Deer slip like velvet phantoms through verdant meadows at Pin Oak Stud. Down by the training track, delicately sampling blades of grass at dusk, they linger briefly but depart in a flash of hind legs fleeing for the forest edge.

The park-like Pin Oak surely must be heaven found for deer, for barn cats from the local shelter, for a rescued Weimaraner named Sterling, and for approximately 34 foals born and raised each year here on these 1,050 acres. Sweeping meadows, neatly manicured paddocks, and grand vistas of rolling land sparkling with their stands of pin oaks pose a picture of heaven on earth. Nesting boxes for blue birds are ubiquitous throughout the farm and nearly always occupied.

Pin Oak is a well-established stud but not an historic landmark as are some Bluegrass horse farms. The owner, Josephine Abercrombie, purchased the initial parcel of land only in 1988. She oversaw a remarkable transformation of the original 750 acres from a jungle of weeds into a picturesque Thoroughbred nursery and stallion farm.

Abercrombie actually was moving her operation from across the road on U. S. 60, from property that her father, James S. Abercrombie, purchased in 1949. He had named the original farm Pin Oak. That farm began with 1,000 acres and grew to 3,000 acres. Following her father’s death in 1974, Abercrombie gave the original Pin Oak to her two sons. However, when they sold Pin Oak in the latter 1980s, Abercrombie found herself looking for a new farm to call home.

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