Port Orange Stables

Horse Boarding Stables, Port Orange Flordia

 

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the new buyer or the seller of the property at 950 Madeline Ave, Port Orange, Florida. I own the website and email address ONLY. This website is for the memories shared at the Port Orange Stables over the past 57 years. You are welcome to send me emails and pictures of your experiences at the Stables.

 

 FOR THE LOVE OF ANIMALS! - Where are all the horses going?

 

For now, nowhere. No one, except the new buyer, has a timeline of when any changes will occur. When the horses move, they will be relocated to their new homes. Different individuals own them, so they may meet at the same new boarding facility, and maybe not. Most boarding facilities are located in Samsula, Florida, and many horses have already moved to Samsula from the Daytona, South Daytona, and Port Orange areas. 

 

From my understanding, the horse owners will be given notice when they have to find a new boarding facility. Arrangements will be made for each horse and tack to be moved if the owner does not own a trailer.  Once all the animal lovers safely relocate all the animals from the Stables, the new owner will start clearing the property. Although the barns are 57 years old, the lumber is usable. The shingles will be removed, and the plywood under them will be carefully removed along with all the other lumber, with very little being thrown away. 

 

All the animals will be relocating, except the ducks. The new owner is building a considerably large pond for the ducks to swim, which is approximately where the big barn is now. A storage facility will be made on the Northeast corner of the property. Trees and the pond will be on the South side of the property.

                                                                                      

From reading posts and comments, everyone is concerned about the well-being of the animals. I can assure you that although the Horse Haven is no more, all animals will be relocated to a safe, secure environment. The "old woman" everyone mentions in the posts, her name is Ellen. If you would like me to post your experiences at the Port Orange Stables, kindly email me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..                                                                               

                                                                                                       History of the Port Orange Stables. 

           Gottlob is Ellen's dad. Ellen's dad moved from Germany to the United States in 1927. He immediately found employment at a bicycle shop. After a few months, he learned the business and opened his first business, Nicetown Cycle Company. In the 1950s, Ellen's dad was one of the largest and most successful wholesale distributors of bicycles in the U.S.A.. Being successful, he bought a horse farm close to his bicycle business and named the farm Evergreen Farms. The city of Philadelphia enacted eminent domain and took his property for the Bustleton Avenue extension.

His daughter, Ellen, got married. Ellen's dad retired, sold the distribution center, and gave the bicycle shop to Ellen's husband, Larry. After Ellen and Larry's divorced, Larry kept the bicycle business until he died. Because of failing health, Ellen's dad was advised to move to a warmer environment. Since Ellen's dad traveled through Port Orange to visit Key West, he decided to move to Port Orange and bought a house on the ocean. He purchased the stable's property from the McDonald's family in 1963. Ellen's dad built a small barn on the property and moved his wife, his daughter, his grandson, and two horses from Philadelphia in November 1963. By 1965, Ellen's dad cleared the rest of the land and built a barn the size of a football field. He thought of a unique concept, have the trainer live on the premises by constructing a home inside the barn. Instead, Ellen moved in, living there for the rest of her life until 2016.

          In the 1960s, the Stables were a fair distance away from residents of Port Orange.People referred to the Stables as being out in the country. The Stables is located on Nova Road, also known as the truck route. The only paved roads were Nova, Madeline to Nova, and Herbert Street. The Stables has been here 57 years and many residents consider the Stables an icon in the community.

Port Orange And the surrounding cities had people that owned property with horses, many relocated to Samsula, Florida. 

          At Nova and Madeline, across from the Stables, the barn with the two silos.

          Across from the Port Orange Post Office. 

          On Jackson Street, South of Canalview. 

          On Sugar Mill Road, running West to Jackson Street, behind the houses on Jackson Street. 

          All along Taylor Road.

          All along Spruce Creek Road, South of Taylor Road.

           On Magnolia in South Daytona.

           In Daytona Beach and Holly Hill.

          In 1965, the property was named Port Orange Walking Horse Stables because Ellen's dad owned two pleasure Tennessee Walking horses. Ellen's dad envisioned a massive following of fellow Tennessee Walking Horse owners to move to the area in the winter and have horse shows at the Stables. The first horse show in 1967 attracted less than ten exhibitors, so that was the one and only horse show ever held at the Stables. By 1967, Ellen's dad acquired many Tennessee Walking Horses, including Triple Threat, the 1965 World's Champion. Every summer, Ellen's dad, Ellen, and her son traveled to Tennessee with two horses and showed in the Tennessee summer circuit. In 1969, her son placed tenth in the National Celebration in Shelbyville, Tennessee. This show determines the "best of the best," the champion riders and horses each year, like the "Big Game" in football. 

