Brewers Live The Good Life At Southern Serenity Stables by Nancy Brannon These days it’s difficult to find a quiet place in the country, where one can keep and ride horses, that is not being encroached by “development.” George and Donna Brewer have found such a place in Southaven, Mississippi where they keep their own and board other people’s horses at their Southern Serenity Stables. They do it just “for the love of horses,” as their business card says. Loving horses is how they got into the horse business. George confessed that at one time he was tempted “to buy every horse I saw, so I got into horse the boarding business” so he wouldn’t have to buy all those horses. Donna added, “We all enjoy people and riding horses n that’s how it all goes together.” The Brewers built their house on Davis Road 11 years ago. They designed and built it to look rustic. Set in a wooded area, the house has 9-foot ceilings and breezeways so they don’t have to use airconditioning in the summer. “When we first moved here, you couldn’t see any other houses anywhere,” Donna said. “We were trying to figure out a name for the place. A child who had a horse here was just gazing out in the woods one day and said, ‘It’s so quiet, so serene back here.’ That’s it! That’s how we came up with the name Serenity Stables. Everyone talks about how peaceful it is here even though we’re less than five miles from the interstate and Wal-mart,” she added. Development is creeping into the Southaven area and they don’t know how long it will be before development runs them out. “So many other barns in the area have shut down because all the development is forcing out some of the saddle clubs,” Donna explained. “Or the elderly people who were boarding horses in the area have retired and gotten out of the horse business.” The Brewers’ barn was full last year, “so we have added on to the barn,” George said because they expect that the number of places closing will create more business for them. The Brewers have a 13-stall barn, where six of their own horses reside. They offer self-serve boarding or full boarding, depending on what the boarder wants. In addition to their own acreage, the Brewers have access to 150 adjacent acres of pastureland, from which George also gets several cuttings of hay a year. “I’ve worked the land and improved the pasture,” George said, so he figured he might as well cut hay off it, too. To get into the hay business, George bought several pieces of used baling equipment. His son Alan “is a super mechanic,” Donna bragged. George had been struggling to get his used square baler working properly, after it broke several times. “Alan was able to figure it out. He fixed the baler and got the John Deere tractor running.” Alan, age 26, is also a very competent welder, an Iraq veteran, and now attends Northwest Community College. He is responsible for getting his parents interested in trail riding in the first place. Their daughter Krista, age 24, is also an avid rider and is working on her Ph.D. in pharmaceutical research on arthritis drugs. She got them interested in attending the benefit trail ride at Natchez Trace, “This Horse Is Silent.” That was their first trail ride; they “got hooked on it” and started going to more trail rides with their horses. The Brewers go many places on weekend trail-riding trips, meeting their ever-increasing circle of friends. They are planning a ride in the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois in May. “It’s such a beautiful part of the world, the garden of the Gods,” Donna said. They have ridden the trails in Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, and Mississippi. “Our circle of trail-riding friends keeps growing, which is mostly couples,” they said. They travel to Seven Springs, the Buffalo River, Chickasaw State Park, Willow Creek at Cadiz, Kentucky, to Stinkin’ Jim in Haston, Mississippi, to Circle B in Eddyville, Illinois, and 34 Ranch in Illinois. They have ridden anywhere from 4 hours a day to 9 hours a day on their Tennessee Walking Horses. They participate in the benefit ride at Natchez Trace, “This Horse Is Silent” every year. Southern Serenity Stables is located at 4530 Davis Road in Southaven, Mississippi. They can be contacted by phone at 662-349-9688 of by e-mail at southernserenitys@yahoo.com.