A Better Way to Board?
At The Oaks, it's every equine for himself
by Lisa Broadwater

LITTLE ROCK — "It's just a little place to get away."
John Seawright is talking about The Oaks, the boarding facility he established last year on Highway 10 just west of Lake Maumelle. I say "boarding facility" because I can't call it a stable or barn. You see, there isn't one — not a large, communal one, anyway.
Instead of a single stall located in an expansive barn, each tenant has his own private space — both a covered enclosure that Seawright calls a "minibarn" and a broad paddock that offers 24-hour turnout. (The smallest paddock is 100X100; only one horse is allowed per space.) The sheet-metal minibarn, a shelter that’s 24 feet long and 18 feet wide, features tarpaulin sides that can be rolled up during the warmer months. It also is equipped with solar-powered lights, a fan, a mailbox, a storage box and a bench where the owner can sit a spell. Nearby, a separate enclosure holds a round hay bale that's shared by a group of four horses.
Seawright designed the innovative space to appeal to people like himself: folks who prefer a little private breathing room — both for themselves and their horses.
"This is the antithesis of the typical barn," Seawright says during a tour of one of the spaces. "I wouldn't want to be at a big barn with lots of people, so I made these little things where everybody has their own deal. I just put it together in my head: You're sheltered in here, your horse is sheltered out there. What more do you want?
"I don't believe in stalls," he adds; "If I was gonna take care of a horse myself, it wouldn't be in a stall. It's like locking a kid in an attic. They've got to have exercise; they've got to move in and out.
"Now, a show horse I understand. But a horse's natural environment is to eat small amounts of food, to graze and to move around. As long as he can move around and get some shelter, he's okay.
"If you came out, you'd have your car and you'd pull in here," he adds, standing in the center of the gravel driveway. "I chose white rock because at night it reflects the light. Plus, this road is big enough for people to pass on. And if you were coming in with your horse at night, you've got light and water. There's a mailbox so if you want the farrier to come, you can leave him a check or leave me a note. And if you want to go down and visit the next guy, you can.
"The round bale is there so they have hay in front of them 24 hours a day. I think that's important. That also satisfies their herd instinct."
Another benefit of boarding at The Oaks is its proximity to a vast network of riding trails.
"There's probably several thousand acres of public land you can ride on," Seawright says. “And if you came out and only have an hour, you can just walk around the nearby pond and come back."
The day I visited, we rode toward Wye Mountain, off Bringle Creek on trails and logging roads. The terrain ranged from steep and rocky to smooth and easy. The views at times were breathtaking.

Fences and Foxtrotters
Seawright moved to the locale now known as The Oaks 20 years ago, when he was still working in Little Rock proper (the company he co-founded, Pulaski County Title & Abstract Co., had offices in west Little Rock.) He chose the 40-acre site because it was close enough to town that he could commute easily.
For the past 30 years, Seawright has also been a dedicated participant in field trial competitions (where bird-dog owners compete on horseback); and for the past 20 years, he has judged the competitions. At one point, he had close to 20 English pointers (now he has just two), and he has maintained a handful of gaited horses — Tennessee Walkers and Missouri Foxtrotters — which are the horse of choice for field trial participants.
Seawright didn't set out to create a non-traditional boarding facility last summer, when the project first began to take shape. He was in South Dakota training dogs and preparing for the field trial season, trying to figure out what to do with some fencing that was falling down.
"One thing led to another, and there it is," he says.
Over the years, people have asked Seawright to board their horses at The Oaks. But it was the state-of-the-art fence material he discovered —ElectroBraid — that sold him on the idea of building the boarding facility.
"I'm very project-driven," he says, "I'm too old to just sit, and this seemed a viable thing — providing a service that wasn't available. So I built this prototype. I just got into building, and we laid out the grid [of 12 spaces] with 100-foot rope, and I knew about how I wanted it to go."
He’s such a big fan of ElectroBraid that he recently agreed to act as a consultant for the company.
"I think it's the way of the future," he says. "It's superb. It's static; the horses don't get cut up or beat up. They operate real well in it."
All in all, Seawright is pleased with what he's created at The Oaks.
"It's not the end of the world, but I think it's comfortable, and it seems to provide something that's not in the marketplace," he says. "I'm quite proud of it; I think it's kinda cool."
For more information, call Seawright at (501) 333-2640.