Saddle Up Stables sale ends N.C. family’s near-century Lake George horse ride biz

By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer

In the early 1930’s, “Coot” Follette and his brother Bob traveled from North Carolina to the Adirondacks bringing a small herd of horses to the region’s summer camps.

“Recognizing the growing demand for riding experiences at the area’s premier resorts, they established their first stables at Green Mansions and Scaroon Manor,” says Saddle Up Stables’ website.

Coot was then invited to open a stable at Sunnybrook Acres, now called Twin Birches, in Lake George. In the 1960s, Coot and his sons Henry and Babe opened six more stables throughout the region that operated “well into the 1980s.”

In 1972 Henry started buying the property he’d been leasing at 3513 Lake Shore Drive turning it into Saddle Up Stables just south of Diamond Point.

In recent years, Henry’s widow Dixie Follette and their two daughters Lisa Armstrong and Suzi Cocca have operated the business. It ended last year.

On June 10 the Follette family sold the 120-acre property to Joe Russell and John LaSalandra of Bolton Landing. The price was $3.86 million. It includes their adjacent Stable Gate Deli,

Dixie Follette said her age is a primary reason for selling.

Her daughter Lisa added, “It’s just getting harder every year. Things have just changed. It’s hard finding good help to work. Not only do they have to work, they’ve got to know how to ride horses and take care of horses. It’s hard to find good people like that.

“Back in the old days when I was little, we had like cowboys working for us, men, strong, and they lived there. They would come up with us from the South. And they’d stay on our property with us in the bunkhouse. And as time went on, it’s mostly girls now that work for you.”

“They came because they could ride horses at the rodeos,” said Dixie. “They loved the bulls and the horses. But you don’t see that anymore. Can’t get any help.”

“Everybody’s sad that we sold it,” says Lisa. “Our customers, our kids, our grandkids. But it was just too hard to keep running it.

“People that rode with me as a child, they’re here with their grandchildren, and they want to come back and continue that tradition. And it’s hard to think we’re not going to be there for them. It’s heart-breaking.

“We can hardly ride by there because it’s hard to see it without us being there. It’s hard for us, because that’s our whole life. We’ve never had a summer off. Since we were like 13 years old we’ve worked full-time our whole summer.”

John LaSalandra told The Chronicle he and Joe Russell bought the property because “we thought it was a great opportunity and a great investment for the future…We love keeping and preserving the tradition around the area.”

He said, “We’d like to leave it the way it is as of now until we figure out what to do with it. We love the bucolic nature of it. Our kids went horseback riding there. We’d like to preserve that legacy.”

“It was not easy for them to sell,” he said. “We did ask them to stay on until we figured out what to do with the property, but it’s too much work for them, and they decided to move on.

Mr. LaSalandra said, “We’ve been working with the family on and off the last three years on whether to sell the property. We were very patient. We said don’t sell. Keep it going. We love it the way you guys are doing it.”

He said their short-term goal is to “try to find somebody to get some horses on, at least at minimum pony rides we’re hoping, and then probably horseback riding to kind of bring it back until we figure out what we’re going to do with the property….

“There’s a lot of acres back there. We hope we can incorporate or keep that legacy of some type of horse factor into the development of the property.”

“And I don’t want to use the word development,” he interrupted himself. “But like, you know, preserving it as well.”

He said “there’s some great programs we’re going to look into” like equine assisted therapy.

He also hopes to “bring something back on” at Stable Gate Deli “so business is running as usual.”

Long-term? “We’re not even near talking about it in public or presenting it because it’s so early stages.”

He said, “If a developer came in they would probably just steamroll the whole place and build whatever they can, because I think it’s a high density property; you can build many homes there. We’re not looking to do that.”

Lisa said, “You don’t want to see it overdeveloped or clear cut and all that.”

She said it would be nice if the new owners “build nice houses, and maybe people could bring their horses and have like one central riding area or barn. Then everybody could just use the trails.

“Maybe 10, 15 nice houses, and they can share the trails. I’d rather see that than developed. Because the woods there, they’re massive trees, and it’s so quiet and peaceful out there. You’d hate to see all that destroyed. The views are gorgeous.

“We’re hoping it’s going to be something nice that we can be proud of when we ride by there and see what our place has turned into.”

Nic Ketter of Realize Brokers, who worked on the sale, said the property is one of the largest tracts of contiguous land on the west side of Lake George.

“The buyers are people who are really preservationists,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of investments in Bolton and Lake George (including Green Harbour Mansion on Cooper Point). I think they saw it as a really great opportunity to add to their legacy portfolio.”

Mr. LaSalandra and Mr. Russell live in Miami, but come here every summer. “I think it’s the best-kept secret,” Mr. LaSalandra said. “It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. We’ve been to many places, and you just come back here and are always awe-inspired by what the Adirondacks have to offer, all seasons.”

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