For almost a century, the Quentin Riding Club was a hub of horse activity. From its start as a hackney breeding farm to its pinnacle as host to some of the largest shows in the east, the name “Quentin” was legend in the horse world.
Today, there is little left of Quentin but the memories. Developer Louis Hurst purchased the Lebanon, Pa. property at auction almost four years ago. Since then, bulldozers and the local fire company have destroyed most of the 18 structures on the property: the once grand clubhouse was used for fire training and burned to the ground in July.
The indoor arena, main barn and historic bank barn were dismantled and are expected to be reconstructed at other sites.
Planned to occupy most of the 40-acre site at Rt. 72 and Main St. are a senior housing development and a convenience store and gas station.
But Hurst says he still plans to save a corner of the property for horses – specifically as an equine therapy program for military veterans.
“The idea is still alive and well,” said Hurst. “We are closer to reality then we were. It’s still a passion of ours, even though it’s out of my league on how to run a horse farm.”
The idea for dedicating a portion of the property to veterans’ rehab stemmed from a television program that Hurst and his wife saw several years ago that demonstrated the positive effects horses brought to veterans suffering from PTSD and physical injuries.
The proposals for the commercial and residential phases of the project are before the township zoning board and Hurst said the veteran therapy center, set on 14 acres on the east side of the property, would come next.
“We’re just getting rolling now,” said Hurst.
He said he’d like to get it moving on the therapy program later this year or in early 2024. Hurst, who does not have horse experience, has been talking with Dave Anderson who runs Building Bridges Foundation, an equine-assisted therapy program in Lancaster County, about how to develop such a program. Hurst said he would like to work with the nearby Lebanon VA Medical Center – the largest in the state.
Since its formation in 1935, Quentin Riding Club, was for decades the premier outdoor horse show venue in central Pennsylvania. The last show was held in 2018 before the club was dissolved in 2021 amid financial disputes.
In addition to the grounds’ signature event, the multi-breed Quentin Fall Horse Show, which began in 1934, the club hosted A-rated hunter/jumper, Arabian, Saddlebred, Morgan and other breed shows, including the famed Children’s Benefit Show, drawing competitors from as far as New England and the Midwest. The covered grandstand, tree-filled property and historic buildings gave the showgrounds special character.
Hurst said he explored saving the clubhouse building, even reaching out to the local historical society, but it was in a state of serious disrepair, and it sat in the middle of the development plan.
“It was too costly to restore,” he said.
Hurst has said he would preserve three small outbuildings: two red frame buildings, including one where restrooms were located, and a historic stone structure known as the blacksmith shop.
Hurst does not yet have a name for his development, but said he’d like to pay homage to the horse breeds that showed there.
“I’d like it to have some recognition of what it was in the past,” he said.
Amy Worden, a career journalist, brought home her first horse, a Morgan gelding named Bald Mountain Bacchus, as a teenager from Quentin in 1977.