THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605240225
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 168 lines
A LUMBERING RIDE on the back of a mule at his grandmother's North Carolina tobacco farm when he was a youngster was about as close as Gene Hansen ever got to an equine experience until four or five years ago.
Now he has three horses of his own to saddle up, rides well enough to play the rough and tumble game of polo and is the master of eye-catching Back Bay Farms, a palace for horses in Pungo.
At the intersection of Indian River and Princess Anne roads, the new farm, still so new there's no sign out front, intrigues passers-by with its 30 acres of lush green grasses, pristine white fences, inviting tree-lined driveways and handsome stable with a sublime sky blue roof.
Back Bay Farms and the horses that live there are a newfound passion, Hansen's solution to middle-age work woes.
``Along about the time I turned 40, I was working all the time,'' Hansen said, ``and I thought it was time to pick up a hobby.''
And it wasn't crossword puzzles. Hansen, an investment adviser with Seaboard Investment Advisers in Norfolk, decided to take up riding. In a very short time, he developed the skills and the horse sense of a long experienced equestrian.
Two years ago, he began building his Pungo horse stable on property that he had purchased as an investment in his pre-hobby era. The investment has paid a dividend of one very special farm.
Other than a few lucky horses that board there, among the first visitors to enjoy the features of Back Bay Farms will be guests at Party Polo Style, a benefit for the Sugar Plum Bakery from 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets for $50 a person can be purchased at the Sugar Plum, 1353 Laskin Road, or by calling 481-3588. Although there won't actually be any polo played, the casual evening includes a silent auction, dinner, dancing and rides in a rickshaw pulled by one of Hansen's star boarders, a huge, handsome gray Percheron. Mint juleps are among the potable offerings.
But not even dinner and dancing will entice guests away for long from the trappings of the farm itself. They will be free to wander over the grounds and into the stable to see Hansen's polo ponies - Willie, Minnie and Elvis - and to other equine guests at Back Bay Farms and to inspect their plush digs. Many of the special features they will see make for happy horses as well as easy maintenance.
``The farm is designed so a boy and his dog can run it!'' Hansen said.
Four pastures, including one regulation-size polo field, stretch out to the south of the stables. The pastures are enclosed and divided by handsome white fences that look like newly painted, old fashioned wood fencing. But this fence is made of PVC, a resinous material that will give and not splinter if a horse should crash into it.
``A horse friendly fence,'' explained Louis Cullipher, director of Virginia Beach's Agriculture Department, who advised Hansen in his planning.
``They also last forever and are maintenance free,'' Hansen said.
Gates to each pasture are equipped with high latches. A rider can go from pasture to pasture and enter and exit without dismounting.
Like horseback riding, building a haven for horses was a brand new venture for Hansen. He read every book in the Norfolk and Virginia Beach libraries on barns and stables.
``A lot of research went into everything,'' Hansen said, ``because I didn't know anything.''
He installed automatic watering devices in the fields equipped with electric heaters to keep the water from freezing in winter. The wiring and the piping is underground and the mechanism is contained in a concrete culvert that doesn't distract the eye from the green sweep of pasture.
A protective ``run-in shed,'' enclosed on the north and east sides, straddles the fence line of two of the fields. Pasture-boarding horses in each field can find shelter in the shed in stormy or cold weather. Hay is stored in the shed's loft so the horses can easily be fed when the weather turns bad.
Cullipher said Hansen has developed his pasture land in an environmentally friendly way, too. For example, to provide the best drainage, he used permeable crush and run in the driveways rather than asphalt and filled the farm ditches that criss-crossed the pastures with rock as a sediment trap, covered by crush and run, a filter cloth, sand and finally top soil.
Horses might not appreciate the stable's architectural features but Sugar Plum Bakery guests will delight in them. Hansen, a true blue University of Virginia graduate, couldn't resist using some Jeffersonian and Palladian architectural details from his alma mater, among them graceful brick arches.
