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It’s Foaling Season at Blue Ridge Farm
It’s Foaling Season at Blue Ridge Farm
By Linda Roberts
Blanketed in snow and steeped in history, Blue Ridge Farm’s 500 acres roll across some of the most beautiful landscapes in Fauquier County. On the day I visited horsewoman Patricia Ramey, we watched by the pasture gate as 14 yearlings romped and ran in ever widening circles across their large field.
Ramey, who like many young girls “never got horses out of her system” as the saying goes, took her childhood interest to the next level as an adult, finding a way over the years to turn her passion into her livelihood.
She leases 250 acres from the Grayson family who have owned Blue Ridge Farm since Rear Admiral Cary T. Grayson purchased the property in 1928 for a Thoroughbred breeding operation.
Here Ramey continues her love of horses, and Admiral Grayson’s interest in breeding quality racing stock lives on, with her own skills of foaling mares for owners who don’t want to take on this specialized component of the horse business.
“I’m knee deep in foaling mares right now,” Ramey said.
With 17 foals already “on the ground,” she’s expecting 30 to 40 mares to deliver their babies this season. Most will be Thoroughbreds destined for careers as race horses, but there is the occasional show horse mare that comes to Blue Ridge under her care to deliver the next generation’s valuable show horse prospect.
Assisting a mare with the delivery of her foal “is not something that many people want to do,” added Ramey who, in addition to her team of employees, has the assistance of cameras in foaling stalls and other sophisticated devices that send her alarms when a mare is going into labor. Despite the high-tech touches, mares have been known to follow nature’s call such as trying to foal in a pasture in a snowstorm or foaling earlier or later than anticipated.
Operating her foaling business for the last 20 plus years at Blue Ridge Farm, regarded as the oldest Thoroughbred farm in continual operation in Virginia, Ramey has seen a shift in emphasis within the industry geared to promote Virginia-bred horses. She cites monetary incentives now to breed and race a horse foaled in Virginia, making these horses eligible for higher purses at designated racetracks.
Bundled against the cold chill of a January afternoon as we talked and watched the horses run, Ramey, the girl who was “absolutely crazy about horses,” grew up but did not outgrow her passion for working with horses.
About Blue Ridge Farm, Upperville
Founded as a thoroughbred breeding operation, Blue Ridge Farm was purchased in 1903 by Californian Henry Oxnard. Rear Admiral Cary T. Grayson bought the property from Oxnard in 1928, putting his own touches to the farm and promoting its prominence in the Thoroughbred breeding industry. Many area residents remember stallions such as Marion DuPont Scott’s Mongo and Paul Mellon’s Quadrangle, both of which following successful racing careers, were featured in Blue Ridge’s breeding program. The farm’s main house, built in 1791, was selected for the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register in 2006. Many of the farm’s buildings date to the early 1900s.
