Tacking in a Slightly Different Direction

Tacking in a Slightly Different Direction

Jenny Fuog, Georgie Summers, Geraldine Peace and Norma Thompson staff the Middleburg Tack Exchange with some adorable rescues available for adoption.

Photo by Leslie VanSant

By Leslie VanSant

No trip to Virginia Hunt Country would be right without a stop in The Middleburg Tack Exchange. The shop was opened by legendary horsewoman Jo Motion with a goal of “high quality consigned and new equestrian equipment and apparel.” A keeper of tradition, Mrs. Motion has outfitted generations for the hunt field, show ring and steeplechase track.

Shoppers are greeted by long-time employees Georgie Summers or Norma Thompson. One wall is lined with show coats and hunting frocks, an entire row completely scarlet. Bridles, saddles, blankets and boots fill every corner of two floors. Win pictures from classic-winning trainer Graham Motion, Jo’s son, hang beside hunting whips on the wall behind a simple desk and a case full of flasks. For the most part, the shop is the same as it has been for 30 years.

Except, in addition to the adding machine on the front desk, there’s a gorgeous orchid resplendent in blooms. And, instead of a petite English woman explaining how to properly outfit a fox chaser, the directions are coming from a very tall, very modern English woman.

Earlier this year, 90-year-old Jo Motion announced her retirement and passed the whip, along with the keys to the shop, to local horsewoman Geraldine Peace.

Born in Newmarket, England, where her father was a leading veterinary surgeon, Peace recalled a blissful childhood. “As kids, we were raised riding our fat little ponies out on the famous Newmarket gallops, which our home literally backed onto. I was going to be a jockey! This dream was short-lived, I was 5-foot-6 by 11 and almost 6 feet by 13. But riding was in my blood.”

The family immigrated to Canada where her love of horses continued to flourish. She worked with her father and attended thoroughbred sales at Keeneland and Saratoga. She hunted and rode modern pentathlon, and usually had a horse or two she was making up and selling on the side to “pay the bills.”

“I have been hunting since I was little, it has always been my hobby, but horses and animal husbandry are my passion,” Peace said. “When it became evident in Canada that I could make a living by finding and training horses, especially hunters, and selling them down south in Virginia, my hobby and passion became my profession.”

When she made her first trip to fox chase the Virginia Piedmont 25 years ago, her father made the connection with his good friends from Newmarket, Jo and her husband, Michael. Peace then moved to Middleburg permanently in 2001 when she took a job managing Bolinvar Farm for then-owners, the Straub Family.

Now, Peace has a barn of her own, some fox hunting clients and a pack of rescue dogs she rehabilitates. She’s a member of the Orange County Hounds, and when she has a child to accompany, the MOC Beagles.

In the shop, fox chasing tradition and manners have been shared with equestrians of all ages and backgrounds. Peace has a few ideas to upgrade the technology systems that power the consignment shop, but will keep everything else pretty much the same.

One small change, Peace will have available rescue dogs serve as “shop dogs” in search of their forever homes. Horses and hounds. Forever.

Photo by Leslie VanSant

Jenny Fuog, Georgie Summers, Geraldine Peace and Norma Thompson staff the Middleburg Tack Exchange with some adorable rescues available for adoption.

The Middleburg Tack Exchange, 103 West Federal Street, is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. www.middleburgtack.com.