Portland Horse Farms Share a Positive Message this Holiday

For their first Christmas, Sand Hill and Three Winds farms are playing the role of Santa Claus.

The Portland horse farms - located at 239 Sand Hill Road - invited the public to check out the vast property Saturday afternoon, and for kids to enjoy a pony ride or some time in an inflatable bounce house. In return, guests were asked to bring a food item or toy which will be donated to local shelters.

“We like to teach the kids that ride here that giving is part of the Christmas spirit,” said Nicole Imbriglio, a trainer, who has helped navigate Three Winds Farm since it opened in September.

Managing partner at Sand Hill Farm, Clayton Kilbourn, added: “It’s about giving back to the community that gives us so much.”

Kilbourn took ownership of the property nearly a year ago, and has done a lot to get it in order.

“We’ve changed just about everything,” he said. “But it wasn’t without a lot of money going into it, and a lot of planning, and executing it.”

Along with helping those in need, Saturday’s toy and food drive served to get the word out that a new day has dawned at the local barns.

Previously known as Quarry Town Stables, the Sand Hill Road real estate has endured several years of bad publicity.

In 2001, a former owner of the farm, Robert Johnson, was convicted of molesting one of his riding students; a teen girl.

Then, in 2010, Johnson lost a civil suit filed by another former student, a man, who claimed he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Johnson at Quarry Town Stables in the 90s, when the victim was a teenager.

And last summer, Johnson again made news, this time for violating his parole.

Sand Hill and Three Winds farms do their best to distance themselves from the property’s dark past.

“This is a new place. It’s run by wonderful people,” said Imbriglio. “And part of the program, when we started doing the toy and food drive, was to show the town of Portland that this farm is about families. We don’t want a cloud over the farm anymore. We’re changing everything, and there are happy, bright people here who love kids.”

“It’s new ownership, and we’re just looking forward,” said Kilbourn.

Not only have Sand Hill and Three Winds farms turned the proverbial page, Dawne Wilson Jones, a trainer, who oversees Sand Hill Farm for Kilbourn said “it’s a whole new book.”

Riders Alyssa Salafia and Makayla Clifford spoke about the family feel at Sand Hill and Three Winds farms.

“It’s a long haul for me to come out here, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Clifford, 17, of Storrs. “It’s a family atmosphere. This whole barn is my family. There’s no drama, no pressure, it’s just a good, relaxed learning environment.”

Salafia, of Middletown, echoed that. “I say it all the time, they’re like my second family,” the 15-year-old said. “It’s amazing.”

For more information about Sand Hill Farm, visit sandhillfarmct.com. The Three Winds Farm website is threewindsfarmct.com.