THE FARM'S HISTORY

Welcome to Chatham Farm! We are delighted to re-open this wonderful horse farm, forever known as Shiloh Stables, owned by the late Danny Watson. My husband Tony and I fell in love with this beautiful property in 2004 when I decided to get back into riding, showing and owning horses after taking 8 years off from my passion of 21 years. I had just “happened” into a great 6 year old Thoroughbred gelding off the track who was looking for a new job and a new home.

With no notice, and little knowledge of the region’s “shortage” of affordable, quality boarding barns in Cincinnati, I lucked into a temporary spot for Verily. But once I got him home, I started the exhausting search for a suitable, permanent home for him. I wasn’t really picky, but I wanted an affordable barn with nice facilities, preferably with an indoor arena, competent barn help, friendly people and barn hours that I could work around.

So…I remember to this day: I ran into Sophie Heikkila at McCauley’s Saddlery. Upon sharing my recent barn search woes with her, she said that she boarded her horse at Shiloh Stables, an “ol’ cowboy barn” in Goshen. She recommended I go check it out - so the next day I did…

Well, a “good ol’ cowboy barn” it was! Danny Watson, greeted me at the door in his work gloves, well worn cowboy boots and ten-gallon hat. He had a bright smile about him and a twinkle in his eye, and I instantly felt welcome. He handed me a cold beverage, gave me the nickel tour and even offered to pick Verily up for me at no charge. The next day he pulled up, loaded my horse and brought us “Home” on that sunny, bitter cold February day.

The next year flew by: Winter turned to Spring, Spring to Summer, and I made some of the best friends I’ve ever had. We all did different things: from trail riding, to dressage, to 3-day eventing, to hunter/jumpers. Even had a few barrel racers in the barn, which is what Danny did. We all called ourselves the “Shiloh Girls” (and still do!). The barn was as much our social life as it was our barn, and we spent our days and nights riding and laughing and hanging out – no better way than with horses and friends. We became like a one big family, including Danny. His “Friday Night Steak Night” became a weekly tradition we all cherished, where he would buy steaks and tons of other food and throw it all on the grill for everyone. We had a blast! Those were the good ol’ Shiloh Days….so many wonderful memories…too many to name.

In the warmer months you could count on my husband Tony stopping by to hang out for a few hours each week and enjoy the farm life. He would bring his friends out to fish in the pond, hang out with Danny or just watch us ride. He and Danny often sat at the picnic table and talked about “Someday” when Danny was going to sell us the Farm, then they’d chuckle and head out to the pond together and throw in a line. Every so often the subject of “Someday” would come up again – which we loved, but at that time we could only dream of owning a place like Shiloh.

Fall turned to Winter and with the hard freeze came a very sad and unfortunate accident with my sweet Verily. We ended up putting him down from the accident, and life at Shiloh just wasn’t the same after that for me. I did find another truly amazing horse, Happy Hour (again just off the track) and brought him home to Shiloh for a couple of months. But it was time to move on, and I soon made the difficult decision to leave my barn family and move Hap closer to my trainer, Matt Payne, so that I could focus on his training and get back into showing. A few years (and barns later!), I am still riding with Matt, Hap is doing phenomenally well, and we (the Shiloh Girls) were all back together in another local barn, reunited once again. Times were good!

The sad news is that in the meantime our friend Danny passed away in May, 2007. In the following 18 months Shiloh Stables went through some tough changes and hard times. In August 2008, Tony and I learned of the farm’s circumstances, contacted Danny’s son Shane (also a friend of ours from the “Shiloh days”) and began the long arduous process of trying to “Save Shiloh.” With Shane’s patience and the unconditional support of my husband Tony, our families, friends and all of the Shiloh Girls…nine months later, here we are!

Our dream has come true. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about our ol’ cowboy friend, Danny, but we are so truly honored to have the opportunity to carry on his legacy. Thank you, Danny – we miss you. And thank you, Shane for helping us make all of this happen.

We hope to make Chatham Farm a place you would be very proud to call Home. We sure are.

Kat and Tony Bohman
May, 2009