Patrons are racing to preserve the Potomac Horse Center (PHC) after its leadership announced plans to shut down July 22 following failed lease negotiations with its landlord.
In recent days, community members have taken to social media, launched a petition and organized a GoFundMe campaign in an attempt to save their beloved barn.
“This is just one of those aspects of the community you don’t want to see gone,” said Darnestown resident Jenn Bauer, whose daughter rides at the center.
Located at 14211 Quince Orchard Road, the horse center offers riding lessons, training programs, therapeutic services, summer camps, horse shows and other recreational activities.
PHC President Nancy Novograd announced April 30 the facility’s decision to shut down, citing an unsuccessful lease renegotiation with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) as the reason for the closure.
PHC plans to continue lessons through June 16 and then begin selling its assets – including horses – the following day. However, many devoted patrons refuse to let the horse center vanish without a fight.
On May 1, North Potomac resident Stephanie Matarazzo launched a change.org petition requesting M-NCPPC renew the horse center’s lease. As of Friday, the petition has received more than 2,800 signatures.
“This center is not only a place for horse enthusiasts like me but also serves as a beautiful greenspace that offers camps and pony rides to our local community,” Matarazzo wrote. “Many families and children in our neighborhood have benefited from their services.”
Other supporters, including Bauer, have launched a fundraising effort to help the barn stay open.
“Those of us who were heartbroken … said, ‘Well, let’s see what we can do and let’s see if we can make some progress,’ ” Bauer said. “And we are. What we need is for [M-NCPPC] to give the barn six months and then [for] those of us who love the barn to help raise the money to help them keep going for those six months.”
On Thursday, the Potomac Horse Center Foundation launched a GoFundMe campaign seeking to raise $150,000 to preserve PHC as an operating riding facility. According to Bauer, PHC management informed community members the facility requires that amount to pause the sale of its horses and remain open for that six-month period.
“We are told by the owner that we need to show her significant progress by Saturday,” Bauer said.
According to Novograd, the terms of the horse center’s 1993 lease with M-NCPPC are “unsustainable under current economic conditions.” She said PHC has been working to renegotiate the lease since 2017
“The tipping point in the negotiations was M-NCPPC’s insistence that the renewal of the lease was contingent on PHC raising three to five million dollars to improve M-NCPPC’s infrastructure with no assurances that PHC would be permitted to remain on the property,” Novograd wrote in PHC’s April 30 statement.
A statement released by M-NCPPC says PHC is “contractually responsible for all maintenance and capital improvements at the facility and for ensuring safe riding conditions” under its active lease.
“Structural assessments performed by an outside expert in the Fall of 2023 showed major life safety and structural concerns on site,” the statement said. “Montgomery Parks requested that PHC develop a plan to fund the necessary repairs and maintain a viable equestrian operation. However, PHC instead notified Montgomery Parks of its intent to cease operations and vacate the property in July 2024.”
For Bauer, the impending closure is personal.
“Our daughter has [attention deficit disorder] and is exceptionally shy,” Bauer said. “We knew that going in and the barn took care of her. She’s had two different teachers and both of them have been exceptional. Now she is outgoing in certain groups. She gets to the barn, she’s in charge, she knows exactly what to do and we’ve seen a significant life change in our kid from being here for the last six years.”