MAY THE HORSE BE WITH YOU by John P. Flannery

Former Marine and expert rider, Dru Lucia Roia, owns the Lucia farm where she boards,

trains and rides the year round.

When our so-called winter is warm and balmy and the ground firm, you can hack your horse across fields and dirt roads near Lovettsville.  But when the unpredictable Arctic winds and rain and snow chill the air and turn the ground to stony ice, your horse grows his winter coat and turns his butt to weather the north winds.

That’s why we’re lucky to have one of the largest indoor riding arenas in the County at Lucia Farm on the Berlin Turnpike South of Lovettsville.  This past Saturday, Dru Lucia Roia, the owner, had just finished teaching a group lesson in her lighted indoor windless and fairly warm arena, and was about to tend to a favorite horse.

 “We are training and boarding all year round,“ Dru said, “we have plenty of stalls in here, 21 in fact, and provide private and group lessons.” There is an outside arena, equipped with jumps, but there were no takers that chilly Saturday.  The horses were in the fields at the hay bales and the stalls awaited them.  There are eleven separate paddocks.  There is also an array of cross country obstacles to train for hunter jumper courses, as well as for fox hunting.  For those who would rather watch, there are picnic tables but, alas, they won’t see much use this time of year.

Dru is always faithful to her equine charges as you’d expect a former “semper fi” Marine to be.  After 4 years of military service, and winning her BA in Equine Education from Salem University in West Virginia, Dru studied dressage and eventing at the Westmoreland Davis International Equestrian Institute at Morven Park.  She trained with the Olympic Gold Medalist Tad Coffin as well as Tad’s former coach, Raul de Leon.  Dru was so accomplished that she taught at Morven Park herself when she finished her studies.

For those who prefer the school of “natural horsemanship” – the Parelli method – Dru has special classes one can attend.

“We opened this facility in 1997,” Dru said, “and it’s been a great ride.  After I tend to my horse, I’m having dinner this evening with one of my newer students, and she’s doing quite well.”

So, if you want a warmer venue to keep you and your horse fit, you might take a look at Lucia Farm.