PROPERTY DESCRIPTION

A purpose-built equestrian facility of a scale no longer being created on the Front Range. Fifty-five acres in northwest Douglas County, thirty minutes from Denver, with covered and outdoor arenas, twenty-six stalls, twenty-one paddocks, and county entitlements that would take years to reproduce. A standard Colorado indoor runs 80 by 160. This one is 45,000 square feet, closer to a covered show arena than a training ring, which is what makes clinics, shows, and several programs possible under one roof in February. Under that roof: a sectioned second arena, a gathering area with two restrooms and showers, two private offices with administrative space, a conference room and classroom, and a full kitchen and laundry. A covered causeway runs from the barn to the arena. The lighted outdoor arena runs 64,000 square feet. The infrastructure is excellent and unpretentious. Nothing here is a design statement, and everything is built to work. The facility suits reining, cutting, hunters and jumpers, dressage, eventing, sport horse breeding, or a polo string kept at home, with room to convert paddock acreage to a practice field. It is equally set up for boarding, training, and lessons, a veterinary practice, or therapeutic and educational programming, each of which the county has already approved. Entitled uses. The approvals here reach well beyond what agricultural zoning ordinarily allows. Douglas County has approved this property by special review for riding instruction, training, and boarding; equine-assisted therapy and mental health programming; clinics, camps, and retreats; educational programming; a large animal hospital; and limited on-site overnight stays. Fifty horses are approved, twenty-five owned and twenty-five boarded. Under Section 2409 of the Douglas County Zoning Resolution, boarded horses at this acreage are otherwise limited to four; owned horses are not limited. The approval is the difference between keeping horses here and running an operation. That range is what separates this from ordinary agricultural land. Zoning lets you keep horses. These approvals let you run a business, or several, or lease any part of the operation to someone who will. An owner can keep his own string and let a trainer fill the boarding and lesson side, lease the clinic to a veterinarian, run a clinic and camp calendar, or host a therapeutic program under an operator. The location is what makes those approvals worth having. Douglas County has the highest median household income in Colorado and ranks among the wealthiest counties in the country, with strongly rated schools and one of the state's fastest-growing populations. This sits thirty minutes from Denver inside a metro of three million. Boarding clients, lesson students, junior riders, program participants, and veterinary patients are already here, and so are the veterinarians, farriers, feed suppliers, and staff an operation this size runs on. A comparable facility in a remote county is a private indulgence. This one has a market at the gate. A note for veterinarians. Large animal services on this side of the metro are limited relative to the population, particularly surgical capacity, and the corridor continues to grow. The clinic approval and a building already under roof make this one of the few sites in the region where a practice could open on entitlements that already exist, whether run by an owner-veterinarian or leased to one. Climate. The Front Range is semi-arid and sunny, with more than 300 clear days a year and 8 to 15 inches of annual precipitation. The practical effect on a horse operation is dry ground, footing that drains and dries quickly, no extended mud season, and few flies. Winters are mild by Rocky Mountain standards; the hard weather stays west in the mountains, storms move through quickly, and snow rarely lingers. Summer days run warm and dry with cool evenings rather than the heat and humidity that shut barns down elsewhere. Between the climate and the covered arena, horses stay in work twelve months a year, which is why this works equally as a year-round home or a summer base for an operation that winters south. Set among the horse country of Douglas County, with Parker, Larkspur, and Sedalia within easy reach and the Colorado Horse Park about thirty-five minutes. The mountains run the western horizon, so this reads as Colorado rather than as flat ground east of it. Mutual bridle path easements, not license agreements, connect the ranch to two adjoining parcels, and owners may mow and use paths across roughly 125 acres, so riding is not limited to the property line. Chatfield Reservoir is a short drive. Centennial Airport is twenty-five minutes, with a 10,000-foot runway, a 24-hour tower, and US Customs on site; Denver International is about fifty. Denver Tech Center, hospitals, and shopping are twenty minutes, and Colorado Springs about an hour. Operations. The property is served by a well, four cisterns with two currently in use including one of 6,500 gallons, and septic, and an agreement is in place permitting connection to municipal water. Power is distributed across multiple meters. Access accommodates large rigs and hay delivery. Manure handling is established and permitted. Equipment on site may be negotiated. Current staff have expressed willingness to remain, so the operation need not stop on closing day, and the duplex can house a manager or be rented. Taxes ran $14,995 in 2025, an effective rate that will surprise buyers accustomed to carrying comparable acreage elsewhere. Facilities of this quality exist. They are usually two hours from an airport, or half this size, or zoned to keep horses and nothing more, or priced where the arena is the least interesting thing about the property. The combination here is the difficult part: show-arena scale, entitlements that permit a business rather than a hobby, riding access beyond the fence, and a metro at the gate rather than a long drive away. The land will be protected. Additional use restrictions will be recorded at closing to keep the property in agricultural and equestrian use, with a building envelope reserved for an additional residence. Buyers should review those documents with counsel, and should confirm with Douglas County that an intended use can be accommodated. The property was developed as American Sport Horses, a hunter/jumper facility whose owners competed nationally, and later became home to Zuma's Rescue Ranch, a 501(c)(3) known throughout Colorado for equine rescue and equine-assisted therapy. The real estate is offered independent of that organization, though sellers are open to discussing its transfer with a buyer interested in continuing the work. Consider what it would take to build this. Find fifty-five suitable acres in this corridor, which are largely gone, and buy them at what land now trades for. Take the entitlements through Douglas County by special review, which means public hearings, an engineered site plan, traffic and water supply analysis, and an approved management plan, measured in years rather than months, with no guarantee of the outcome. Then build a 45,000 square foot covered arena, a twenty-six stall barn, twenty-one paddocks with automatic waterers and shelters, a lighted outdoor arena, a hay barn, a residence, and the water and septic infrastructure to serve it, at today's construction costs. You would spend well past this asking price, wait years on the approvals, and still be starting from raw ground. Offered by Hayden Outdoors Real Estate. Co-listed by Michael Alexander and Stephen Felker. Shown by appointment to qualified buyers.

