Location:

Little Creek Ranch is located on Black Hammock Island in the city of Jacksonville in northeast Florida. Black Hammock truly is an island, surrounded by the Intracoastal Waterway, Nassau Sound and Pumpkinhill Creek.

[click here to view map]

Little Creek lies in the center of 26,000 acres of the Timucuan Preserve, a joint preservation effort between the National Park Service, Florida Park Service, City of Jacksonville and St. Johns River Water Management District, just to name some of the parties. The preserve includes many trails for horseback riding, hiking and biking; boat ramps and kayak launches; and camp sites (coming soon).

The Facilities: 2 Barns with a total of 9 stalls Fans in all stalls Automatic fly spray system in both barns Bag shavings Large pastures with 4-rail Centaur HTP fencing Gates equipped with Sure Locks Dressage ring Round pen Steve Brandies Arena - Large lighted outdoor arena with sand/clay footing, air conditioned press box and P.A. system [Who was Steve Brandies?] Small on-site trail course Access to many nearby trails in the pristine Timucuan Preserve Both owners and caretaker live on property

Who was Steve Brandies? Steve was the only son of our neighbors and friends, Stan and Diane Brandies. Steve enjoyed team roping with his father on his quarter horse "Amos" and was an all-around good son and friend to many. A senior in high school, Steve was killed in 1995 in an accident while working a summer job. The arena was built by his father as a way to remember Steve and to honor his love of horses and rodeo. All of the materials were donated, evidence of the high regard folks had for Steve and the Brandies family. Steve's high school graduation photo hangs in the press box.

The Owners:

Martha Moore and Michael Saylor are the owners of Little Creek Ranch. Martha grew up around horses and western riding and always vowed that one day she would own a ranch. Following a few twists and turns in her life and not having had a horse for years, she and Michael happened upon Little Creek Ranch while on a weekend drive in May 2000. Telling the real estate agent to take down the "For Sale" sign, they promptly sold their beach house and moved to the Island. Just before they moved, Michael surprised Martha with a birthday gift - a three-horse trailer with three horses in it! After recovering from the shock of owning horses she'd never seen before, Martha was introduced to Magic, Manny and Patches: their previous owners were friends Betty and Derrell Griner, who were retiring from the horse business and needed a good home for their equine friends. And so the journey began. Martha has since switched her main focus to dressage. Michael enjoys trail riding and is practicing his cowboy mounted shooting skills with Patches.

Martha is a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Jacksonville (FL) University with a major in physics. In 1996, she formed Beachside Consulting Engineers, Inc., a firm specializing in traffic engineering and planning. The office is also located at Little Creek, so she has ample opportunity to leave her work and ride when the horses beckon. Martha is active in the Northeast Florida Dressage Association, having served as the newsletter editor for several years and also volunteering as a scribe for schooling shows. She is a former board member and two-term Vice Chair of the Northeast Florida Equestrian Society, which raises funds for the Jacksonville Equestrian Center.

Michael is an urban planner and graduated from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He worked for over twenty years for Bessent, Hammack & Ruckman, Inc., an engineering, planning, landscape architecture and surveying firm, and served as its president up until October 2004 when the firm merged with ARCADIS, an international engineering firm headquartered in the Netherlands. After retiring from ARCADIS in October 2005, Michael spent a year as the Director of Planning for the City of Jacksonville. Martha recently named Michael as Director of Planning for Beachside, effectively doubling the size of the firm. Michael is an avid hunter and outdoorsman and holds the world bow record for red stag (estate): a 546-3/8 B&C red deer shot at Mount Cecil, South Island, New Zealand. Michael is on the board of directors for several groups, including the local chapter of Safari Club International and the Speech and Hearing Center. He is also a founder and board member of the Sportsmen’s National Land Trust, a non-profit organization established to promote land conservation in Florida and to preserve open space and wildlife habitat for the benefit of the public.