 

          By 1973, there were hundreds of ribbons won by both Ellen and her son.

 

In 1970, a new law was enacted to help eliminate the abuse of Tennessee Walking Horses, Ellen's dad and Ellen were both animal lovers and did not want to be associated with that type of industry, so they immediately sold all the show horses and Triple Threat, the 1965 Worlds Grand Champion. They only kept the pleasure Tennessee Walkers.  Ellen's dad was sick, and he could not leave his house. Ellen's dad sold ALL the horses by 1974 and Ellen and her son had no say in the matter. Developers started developing Sugar Forest and Springwood subdivisions. Without notice, one of the developers trespassed and dug Ellen's dad's ditches two feet wider and four feet deeper than her dad initially dug in 1965. Ellen's dad was distraught and demanded a fence be put up on the property line around the property and the ditches are made shallower due to safety concerns of horses or people falling in them. Plus, NO ONE had received permission from him to dig on his property. A fence company did a great job installing a chain link fence with three strands of barbed wire along the top. Ellen's son filled in the ditches, as instructed by his grandfather. He could not object; he was still a teenager attending high school and living at home. 

          In 1978, Ellen's dad died. Ellen and her son were the two 1/2 owners of the stables. Ellen was so distraught about losing her dad that she wanted everyone to move their horses, except one person, the perfect boarder, that kept to themselves.

          Ellen turned the barn into a boarding stable. Her son did all the maintenance. Due to the growing hatred towards the treatment of Tennessee Walking Horses, the barn's name was shortened to Port Orange Stables. Many trainers around the country abused Tennessee Walker's show horses. For the horse to have an ideal performance, built-up shoes were used, chains or boots around the horse's front ankles and most used "hot stuff," Oil of Mustard, around the horse's front ankles to cause calluses and get the horse to raise their legs higher. Animal rights groups protested around the country and changed how Tennessee Walking Horses are treated today. When Tennessee Walking Horse was mentioned, people automatically profiled the Port Orange Walking Horse Stables as abusers of horses and made it challenging to attract boarders to our barn.

          One boarder at the barn threw monthly parties, which included a live band. All the boarders would gather and ride horses together at the party and always have plenty of fun. Another boarder has cookouts every once in a while for the current boarders.

 

Not many people knew that the property was almost sold twice before, in 1967 and 1978.

After the horse show, Ellen's dad was so devastated by the lack of enthusiasm by the horse people in the area that he tried selling the property to a developer, but Ellen would not sign her half interest.

In 1978, someone reported that since the Stables had no horses on the property, it was no longer "grandfathered in," and a cease and desist order would be filed. There was one horse - Thank You!

                                                                                                                THE HUGE DILEMMA

          In 2016, Ellen died. Ellen was sick for a few years and used her money to pay her bills and private nurses instead of reinvesting it in the Stables. Ellen cut insurance and maintenance to a minimum. Now the Stables look run down.

         The stable lost much land because of the Nova Road widening. There are only so many horses you can keep on eight acres. 

          Keeping horses inside during the summer is impossible, as temperatures exceed 100 degrees. Some horses fight in the same paddock, so they must stay separated. 

          Ellen lived at the Stable. The Stable paid all Ellen's bills, and she relied on Social Security for things the Stable's income did not cover.

          Laurie, a previous boarder, quoted a newspaper article a few years back that the Port Orange Stables is a "White Elephant." 

          Laurie is correct. The barn needs a new roof which would cost over $200,000. The Stables do not bring in that kind of income and the bank will not loan money to have it replaced. Expenses exceed income. The Stables already had slightly higher prices than other boarding facilities in the area, so raising prices would only get all the animal lovers to move out. The eight acres are almost filled to capacity.

          For most people in our community, the day the horses move and the demolition crew arrives to start renovations WILL BE A SAD DAY.

          Some people have not been so kind and will break open champagne. Those were the HATERS that opposed the Stable remaining open. The reason most horse farms are far away from the city include:

          Lower taxes.