DETAILS

Home Features

• 3,072 sf residence built in 2023, currently configured as two units, five bedrooms and four baths total
• Three bedrooms and two baths in one unit, two bedrooms and two baths in the other
• Housing for an owner, manager, or staff, or a rental unit for income
• Forced air heating and cooling
• Mountain, city, and open-range views
• Building envelope reserved for an additional residence

Lot Features

• 55.37 deeded acres, agricultural zoning, elevation 5,820 feet
• Rolling native grassland with established pastures, with the Front Range along the western horizon
• 2025 taxes of $14,995
• Well, septic, and four cisterns, two currently in use, including one of 6,500 gallons
• Agreement in place permitting connection to municipal water, reported by sellers to be assignable; buyer to confirm terms
• Power distributed across multiple meters
• Additional use restrictions to be recorded at closing, intended to keep the property in agricultural and equestrian use permanently; documents available for review
• Use by Special Review approval granted by Douglas County covering boarding, training, and riding instruction, equine-assisted therapy and mental health programming, clinics, camps, retreats, and educational programming, subsequently amended to add a veterinary clinic and overnight stays. Terms, conditions, and current status to be confirmed by buyer with Douglas County
• Recorded restrictive covenants and mutual bridle path easements shared with two adjoining parcels, approximately 125 acres
• Recorded vehicular easement over the shared driveways
• Adjudicated underground water rights and mineral rights retained by seller unless otherwise negotiated
• Douglas County School District; Douglas County has the highest median household income in Colorado
• Thirty minutes to Denver; twenty-five to Centennial Airport; thirty-five to Parker and the Colorado Horse Park; short drive to Chatfield Reservoir; about an hour to Colorado Springs

Horse Facility Features

• 45,000 sf covered indoor arena. Under the same roof: a sectioned second arena, gathering area with two restrooms and showers, two private offices with administrative area, conference room and classroom, full kitchen and laundry
• Covered causeway from barn to indoor arena
• 64,000 sf lighted outdoor arena
• Round pen
• Twenty-six stalls with wash bays, grooming bays, and a professional tack room
• Twenty-one individual paddocks with automatic waterers and covered shelters
• 7,000 sf hay and equipment barn, adaptable to additional stalls
• County special review approval in place for fifty horses, twenty-five owned and twenty-five boarded
• Approved for boarding, training, and riding instruction, equine-assisted therapy and mental health programming, clinics, camps, retreats, educational programming, and a large animal hospital
• Veterinary clinic building under roof, ready for interior completion
• Approved for limited on-site overnight stays, whether for owners attending horses in care, visiting trainers and clinicians, or working students
• Mutual bridle path easements across two adjoining parcels, roughly 125 acres, with the right to mow and route paths
• Established manure management program
• Fenced paddocks and turnout; established riding trails across the property
• Access for large rigs and hay delivery; trailer and overflow parking