cornwall. She has worked at several local horse facilities over the years. She said being a mother keeps her busy, but she's able to blend family life into her business because her children enjoy being at the farm.  And horsemanship is already running in the family. Forbes' seven-year-old daughter, Hannah, had been a student at Krawczyk's facility since she was 4 and continues taking lessons from mom. “I do give her lessons myself,” said Forbes, “but she doesn't always listen to me as well as other instructors because I'm her mother.”  So, most of the time Hannah takes lessons from Lynn Wallace, a certified riding instructor from Upstate New York who has worked at the stables for the past seven years and stayed on when Forbes took over.

   A sign with the new name, Cherokee Stables, sits out in front of a 16-stall barn at the 1609 E. St. location. The property has five paddocks, a huge pasture with several cross-country jumps and 16 other stalls for boarding. They also have an indoor arena, large heated tack room and lovely mountain views. In addition to horse boarding, Cherokee offers private or group English and Western lessons as well as riding camps during the summer months. The facility is currently looking to add horse training to their services.

   Cherokee stables has also recently partnered with Middlebury College as a facility where students can earn college credit for participating in equestrian activities.
“I would also love to host some 4-H programs,” said the ambitious young mother. “I want to basically do everything.”

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