Pleasant Valley Farm has been serving Western Maryland horse owners and riders for over 50 years. Located in scenic western Maryland between Hagerstown and Frederick.
History
In 1951 Dick Boutelle (who was president of Fairchild Aviation) and his wife, Ellen, bought a farm on at 9010 Old Hagerstown RD, Middletown, MD 21769. This farm was called Pleasant Valley Farm. With the purchase of this farm, the family had several horses, two of which belonged to Arthur Godfrey. These horses were made available to guests when Fairchild would have company picnics, company outings, and were boarded & kept there for that use. There were also ongoing weekend pony rides & trail rides that Ellen would host with the family & friends of business associates related to Fairchild & Time Magazine.
Ellen’s children also participated, and this endeavor created a family business. They also had available for use, a governor’s cart that Ellen would give pony cart rides in, and then her daughter, Dickcy, overtook the training of several ponies to drive the cart and sometimes taking carriage rides to Middletown for ice cream cones at Main’s Ice cream. Ellen also raised & bred several horses for sales & training. One of which was Cheyenne, who, with Dickcy became the leading Jr. Jumper of Maryland for 3 yrs. in a row.
In the 60’s the farm was used for TB breeding, where they stood a stallion, Cohoesion, who sired many famous horses, including Flying Boxcar, who was the leading timber horse in Virginia for several years. Dickcy remained professionally involved with riding & training, however her mother ran the business while Dickcy was competing & short listed for the 1984 Olympics.
The farm remains in the Boutelle family. Dickcy Boutelle-Gibson owns and operates a horse boarding and training facility on the property. She also offers trail rides, fox hunts, hunter paces and equestrian training. The farm has access to over 350 acres of land on which to ride.
