For over 100 years, the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club has been a home to horses and the people who love them. It has a remarkable past, so meshed with the history of the area that the club could serve as a metaphor for the story of Detroit and its environs. From the Hunt Club boom times that were marked with an expansive polo field, to the leaner times when land was sold off to raise revenue in order to keep the barn door open, from riding to the hounds at the Metamora Hunt to a devastating fire that took the lives of 19 horses and financial problems that brought it to the edge of closing, the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club has seen it all.

It was only by the sheer will and determination of a membership committed to keeping an equestrian tradition here in Grosse Pointe that the lights are still on, the horses still grazing, the club still alive with the sounds of children giggling at their first pony ride, cheering their swim team teammates on to victory, or scoring their first ace on the tennis court. All the while their parents and grandparents are sharing a camaraderie only found in a small club with members inextricably bound together by the love of the horse, a glass of wine and a fine meal.

Our pool is open, and our swim team, the Seahorses, has just completed its most successful season in recent years, placing second in the Michigan Interclub Swimming Association White Division. Our Tennis House features four new tennis courts, a new tennis professional, and a full tournament schedule. We now offer tennis lessons from Mommy and Me classes to USTA ranked travel teams.

Our dining facilities range from burgers and hot dogs at the Poolside Grille to seven-course ethnic dinners with complementing wines. We’re a casual club, with boots and jeans being accepted attire. Children are always welcome, whether with their parents or with their friends, and, just like the venerable Cheers, everyone knows your name.

But it is our love for horses that makes us so unique, and there is nothing we enjoy more than sharing that love with our neighbors. In recent years we have invited the community to our club to enjoy an evening of polo, to visit with the Budweiser Clydesdales, and, just recently, to share the magic of The Royal Lipizzaner Stallions.

In August, we host a Michigan Hunter Jumper Association Horse Show, featuring riders and horses of all abilities, and in September, our MHJA Pony Show features a colorful display of ponies of every size and breed and their young riders.

With an emphasis on horsemanship and sportsmanship, our riding program works with riders of all ages and abilities, starting with children as lead-line beginners on club-owned ponies to training for riders who compete at A-level shows. We have an extremely strong junior riding program, with several of our young riders earning ribbons at shows throughout the state. We also have lessons on club-owned horses for beginning adult riders, both men and women. Our boarding program allows members to keep their horses close to home, which easily accommodates owners wanting quick rides on busy days, or slow grazings on warm summer nights.

We hope everyone smiles at the sight of our horses as they travel up and down Cook Road, but better yet, come join us. There is something for every member of the family at the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club.