THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512200190
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BARBARA KREISLER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Talking to Pam Herman and the hands at Pam Herman Farms is like sitting around a chuckwagon campfire. The conversation turns naturally to corrals, trails and childhood dreams.
Herman, a trim, outdoorsy 30-year-old woman, is the force behind the new 30-acre equestrian center on East Hickory Road, complete with trails, a lighted, all-weather ring, corrals, a 25-stall barn, offices, tack lockers, lounge and personal residence. The farm is the only one of its kind in Chesapeake, offering individual and group riding lessons for children and adults, escorted trail rides, boarding and training, a summer camp for children, a clinic and competitions.
Herman's husband, Bennie Kemph, a former rodeo bull-rider and cattle rancher, shares in the tasks necessary to maintain the farm. He keeps up the barn, transports and cares for the 16 boarded and nine school horses at the farm.
Pam's father, Robert Herman of Virginia Beach, retired owner of the Lighthouse Restaurant, introduced his three children to horses when they were youngsters. Two of the children now operate the restaurant, but Pam has remained smitten by horses.
``It was an attraction to horses that never wore off,'' said the elder Herman with a glint of pride in his eyes. ``It was weekends, and then entire summers on the road.''
In his retirement, Herman has exchanged his apron for chaps and shares the farm's maintenance with his son-in-law.
Pam Herman's stepdaughter, 14-year-old Crystal, spends most of the day riding and jumping on the farm. After only three years of riding, Crystal has captured several championships.
``It's the competition that I love best,'' admitted the Great Bridge Middle School South ninth-grader. At the farm, she helps Pam teach horseback riding and to train the unbroken horses.
Seven-year-old Paris, Pam's daughter, may be shy around strangers, but certainly not around horses.
Watching the Norfolk Academy second-grader mount a pony, Robert Herman said, is like watching an instant replay of his life.
``Pam's riding lessons began when she was 8,'' the elder Herman said. ``She was showing her own pony, Copper Boy, when she was 11.''
Soon after, she was riding two other horses, Alfalfa and Clover, in rated competitions.
``We never realized it would evolve into this,'' said her dad, ``but I was seeing my daughter compete and win and see how well-respected she was becoming in the field.''
Then, while other teens were hanging out at malls, Pam was riding the circuit, eventually qualifying several horses in the prestigious Washington International, Madison Square Garden, Harrisburg and Devon Horse Shows. At age 16, she was winning competitions at show after show.
After graduation from Cape Henry Collegiate School in Virginia Beach and a stint as trainer and teacher in New Mexico, Pam Herman returned to ride professionally for Hillcrest Farms. Meanwhile, she enrolled in Old Dominion University and earned a bachelor's degree in business.
She leased Cavalier Farms in Pungo before finding the 30 acres of her dreams on East Hickory Road.
``This area needed something like this,'' Herman said. ``I grew up at the Beach. There are so many barns there, so many people. In Chesapeake, there's no ocean, there's no place for kids to wind down. Many parents want their children to get involved with horses because it teaches them responsibility and how to take instruction and how to apply it. There's just something special between children and horses.''
Kempf concurred, adding that the guided trail rides at the farm do for adults what riding camp does for children.
``It's a way for adults to relax,'' he said. ``There are oak, maple, pine and hickory trees, deer, rabbits and hawks so it's a magnificent setting for a leisurely ride.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Pam Herman Farms is a new 30-acre equestrian center with trails, a
ring, corrals, a barn, offices, tack lockers, lounge and personal
residence - and, of course, horses frolicking.
Pam Herman, the force behind the equestrian center, poses with
Spencer, a show horse.
by CNB