Sandhills Equestrian Directory
Sandhills Equestrian Directory
Where to ride, what the hunt means here, and how far it is to everywhere else.
The Foundation is the heart of Southern Pines and Vass horse country: more than 4,000 acres of longleaf pine and sandy roads, bordered by Fort Bragg, open to riders, carriage drivers and walkers from sunrise to sunset every day at no charge. Pappy and Ginnie Moss set it up as a charitable trust in 1974 with 1,700 acres and kept adding to it, so this ground will stay open country for good. Nearly everything in this directory sits within a short hack or trailer ride of it.
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Moore County Hounds has called this area home for more than a century, making it the oldest pack in North Carolina, and the season still sets the calendar: opening meet in the fall, hunter paces through the winter, and a Thanksgiving morning that has become a family tradition. Thousands of spectators come out to see the hounds move off for the first formal meet of the season on the Foundation. It's free to watch, and it's the kind of morning that makes people decide to move here. You don't have to ride to hounds to belong in the Sandhills, but the hunt is a big part of why the trails, the fences and the farms look the way they do.
Moore County Hounds moving off on a winter morning near Southern Pines.
Most people don't know about Southern Pines until a horse friend tells them. Sand footing you can ride on all year, thousands of acres of open land to ride it on, and most of the East Coast horse world within a day's drive.
A driving club turnout on the Foundation's sandy roads, Southern Pines.Middleburg and the Maryland hunt country to the north, Aiken and Camden to the southwest, Ocala and Wellington straight down the coast.
Approximate driving times from Southern Pines. Your route and trailer will vary.