Horse barn near McHenry’s Petersen Park to become more public facing, open to lessons, field trips

For Brigette Birong, the Hickory Creek Barn is a special place. She wants McHenry residents to learn that, too, and make it their own.

Since the city of McHenry bought the barn and surrounding land at 2800 Derby Lane about 30 years ago, the barn has been a boarding facility with not much of a public face, she said.

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Brigette Birong watches as Richard Taylor-Terry, 11, and barn manager Melissa Capra, and her son, Joseph Birong, 6, head out to get retired Medieval Times horses Danta and Hunter from pasture before a riding lesson Friday July, 8, 2022, at the R Double J Ranch, 2800 Derby Lane, in McHenry. The R Double J Ranch recently got the contract to operate this equine facility from McHenry with the goal of making it more of a community-centric center and make learning about horses and riding open to all. (Gregory Shaver - gshaver@shawmedia.com/Gregory Shaver Shaw Media )

If everything goes as planned, Hickory Creek will be “a true equestrian center” for the town, Birong said.

Horse owners still will be able to board their own horses at the city-owned barn next to Petersen Park, as they have for decades, Birong said. But residents who don’t have horses and want to learn about them or just be around them also will be welcome, she said.

Birong and her partner, Dan Taylor, plan to invite anyone to book special events, school field trips, birthday parties and riding lessons there, she said. They also can meet Dante and Hunter, former Medieval Times show horses who now call the barn home.

The opportunity to run the barn and stable came fast for Birong and Taylor. On April 1, longtime tenant Mickey Sikula told the city he was retiring, said Bill Hobson, McHenry’s parks and recreation director.

Sikula operated the stable as a tenant since before McHenry bought Hickory Creek, Hobson said.

The 1992 purchase allowed McHenry to expand the park and its beach. The purchase and later renovations to the barn were paid for by state grants, he said.

With Sikula leaving, Hobson wanted to see new tenants in the barn quickly.

“It is essential to keep the building occupied … with qualified people,” he wrote in his recommendation to the McHenry City Council for its May meeting. “Too many times unoccupied buildings become maintenance nightmares and attractive nuisances.”

The plan brought before him by Birong and Taylor, operating as R Double J Ranch, excited him, Hobson said.

“I loved the ideas that they brought to the table, especially in terms of being more publicly accessible,” Hobson said. “Dan and Brigette are looking at ways to bring the public in and have access to it. They can take it to the next step and be a partner for the city.”

For Birong and Taylor, it was a golden opportunity.

“Our vision is having kids come, families, to get out of everyday life here. This is not an ordinary place to be,” Birong said. “We want to partner with the city and help people see that this exists.”

With a space perfect to renovate into a party room, they could offer riding lessons, birthday parties, Boy and Girl Scout events and field trips to area schools, Birong said.

She envisions fall hayrides and trick-or-treating.

Her barn manager, Melissa Capra, will offer horseback-riding lesson and training sessions, all while continuing to board horses. There is an outdoor area for events and performances, or visitors can “saddle up in the indoor arena,” Birong said.

From the barn’s second floor hayloft, visitors can see out and above the hills north of Petersen Park. Below, horses graze in the pasture as friends, staff and family fill the loft with hay. Those are the things that make the barn a magical place she hopes everyone can feel they are a part of, Birong said.

It’s what Hobson hopes residents will take advantage of, too.

“To see this 1940s building … it has such character. It leaves an impression on you,” Hobson said.

Part of the barn always will remain private with horse boarding, he said.

“But to have those who want to interact with horses, to have some opportunity to ride … this is an exciting opportunity,” Hobson said.