In an age earlier than smartphones and net searches, inspiration got here from sporadic calls to the landline.
Pam Grimes labored within the barn whereas her mother, Rose, ventured into the home to choose up the cellphone. An entrepreneurial concept mainly fell into the household’s lap. Maybe horses and historical past might be a very good match.
The Grimes had been able to strive one thing new. They had been breeding horses and promoting them for reining on the time. It wasn’t figuring out too effectively.
“We just weren’t making any money,” Pam Grimes stated. “We were losing money actually.”
The excellent news was Hickory Hollow Farm was situated in a tourism scorching spot. Those cellphone calls had been from potential clients who had been hoping to journey by way of scenic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Everything the household wanted to launch a thriving enterprise was of their yard. They determined to make a swap.
“Because of where we are, it seemed popular to tourists,” Grimes stated. “So my mom just said one day, ‘Why don’t we sell these broodmares and buy horses and start a trail riding company?’ I was like, ‘OK, I guess we can do that.’ That’s how it started.”
That was within the mid-Eighties. The enterprise continues to be going sturdy.
Hickory Hollow Farm is a family-run horseback driving operation that takes guests by way of the Gettysburg battlefield.
Tours are provided on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays by way of Sundays every week from April by way of October. Tourists have two decisions. A journey with a licensed tour information or a journey with out the historic particulars.
Each tour has 10 or 11 patrons and three or 4 outriders. The farm’s web site says riders journey from the Confederate Line to the Union Line and might be taught particulars from the three days of battle. They’ll see the Virginia Monument, Spangler farm, Pickett’s Charge, the Pennsylvania Monument, Little Round Top and Big Round Top.
“I don’t go on all the rides but I’ve been doing it for a long time,” Grimes stated. “I know a lot about the battlefield.”
Hickory Hollow Farm has quite a lot of horses on its 60-acre property. Tours are restricted to twice a day so as to give the horses sufficient relaxation.
There’s a Palomino named Traveller, who was given to Grimes free of charge, a Percheron and Morgan cross named Levi, an Appaloosa mare named Pebbles, now retired, and plenty of others among the many herd.
It takes a sure kind of horse to deal with the job. Strong and relaxed are most well-liked traits.
“We like the quiet ones,” Grimes stated. “We would never get a Thoroughbred or an Arabian and expect them to go down the trail. They’re more spirited. You want to make sure you have a horse that’s not going to be injured because somebody is too heavy.”
Grimes primarily acquires her horses by way of phrase of mouth and draft web sites. One was really purchased by way of Craigslist.
The horses are chosen fastidiously. It’s essential they just like the work and have the temperament for it.
“We try them out ourselves,” Grimes stated. “We always make sure the horse is just right for people to be able to trust them and take care of them. They are animals. They can have a bad day just like people. We’re constantly keeping an eye on their attitudes.”
Grimes was in her late teenagers and early 20s when the household transitioned from breeding to tourism. She by no means imagined how that change may alter the course of her life.
Hickory Hollow Farm has discovered a distinct segment. It presents a specialty service.
“You can’t do what we give you unless you get your own horse, your own truck, your own trailer and you drive it to Gettysburg and ride it around,” Grimes stated. “Even then people with their own horses are calling me to rent a tour guide. Riding around with your own horse, you don’t know what you’re looking at.”
This is a visit by way of historical past. The form few others can present.
Lancaster Farming’s Mid-Atlantic Horse tells the tales of horses and their folks. Big and small horses; quick, sluggish, harness, carriage and farm horses; wild horses, donkeys, mules, mustangs and extra. Mid-Atlantic Horse covers the huge world of the genus Equus. And for each horse story, there are various extra in regards to the individuals who reside so carefully with their horses.
