Welcome to the most amenity-rich, life-enhancing resort oasis in the nation. Here residents and guests experience four seasons of impeccable white glove service redefined for indoors and out. Service, so comprehensive, so refined, that you will find its equal only in the world's true 5-star hotels.
And just like that, five minutes off the longest north-south Interstate on the East Coast, Charles Joseph (the original His to my column's Hers) and I left the small towns of America's smallest state and passed through the gates into the power of thinking big: 3,500 luxurious sporting club acres of private homes, hunting, Hobbit (yes, Hobbit) Houses, and horses, plenty of horses.
And just like that, five minutes off the longest north-south Interstate on the East Coast, Charles Joseph (the original His to my column's Hers) and I left the small towns of America's smallest state and passed through the gates into the power of thinking big: 3,500 luxurious sporting club acres of private homes, hunting, Hobbit (yes, Hobbit) Houses, and horses, plenty of horses.
Meet the Preserve Sporting Club & Residences in Richmond, Rhode Island, our hosts for the first weekend of autumn.
For equestrians and outdoor enthusiasts, sporting life and style may never be the same.
The Power of Partnership
As soon as we arrived on Friday afternoon, we saw how two respected brands have been elegantly braided into The Preserve experience: Maker's Mark bourbon, whose tastings are paired with private dinners inside a growing village of Hobbit HousesTM, and a gleaming stable of Bentley ley automobiles parked at the ready at the main lodge. Want a ride to your bass or trout fishing? Feel like shooting clays? There's a Bentley Bentayga for that plus - wait for it - a Bentley Off-Road Riding Experience.
"The culture of working in partnership has led to a remarkable series of collaborations with likeminded brands. From residential projects to golf clubs, Bentley works with carefully selected partners to created products inspired by the design and performance of its handcrafted cars," CY we read in A New Age of Collaboration, the hardcover introduction to Bentley we found on our 614 living room coffee table, in front of the remote-controlled fireplace, of our private second-floor suite at the Hilltop Lodge, just steps from our Saturday night dinner reservation at a Maker's Mark Hobbit HouseTM.
Preserve founder, chairman, and visionary Paul Mihailides promised, "You'll feel you've entered Tolkein's 'Middle-earth' as a well-worn path leads you to an intricate, round wooden door that swings open to reveal an intimate interior with stone floors and artfully stacked stone walls." And these aren't just authentic in a literary sense -- all the stones and materials for construction are sourced on the property, with holiday adornments, changed seasonally, also locally sourced.
So we knew we were in good hands as we dropped our bags to pick up the reins to our favorite horsepower at The Preserve Equestrian Training Center. With Hurricane Ophelia barreling up the coast, The Preserve helped revise our schedule to ride that afternoon, while the weather was still in our favor, and bid farewell to the last day of summer.
The Original Horse Power
The Preserve Equestrian Center, with direct access to the Wood-Pawcatuck trail system maintained by the State of Rhode Island, is dotted with individual paddocks and turnouts, an insulated soft-cover indoor, and 14' x 14' stabling for nearly 20 riding and driving horses, from a colorful Gypsy Vanner and Sprinkles the leopard-coated Miniature, to a matched pair of black Percherons, plus the largest and best selection I've ever seen of "dad horses," those draft and draft-cross gentle giants perfect for amateurs and men brave enough to love horsewomen. You certainly won't miss Paul's favorite, a doe-eyed, 18-hand red roan gelding with hooves the size of dinner plates, named Bear.
This was the first time Charles and I had ridden together and we could not have asked for a more attentive and intuitive guide than Equestrian Center director Beth Holland.
"I grew up riding and went to school for Animal Science. The Preserve provides a perfect mix of equestrian and hospitality opportunities," Beth told us. "I enjoy watching the interaction of human and horse, especially when it's a guest's first time. In my experience, every such encounter has pro-duced a sense of joy."