          Fewer people complaining.

          More places to ride and go on trails.

           Less traffic would scare the horses.

           Less Government interference.

           Fewer individuals harm horses, even if their actions are unintentional.

          Now there are cameras and night security, so the following no longer happen.

Some examples:

          Some people would sneak unto the property and secretly feed the horses.

          Criminals would jump the fence and hide from the police.

          Teenagers wanted to see a horse get high and administered drugs to them.

 

        Many country folks never experienced this type of bad behavior from their neighbors, but the City expanded farther West than the Stables, so it was no longer country.

          Many city folks are not familiar with horses. They wanted to trespass to feed the horses. Not realizing some horses require a special diet and some foods may kill them, people tried sneaking over the fence and feeding the horses anyway.  That is when the idea came up to REMOVE THE CHAIN LINK FENCE AND BUILD A BORDER WALL. This is a great idea to keep people out and eliminate all the rude phone calls, but impractical.

EXAMPLES OF SOME OF THE "CONCERNING" PHONE CALLS RECEIVED DAILY.

Since 1978, concerned animal lovers with not much knowledge of horses have never stopped calling. The Stables had numerous phone calls a day from people concerned about the safety of the animals. Mostly about horses being dead because they were lying down. 

          Don't dogs, cats, humans, etc., all lay down to sleep? 

          Humans always lay in the sun on the beach; horses sunbathe too! 

Similar to New York in 2022, where the City had to send out bulletins to citizens to stop calling about the splooting squirrels. (Splooting is a term used for the squirrels that are spreading their legs to allow their stomach to touch the ground to cool off).

 

FUNNIEST STORY - Ellen was an animal lover, she would never ignore a horse in distress.

           Around 2012, it rained daily. The ground at the stable is very high, so rarely is there any standing water. Ellen's phone started getting blown up by frantic callers screaming at her that a horse was stuck in the mud in the big field, a visual to Nova Road traffic. Her nurse walked out and saw no horse stuck in the ground. There was no "mud." The Humane Society, the police department, and the fire department all called and spoke to Ellen, and she explained that she investigated and no horse was stuck in the mud. A short time later, the Humane Society vehicle, a police car, a fire truck, and a wrecker opened the front gate as Ellen was leaving to play Bingo. The Humane Society employee yelled out his window, warning Ellen not to leave because she faced many charges for ignoring the horse stranded in the mud and unable to break free. Ellen laughed and yelled at them, "THERE IS NO HORSE STUCK IN THE MUD." They drove to the fenced area, opened the gate, and ran towards the "horse stuck in the mud." As they approached, the little pony (with a horse-sized head) jumped up and ran from the men, scared to death.

 *** WE HAD PEOPLE COMPLAIN TOO!***

           The main complaint throughout the years has been the smell—the stench of horses and horse droppings. When asked the neighbors why they would buy a house next to a farm if the smell bothered them, the neighbors responded that the developers promised the horse farm would be gone in months, so they purchased the houses. 

The sales motto, say anything for sale, but do not put anything in writing.

 THIS LADY SAYS SHE WILL CALL AUTHORITIES ALL THE TIME UNTIL THE BARN IS GONE

          In 2017, a horse had a scratch on his nose, and he rubbed his nose against his two front legs, so the neighbor called EVERYONE she could instead of going to the fence to see a small scratch on the horse's nose. After the vet, the authorities, the owner of the horse, and the barn owners were on the scene; the neighbor came out to see the action. The owner of the horse took a wet towel and removed the dried blood. The vet determined the tiny scratch, which did not require stitches, was the only injury. The neighbor told everyone present that she called, although she knew the horse was okay and would keep calling and complaining about everything until the place was shut down. She said that she came out to say it to our faces.

LATEST COMPLAINT 2022

          Someone from Springwood complained they had too many rats, and the rats must be coming from the stable. Horses and horse feed attract them, the complainer says in the complaint. With all protocols in place this year, no one has seen a rat at the barn. After an investigation, I understand the rats were attracted to someone's house and that someone in the community received a warning to clean up their house.

 I will moss the stables. I hope this article was both entertaining and informative. If you would like to share any positive experiences concerning the stables or any pictures you would like to share, I will add them to the photo section of the web site. More photos are being added weekly.

 

 

Port Orange,  Florida - Horse boarding stables