staff

A current Waredaca field boarder and now staff member, Travis started riding here 20 years ago, and for several years, taught in our lesson and summer camp program. After finishing high school, Travis managed a small farm that focused on physical and mental rehab of horses, near Richmond for six years. His mom, Vickie, is a frequent face you see around the farm and his sister Lauren, a schoolteacher, makes an appearance at times also! A couple other fast facts about Travis, he is a national gold medal speed skater and a certified welder!! Expect to see Travis working in the barn, teaching in the ring and assisting Robert and Rob with maintenance around the farm.

Rob Lang started at Waredaca full in time in 1989 after graduating from Towson State University with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1994 Rob and his wife Andrea were married and settled down in the Woodbine area of Carroll County. The spring of 1998 brought big changes for the Langs when they were blessed with the gift of twins, Nathan and Emma. Both children are very active in multiple sports programs and keep the Langs on the move. The family is also very heavily involved in their local Methodist church, with Rob singing in the choir and on the Board of Trustees, Andrea on the Education ministry team and both children involved in youth functions. Rob’s job at Waredaca of Facilities Manager encompasses a wide range of tasks. It could be anything from feeding and haying horses to fixing the phone or computer in the office. The variety of work is what keeps him actively involved in the day to day operations at the farm. His one true joy is being outside. His other love is building either cross country or stadium jumps for the multiple competitions and shows at Waredaca.That drive to build, led him to the creation of his own jump building company, Gunner Woodworks LLC. He designs and builds cross country jumps for local shows, pony clubs and backyard farm operations in the area. When not working at the farm or at home building jumps, he can be found in the woods hunting or on some body of water, kayaking or fishing.From the Carroll County Times Sports Section, November 2010….If you are either brave enough to go to Waredaca to ride in one of their events or sanguine enough to brave the current economic conditions and go there as a vendor you will probably see a fellow named Rob Lang.You may hear him before you see him because he has a cheerful “outdoor” sort of voice and he is usually saying something that is both helpful and funny. But once you hear him, pretty soon there he will be doing whatever needs doing in the line of maintenance and general “fixing up” on the farm.His actual title there at Waredaca is Facilities Manager and I know this because I asked him.In the course of his work week he might manage to facilitate several cross country jumps into existence or he might manage to facilitate the repair of a stall that a horse had managed to encumber with several non-designated-in-the-blueprints holes in its walls. Horses are like that and Rob knows this and deals with it.He may neither like it nor approve of it, but he deals with it.

Owner Robert is ‘the’ man in charge at Waredaca, having managed the farm for over forty years. Assisted by his wife, Gretchen, they oversee the entire operation of the farm.  Robert has grown up here, moving to this current site in the early fifties when he was just a child, with the family from their farm in what was then ‘rural’ Bethesda.  He has been an active and instrumental part in the business virtually all his life. Upon graduating from UMD with a degree in International Ag Economics, he was envisioning a job elsewhere but the timing proved otherwise. R. B Butts, ‘Mr. B’ as he was affectionately known by many, was ready to turn the management of the business over to his youngest son and the transition began. Now, many years later, some aspects of the business have remained while many show a different focus and direction. Robert began riding Western, was very active in the AQHA competitions, and had his own herd of Quarter Horse broodmares and two approved AQHA stallions.  He has fox hunted and actually did some eventing in the late 70s with Gretchen. As Vice Chair of the Board of Supervisors for the Montgomery branch of the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts, Robert stays active in the current trends in Ag management and Ag tourism. Based on his stewardship and business practices, he received the 2008 Cooperator of the Year Award in recognition of his outstanding commitment to conservation in Montgomery County. Thru his leadership, Waredaca is now a Maryland Farm Stewardship Certified Farm. When not at the farm, Robert’s passion is the water, specifically the Bay.  Summer weekends find him racing on the Jay Dee, one of the few remaining historic Chesapeake Bay Log Canoes. Or he might be out sailing his own 343 Beneteau ‘Gaviota’ as often as time and schedule allow.  Crew anyone?