Tonight is the first member-recruiting meeting for the new Kachemak Bay Equestrian Association.
The association began meeting in March of this year, and between the six board members there have been at least 105 phone calls to “horse people,” who might be interested in joining the association.
The goal of the association: an arena. A place for horse people to ride, hold clinics and rodeos, have play days and horse shows, and eventually, a trail system linked to the beach and bluff.
Roberta Highland, vice president of the association, has owned horses for 20 of the 22 years she has lived in Homer.
Highland is working on grants and permits for the arena. Highland said that uses of the arena could go beyond just horse events. Garden shows, fairs, dog shows and 4-H events also could be conducted in the space.
“There’s many, many different angles to go,” she said.
The Kachemak Bay Equestrian Association originally began in 1998, with a plan to make an indoor horse arena part of the Jack Gist Recreational Park, which was going to be a multiuse park including softball and soccer fields.
However, the plan for the arena was never completed.
In 2001, horse enthusiasts once again joined together with the hope of building an arena in the Homer area. Sabrina and Andy Hillstrand also were working to get a riding facility, so the two groups joined together.
In 2003, the Hillstrands moved, and the association stopped work on its goal.
“When he (Andy Hillstrand) left, nobody picked up the ball and said, ‘we’re having a meeting,’” said Renee Eidem, president of KBEA and former member of the old association.
The new KBEA board has pared down the vision from that of the previous association. No longer is the goal an indoor arena, which, the members agree, would be nice. For now, the plan is to buy land and find people interested in an open arena.
“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to use it toward the end of the summer,” said Eidem.
People in the community already have donated surveying, engineering, an appraisal, sand and a round pen to the arena project.
Jeanie Fabich is a board member of the new association and assistant leader of the local 4-H club, where she would like to start a horse club division.
Recently, Fabich bought her daughter a pony.
“I thought, this is the only horse I’ll ever own,” she said. But then, her husband bought her a registered paint gelding for her birthday last February.
When Fabich was walking her new horse the nine miles to her house with a friend, they passed an area that Fabich thought would be perfect for an arena. Her friend told her of the old association’s attempt to get an indoor arena for Homer, and about Renee Eidem.
“I said, well… I wonder if we could get this thing going,” said Eidem. “And then I decided, OK, I’m gonna go for it.”
So Eidem, Fabich and several members of the old association began, once more, to work on a horse arena for Homer.
The six members of the new association decided the short-term plan was to create interest in the community— while at the same time pursuing grants and 3.29 acres of land located between Adams and Scenic View drives, at approximately 1.5 mile East End Road.
An idea for the project is to include a parking area for people to access the bike path, as well as restroom facilities.
Renee Eidem grew up with horses in Homer. She attended Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre in Waverly, W.Va. after high school. After school, Eidem taught lessons and did horse camps in the Homer area.
However, Eidem’s real dream, since high school, has been to have her own boarding stable. Knowing that that dream would cost money, Eidem went to work at the bank, now Wells Fargo, where she spent the next 18 years.
Now, Eidem still has the dream for her boarding stable, and finally has the property. Ultimately, she wants it to be a place not only for people to board their horses, but for teenagers and youth to spend time with horses.
Youth are a huge part of the desire for an arena. Fabich and Eidem both agree that it should be a place used by entire families. Because of a longstanding love of horses, both women want other kids to have the opportunities they had.
“My parents had been into horses, you know, severely,” said Fabich. However, they didn’t have horses while she was growing up. When she was 12 years old, after her mother died, Fabich would spend hours at a boarding stable with the horses. When she was 14, she was given a job at the stable.
“You know, it saved me, basically,” she said. “It wasn’t just riding the horses. I was around people that had their act together.”
Fabich said that she wants other kids to have that opportunity.
“I just see how it has changed my life,” she said.
The association welcomes anyone interested in horses, whether they own one or not, to sign up as a member. Fabich points out that people who don’t have a horse, or children old enough to ride, can plan ahead for when they might like to have an arena.
The KBEA meets at 7 p.m. today, in the City Hall Cowles Council Chambers. Yearly memberships are $25 for adults, $10 for children and $60 for a family. Members are expected to have their own health insurance.
To contact the association prior to the meeting e-mail jeaniefabich@yahoo.com.
In order to apply for grants the association needs to show community involvement and support. At tonight’s meeting the board hopes to sign up new members and create excitement in the community for the new facility, and new opportunities.
The first member-recruiting meeting for the new Kachemak Bay Equestrian Association is at 7 tonight at Cowles Council Chambers in Homer City Hall. Yearly memberships are $25 for adults, $10 for children and $60 for a family.
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