Tudor Park

Sunrise Stables, formerly known as Cedar Lane Stables, are managed by GallopNYC and provide therapeutic horseback riding to youth, adults and veterans with disabilities. GallopNYC also offers recreational riding to the general public. The stables are able to house 30 horses and the site contains grazing lands and room for horse trailers.

GallopNYC brings the proven benefits of therapeutic horsemanship to provide measurable benefits for people with developmental, emotional, social, and physical challenges. Through weekly riding sessions with PATH-certified instructors, they help riders learn new skills. GallopNYC is committed to serving low-income families, since they are more likely to lack access to adequate services for disability. GallopNYC also offers recreational riding to people with disabilities and people who do not have disabilities. 

The stables are located on land adjacent to a portion of the original Cedar Lane that was once a vegetable farm owned by Herman and John Brockman, known to many as the “radish kings of Long Island.” Despite the urbanization of the surrounding area, members of the Brockman family farmed the land until 1953, when labor costs and increased competition made farming unprofitable. Lindenwood Village and Rockwood Park housing developments, as well as Sunrise Stables stand on the Brockman’s former farmland. NYC Parks obtained jurisdiction over the land that is now Sunrise Stables from the Board of Estimate on March 24, 1938 after the land became available due to road improvements on South Conduit Avenue.

The Federation of Black Cowboys operated the site as Cedar Lane Stables from February of 1998 to July 2016. The Federation of Black Cowboys was formed in 1994 when a group of diverse men came together out of their common love of horses and their desire to share the forgotten legacy of the Black West. African Americans played an immeasurable, yet often forgotten, role in the settling of the American frontier.

Many African Americans made the journey west after escaping slavery, while others moved westward in wagon trains after emancipation. They moved during the exodus of 1879, convinced that the end of Reconstruction meant the end of their chances for a successful life in the South, and relocated to states such as Texas and Oklahoma. By the closing of the American frontier in 1890, there were 500,000 African Americans living in these two states alone. These frontier settlers found employment as cowboys, a position essential to the economies of many western states. The cowboy lifestyle appealed to African Americans due to their belief that the profession was one in which skill counted more than skin color.

To contact GallopNYC, visit GallopNYC.org.