Stables ─ Beautiful Paddocks, Horse Barns, and Tack Rooms

From the private to the historic to the state-of-the-art, a lavish tour of some of the most notable stables in the country. A celebration of horses and their "lodgings," this exquisite book covers horse country across the United States—from the East Coast to the Bluegrass, the prairie and mountain ranches, and to the Pacific Coast—and traces the origins of twenty-five stunning stables, from their vernacular beginnings in the early nineteenth century to the contemporary designs of today. Included are a farm in the countryside near Saratoga Springs, New York, which bears an 1830s-constructed main barn that originally housed draft horses and now accommodates retired race horses turned polo ponies, and a world-renowned Arabian horse-breeding farm in Santa Ynez Valley, California, that resembles a spa and country club with Mediterranean-style architecture and landscaping and has in the stable courtyard a stone fountain reminiscent of the ubiquitous waterworks in Moorish palaces. Uniquely spectacular, each selection is a reflection of its regional heritage. Featuring all-new color photography, Stables showcases the best of America’s diverse equine homes—a must-have for any horse or architecture enthusiast.

Kathryn Masson is the author of Hunt Country Style and Historic Houses of Virginia. Paul Rocheleau is the photographer of Hunt Country Style and Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape. Perky Beisel is a life-long rider and an authority on the development of the American stable.