The arches provide access to an overhang area around the exterior of the stables. The overhang is deep enough to keep not only humans but horses out of the rain (and also to prevent a horse's nose from getting too much sunburn when the horse looks out of its stable window).
Nor will the horses appreciate the beautiful, 19th century, round stained glass windows high in both the east and west end stable walls. Hansen purchased the windows from historic St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Norfolk after the church replaced its stained glass with clear glass windows that were there when the church was built in 1739.
Party Polo Style participants should take a moment to look up at the west window as the sun goes down Saturday. Hansen said the east window is equally beautiful when early morning sun shines through the multicolored panes. Day in and day out, skylights on high let in the natural light and huge ventilating fans in the peaked roof regulate the temperature.
Soft jazz, which seems to be what the horses like, said Hansen, is played in the stables throughout the day. Metal caps protect the rails of the 20 handsome finished-wood stalls and prevent the horses from cribbing, or chewing, the rails. Rubbery plastic flooring in the stalls is easy on the horses' feet. Wood shavings, rather than the more common sawdust is their bedding.
``Sawdust is bad for the respiratory system,'' Hansen said.
Automatic waterers inside the stable are situated in windows between each stall so the horses can ``socialize.'' Feeders are placed by the entrance to each stall so the horses can be fed easily without the caretaker actually going inside. Hay is stored in a nearby pole barn, which as its name implies, is up on pilings.
Human quarters between the two stable wings rival the horses' space. Showers and bedrooms with fireplaces on the first level provide space for owners who have an ill horse and want to spend the night or who simply want to clean up after a trail ride. Although Hansen has homes in Norfolk and Sandbridge, the upper level is living quarters for him and his wife, Lucy, and college-age children Peter and Carter when they choose to stay over at the farm.
Their deck looks out over the pastures and to the forest to the west where two miles of riding trails meander through the wooded area. Hansen sought Cullipher's advice on developing trails, too.
``When I asked Louis about trails and how to do them, he said to look for old deer trails and follow them,'' Hansen said.
Sugar Plum guests will enjoy walking over to the woods where 35 acres of deciduous trees tower over sun-dappled glades. Low-lying wetlands, part of the West Neck Creek watershed, are habitat for beds of beautiful ferns. In addition to deer paths, marked by old deer hunting stands, an old railroad right of way from the days when trains ran down to Pungo and Munden Point provides a wide swath of high ground and is still another ready-made riding trail.
Although Hansen's farm is low maintenance and easy to run and he has hired help, he still spends a day or two a week in Pungo. ``As my wife can tell you, I'm down here too much,'' he said.
Party Polo Style guests might find it hard to leave, too. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
PARTY AT THE PONY PALACE
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Borrowing from the University of Virginia's Jefferson architecture,
Back Bay Farms owner Gene Hansen gave his stables graceful brick
archways.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Skylights in the roof of the stables at Back Bay Farms bring in
natural lighting, while huge ventilating fans in the peaked roof
regulate the temperature.
After purchasing 19th century, round stained glass windows from
historic St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Norfolk, owner Gene Hansen
added a polo pony design for the windows at the east and west ends
of the stables.
The pastures are enclosed and divided by handsome white fences made
of PVC, which will give and not splinter if a horse should crash
into it. Some 35 acres of woods are also on the property.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Skylights in the roof of the stables at Back Bay Farms bring in
natural lighting, while huge ventilating fans in the peaked roof
regulate the temperature.
ABOVE: Human quarters between the two stable wings rival the horses'
space. Showers and bedrooms with fireplaces on the first level
provide space for owners who have an ill horse and want to spend the
night.
LEFT: Hansen brings his polo pony, Willie, out from his stall, lined
with wood shavings, not sawdust.
WHEN & WHERE
Party Polo Style from 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday at Bay Bay Farms in the
heart of Pungo. Tickets for the benefit are $50 per person and are
available at the Sugar Plum Bakery, 1353 Laskin Road, or by calling
481-3588. by CNB