With about four years of (my) lessons under his belt, Charles epitomizes the older male amateur that our industry should encourage, and Beth made a perfect match with a Friesian gelding named Captain, whose steady temperament provided assurance while his naturally exuberant hock/knee action gave Charles a feel for a little more 'oomph' (and of course, he loved it).
"Captain? he says, "is the biggest horse I have ever been on but, as big as he was, he was just as gentle."
When Beth introduced the black Friesian, Charles felt an instant affinity. "Just as she asked if I would like a horse in a different stall, Captain poked his head out and whinnied, as if he was saying, 'Hey, he's riding with mel"
"And I'm glad," Charles says, "that I did."
Since I'm 5'3", I like my leg against a horse in the 15-hand range and that's just how I'd describe Spur, the bay Quar-ter Horse and former barrel racer I was matched to (and Captain's buddy). Beth, on Tom the Percheron, led for the first half of the late afternoon ride; Captain and Charles led back to the barn; we brought up the rear, where I could sample Spur's catty lope before downshifting just to assure myself I can still sit a trot.
The Equestrian Center is eight minutes from The Preserve Sporting Club and contiguous to 300 square miles of forest and watershed, plus another 57 miles of rivers (Fun fact: Rhode Island has 400 miles of coastline, ranking second only to Maryland in shore-to-acre ratio.) The Nature Conservancy recognizes the borderlands between Rhode Island and Connecticut as the last large forested tract south of Boston, and one of the few pristine natural expanses remaining between Boston and New York City. As the Preserve newsletter, Landscapes, assured, no matter the season - including foliage or hunting - you are riding at "the safest place on Earth."
Double Barrel Delicious
Riding builds an appetite and we had a Friday night dinner to look forward to at The Preserve's equestrian-themed restaurant. Don't let the gate at the entrance deter you. The Double Barrel is open to the public and as we walked through the parking lot, we sow plenty of local license plates.
Rhode Island is the Ocean State for a reason and since we were anticipating our Hobbit House dinner the following night to be a multi-course extravaganza, we kept it light with seafood, ordering Tuna and Salmon Tartare; Naked Oysters on the half shell in cucumber apple mignonette; Rhode Island Fritto Misto fried calamari (IYKYK) with shrimp, fennel, zucchini and eggplant; and the staff-recommended Hipster Fries with bacon and shishito peppers.
But if food were just to satisfy hunger and drink simply to slake thirst, we wouldn't need restaurants like the Double Barrel. Or entertaining mix masters like New Orleans trans-plant, Robert Fitzmaurice O'Maiolriain. Thankfully, there are differences between just eating and truly dining and he upped the cocktail game to Friday Night Lights level with a trio of tableside presentations rich in visual and sensory delights.
Like a three-act play, the curtain rose with The Preserve's Olde Englander, a double-smoked Old Fashioned envel-oped in Maplewood chip cocktail smoke, and nutmeg-and-cardamom elemental glass smoke, using Taconic (NY) Double Barrel Maple Bourbon, both aromatic and house-in fused nutmeg rye whiskey bitters, and Madagascar vanilla bean maple syrup.
Next, his Cosmo Blanco reinterpreted the White Cosmo with Rhodium (RI) Citron Vodka, white cranberry juice, Pierre Ferrand dry curacao, with lime juice, mud-dled cucumber and Fee Bros. hibiscus and orange flower waters. Our tableside finale was a signature aviation cocktail, Scientific Method, of Empress Gin BC, Rothman & Winter (Austria) creme de violette, Luxardo (Italy) Liqueur, Fee Bros. lavender water, and lemon juice, presented with orchid ice spheres, atop dry ice as if flying in the clouds.
Between performances, Charles and I reflected on the tour of the property we had enjoyed before riding (one of the few caveats of The Preserve - for all the right reasons - is guests cannot simply go a-wandering at a club designed for shooting and archery enthusiasts, that's what guides and Bentleys are for).
Look for Part 2 in the March/April 2023 Issue!
SOURCE: Elite Equestrian
