Bed & amp; breakfast offers lodging for horses, human friends

Guests do not have to own horses to enjoy the guesthouse.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
KINSMAN -- A landmark bed and breakfast establishment in a converted, four-story, 1920-vintage dairy barn offers a rare combination of comfortable lodging for people and their horses on the same premises.
The fully equipped seven-stall barn, where horses are lodged adjacent to the Dream Horse Guesthouse, was built last year. It is surrounded by six acres of pasture, with riding trails around the perimeter of the 16-acre premises and in nearby woods.
Such accommodations greatly reduce the stress of travel for horses, said Allan Kaulback, a retired merchant seaman, who resides in the guesthouse with his wife, Catherine, a retired interior designer. The Kaulbacks have two horses of their own and board two others.
"When you're traveling with horses in trailers, they are subject to a thing called shipping fever," Allan Kaulback said. "They'll get so uptight they'll just freak out. They need to get out of the trailer. They need to graze," he explained.
"In Canada and the United States, there is a big demand for horse lodging," Catherine Kaulback said. She added that offering horse lodging seems to "go hand in hand with my passion for horses."
Allan Kaulback said he knows of only one other bed and breakfast establishment in northeast Ohio that houses people and horses on the same premises and it is in the Cleveland area.
Trails nearby
A short trailer trip away from the Kaulbacks' rural northern Trumbull County establishment, equestrians will find extensive riding on the Western Reserve Greenway or on wide dirt lakefront roads at Pymatuning State Park.
With its large lake straddling the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, Pymatuning is a mecca for boaters. Besides equestrians, the greenway attracts hikers, bicyclists, cross-country skiers and snowmobilers.
Guests need not be horse owners or haulers to enjoy the amenities of the guesthouse at 9532 state Route 7 at Webber Cole Road.
Located two miles north of Kinsman center, the guesthouse offers a quiet nearby weekend escape for northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania residents, who won't have to empty their gas tanks to get there.
From atop a guesthouse balcony, visitors enjoy an unrivaled panoramic view of surrounding farmland. Every July 4, fireworks displays in Youngstown, Warren, Sharon and elsewhere are visible from that balcony. Many tourist attractions and annual fairs and festivals are only a short distance from the guesthouse.
Renovations
Allan Kaulback bought the 12,000-square-foot barn in 1979 and has been remodeling it ever since, with parts of the interior still unfinished.
He raised its roof 5 feet, replaced its deteriorated slate roof with a tin roof, installed ornamental gingerbread woodwork and cupolas around the new roof line, added two floors inside, and transformed the barn into a B & amp; B, highlighting its original timber frame.
He incorporated into the structure salvaged parts of a church, a tannery and three schools. Sliding doors and four flights of spiral stairs in the barn came from the 1900-vintage former Ohio Leather Works in Girard.
Guests stay in the Barn Swallows or Gypsy Wagon suite or the Open Sleigh Room. The Sunflower Spa features a double whirlpool bath, and, by appointment, a massotherapist.
Catherine Kaulback did all of the interior design work and hand-painted many features, including barn swallows on the walls of the suite bearing that name. The Kaulbacks promote the horse and pasture scenery their establishment offers to artists who like to draw or paint outdoors.
Dogs and cats welcome
The smoke-free guesthouse, which uses air and water purifiers, accommodates small meetings and can house dogs and cats staying with guests. The Kaulbacks' four cats roam the premises.
Besides offering guest accommodations, the guesthouse features Allan Kaulback's Barn Cats Woodshop, a boutique selling organic foods and gift items, and healthful-living seminars.
The establishment's Web sites are dreamhorseguesthouse.com or kinsmanbarncats.com. Nightly rates for people start at $65.
"We are not pretentious. We have a very hospitable, warm and casual lifestyle here," said Catherine Kaulback.
Her husband concluded: "People that come here often say that they feel like they're home when they come here. It's not an ostentatious place."
milliken@vindy.com