'Come ride with us:' Pisgah Forest Stables gets back on trail despite difficulties
Nick Haseloff | The Transylvania Times
Pisgah Forest Stables Owner Jerry Dean leads a horse out of a stall. He said major delays from U.S. Forest Service budget cuts pushed back the business’ season start date. Tourism numbers in the forest are also making things difficult for the small business.
Just days after flooding from Hurricane Helene tore through Pisgah National Forest and caused major damage to Pisgah Forest Stables, its owner Jerry Dean said his family business’ chances of survival were slim to none.
Nine months later, the stables are back up and running.
Dean and his workers started giving rides through Pisgah National Forest to visitors again June 14.
But the small business’ troubles are not over.
After major construction delays from federal budget and staffing restrictions pushed back the stables’ season start date, Dean said low attendance numbers in the forest are now making it hard to stay afloat even though horses and riders are back out on the trail.
“I think the tourism is way down,” Dean said. “Whether it’s because of the economy or whether it’s because they’re not sure (about) the infrastructure; and what is going to be available to do; where to stay; and that kind of thing.”
Pisgah Forest Stables relies heavily on tourists who make the trip to the forest from Asheville, but according to Buncombe County’s Tourism Development Authority, hotel occupancy numbers were down this spring compared to last year as less visitors are coming to visit western North Carolina.
“They’ll come down here to look at the waterfalls and do Pisgah — do the outdoor thing for the day or two days,” Dean said about visitors from past years. “And usually we get a fair number of that, but it’s just not been much (this season.)”
Pisgah Forest Stables worked closely with the U.S. Forest Service to restore access to its property after the 2-mile-long gravel road leading to the site was damaged during Hurricane Helene.
Dean said he was originally hoping to open during the normal season start date in April but delays on the road work kept pushing necessary work back.
Despite the delays, he said all of the local Forest Service personnel he worked with personally were dedicated to helping restore the road and rehabilitate the gravel lot in front of the stables.
“I was really hoping that we’d be able to open Memorial Day, end of May, and have that business and get our horses back and get them kind of acclimated and conditioned back to being able to ride for the summer,” Dean said.
According to Dean, the work was delayed because of budget and staffing cuts at the federal level which prevented the Forest Service from getting around to the project in a timely manner, ultimately impacting his small business’ ability to have a more successful season.
“It’s been a lot of waiting,” Dean said. “For me, it’s been a lot of frustration because sometimes for those who have been involved or who are on this end of the Forest Service, they can only do so much.
“It had gotten to the point where, yes, it needed to be done. They knew it needed to be done, but weren’t able to get all the resources to where they needed to go. And so they have to do everything in such a systematic and correct way to be accountable to the U.S. government. It always takes longer than expected or longer than you want it.”
The government workers eventually restored the gravel road and lot, but it was up to Dean’s family to shoulder the cost of rebuilding the stables’ buildings which were also damaged in the flood.
“Really we had to redo the whole back and sides of the barn,” Dean said. “I had to redo the floors of most of the stalls, put new stall mats down. The base or the ground in the stalls had been washed away just where the water got up in there and flooded.”
Even after investing mountains of time, energy and money into restoration of the stables, Dean said he is still unsure about the current season and those to come.
He measures a season’s busyness by how many horses the business needs stabled to meet demands.
In a typically busy season Dean said he has 12 horses ready to go every day.
This season he has 10 horses available, but said he could definitely get by with only eight if it were not for a single camp which brings larger groups to the site.
Besides the uncertain future of the stables, Dean said he still has hope, especially if more people come out to experience the forest on horseback.
“We are going to trust God for whatever comes,” he said. “Next year I hope to still be able to operate. It will probably be with less horses and less things. Can’t do the big rides.”
“Really, the biggest thing that would help, and that I would say to those reading the article, ‘If you have family coming in, come ride with us,’” Dean said. “We have easy horses. We don’t have the great grand views of the Grand Canyon or the Bob Marshall Wilderness or Zion National Park. But we’re in the oldest national forest in North Carolina.
“It’s about the experience. It’s going to get a hamburger when you could go across the street and get a steak.”
