Traditional & Timeless Design at Blitz Sport Horses

A tranquil Colorado show barn is aesthetically pleasing and functional.

When Stephanie Gates was searching for land near her home in Denver, the challenge was finding acreage situated nearby. She looked for years until she finally found 12.5 acres of farmland, just 20 minutes south of the city. Stephanie was proud to continue the legacy of preserving the land, which would have been developed. Today, Blitz Sport Horses calls Greenwood Village home, where the main focus is on show jumpers and some dressage.

The barn’s construction took place in 2020 when COVID brought the world to a screeching halt. But the pandemic brought Stephanie home from showing at WEF, allowing her to oversee and attend to every aspect of the build during the process.

Photography by Lauren Anderson of Wild’n Lo Photography

Stephanie called upon King Barns to help with the architecture and plan the barn’s layout, while utilizing local contractors she previously worked with to build her house. While it was the contractor’s first time working on a horse barn, it was a fun and successful project.

The exterior of the barn utilizes durable compressed, composite siding.

The Barn Interior

Stephanie’s vision for her dream barn was brought to life with dramatic tall ceilings, skylights flooded with natural light, a stunning crystal chandelier and bright stucco walls across from the stalls. Ventilation and natural light was a priority for Stephanie, which she beautifully achieved. Inside these walls, Stephanie designed an environment where her two worlds of horses and art could collide. The light stucco walls across from the stalls are a perfect blank canvas for hosting art shows and setting up a gallery at the barn.

The 28’ high ceilings are accented with recessed lighting, pendant lights and this striking chandelier from a local lighting store, Urban Lights.

The barn is outfitted with 10 12′ x 12′ stalls by Classic Equine, a dedicated feed and hay storage room, tack room, office, 2 grooming stalls, 1 wash stall, bathroom, break room for staff, a mechanical room, dedicated farrier bay, utility room, blanket room and lofts on both sides of the barn for storage. The barn is also equipped with a commercial washer and dryer in the break room. The utility room houses blankets for five of the horses, while the other blanket room stores additional turnout blankets and tack trunks for the remaining horses.

A rubberized floor provides a comfortable non slip surface for the horses. The rubber flooring was poured in a liquid form for the install, ensuring a perfect fit and no gaps by the stall edges. Stephanie purchased a Karcher Cleaning Machine to keep the floors meticulous and it does an amazing job.

Hay is stored inside the spacious feed room and there is a pod for additional hay storage outback on the property.

The stalls all have fans and cameras to easily keep an eye on the horses.

This is a working barn, and while it’s stunning, being functional and clean is a top priority. The barn is dusted every day.

Inspiration for Stephanie’s designs was sourced from King Barns website, Stable Style and her time spent competing at WEF.

Barn Office

Stephanie’s barn commute is a short 20 minutes. She spends six days a week here running Blitz Sport Horses and managing her journalism career. When she’s not riding, she’s happily working in her office surrounded by art and fashionable details. She’s a journalist and wanted a beautiful and inspiring place to work.

Tack Room

A beautiful McGuinn trunk sits outside of the tack room.

The tack room at Blitz Sport Horses is timeless and traditional with beautiful woodwork.

The photos in the tack room feature two of Stephanie’s main horses, Capitol (left) and Elandro (right).

Each horse has two bridles, one for jumping and flat work so organization and a place for everything was super important for this room.

The sleek black saddle racks are from Dover.

Grooming Area

The t-shaped barn has access to the attached indoor arena from inside the barn. The attached indoor riding arena is equipped with FootingFirst. The arena is equipped with large garage doors to bring the inside out.