The Las Colinas Equestrian Center in Irving, Texas, is set to close on May 15 due to a change of ownership. Former partners Peggy Dickson, Grady “Buddy” Jordan, Wes Williams and Jake Hersman, owners of the LCEC since 2000, agreed to sell the property to Dallas-based Provident Realty Advisors Inc. in December, and the facility’s closing date marks the official transaction.

“It’s just difficult to keep the equestrians there as the city has grown up around it,” said Dickson, manager of the boarding and show side of the facility. “It’s grown very fast; what used to be buildings on the visual horizon are now within walking distance, so it’s very difficult to maintain as an equestrian center as everything grows around it. It will be developed.”

The venue includes 88 acres of trails across a bridge from the four outdoor arenas, permanent stabling that can accommodate up to 157 horses (and space for a total of 395 horses if temporary stabling tents are used), and the largest covered arena in the area. It’s been a staple in competition circuits in the Southwest and host to all levels of hunter/jumper shows, dressage competitions, horse trials and breeding shows for the past four decades. It’s also home to a riding school operated by hunter/jumper trainers Merri Chester and Corinne Frederick.

The Blue Ribbon Festival, part of the hunter/jumper A circuit, will be held March 5-8, and the venue will still host a USEF-recognized dressage show May 9-10 as planned. That will likely be the facility’s last competition.

“I think everybody we know has either boarded there, taken a lesson there or done horse shows there, and so there’s really an outpouring of fun memories that everybody’s had,” said Dickson. “With mixed emotions, I’m actually happy to be moving my horse to some quiet place out in the country—which is really ultimately the better thing for the horses.”

Horseman Ben Carpenter originally established the LCEC in 1973 and ran it before it underwent a series of ownership changes, ranging from individuals to the city, until 2000.