*Editor's note: This is the first part of a weekly series profiling various properties owned by the College outside Hanover.**##
Many students know that the College has its own skiway, maintains a large lodge at one of New Hampshire's most famous mountains and owns a portion of land boasting a long stretch of the Appalachian Trail. As the second-largest landowner trumped only by the State of New Hampshire and the largest private landowner in the state, it also holds some less well-known properties, with which fewer students are familiar.
The Dartmouth Riding Center, located about five miles from Hanover at Morton Farm in Etna, N.H., is spread out over nearly 200 acres of College-owned land and provides facilities for over 150 members of the Upper Valley community to use for horseback riding each week, according to Sally Batton, the director of riding and coach of the equestrian team.
A former cattle farm, Morton Farm is home to the Dartmouth equestrian, dressage and polocrosse teams, and hosts approximately five collegiate horse shows each year, according to Sam Parsons '10, the co-captain of the equestrian team and a former horseback riding physical education instructor. William H. Morton '63 donated the farm in 1970, and the College built the equestrian facilities in 1978, farm manager Doug Illsley said.
In addition to providing facilities for the College's sports teams, the Dartmouth Riding Center offers PE classes for students and riding lessons for the community and hosts two Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trips each year.
Morton Farm is also the home of the Dartmouth Challenge Program, a riding program for mentally-challenged members of the Upper Valley, Batton said. The program is funded by the Dartmouth Class of 1951 and Friends of Morton Farm, she said.
The center has also hosted the Special Olympics Fall Horsemanship Games over the past three years, Batton said.
"Sometimes people think that we're such a small part of the College but we offer something that a lot of other schools don't," Illsley said. Horseback riding PE classes are "underutilized," Parsons said, noting that the classes are taken primarily by members of the equestrian team.
"It is really a unique sport because you have to be accountable for not only yourself but for another living entity," equestrian team co-captain Cristina Herren '12 said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "It is a very rewarding experience to be able to make a 1,000 pound animal move and turn and act according to your wishes."
There are also 118 acres of woods at the center that Parsons had the opportunity to explore while riding over her sophomore summer, an experience she called "incredible."
Batton said that her time with students is the most meaningful, specifically recalling multiple instances of assisting unexperienced riders.
Students who are just learning to ride also offer farm employees, who have been riding horses for many years, a "fresh look at things that we take for granted," Batton said.
Dartmouth students and riding center employees said they appreciate the opportunity the farm presents to interact with the Upper Valley community.
"What I really love about the farm is what it offers for the young community," Illsley said. "I worked through my high school years at the farm so I've seen a lot of children ride there."
Morton Farm is one of several "auxiliary" properties owned by the College, according to planning documents released by Dartmouth. The properties are not typically profitable, the documents said.
This year, the farm reduced the number of horses it boards from 33 to 24 as a cost-cutting measure, Batton said. Two full-time and six part-time employees care for those horses, 10 of which are College-owned, Illsley said.
"We all hope the farm and the team will not be affected by the budget cuts," Herren said in the e-mail. "But at the same time we are also realistic."
