Our History

In 1999 Hannah's grandmother, Jean Gilbert, purchased the land that would be Twin Lakes Stable. Our 50 acre hobby farm had a simple 40 x 60 cattle barn that Hannah's uncle, Tim Sparks, completely gutted and stalls put inside. We started with two stalls, a Quarter Horse named Reisen, a Hackney Pony named Aladdin, two saddles and two bridles. In the early 2000's it became clear that this "hobby farm" was now turning into an Amateur Owner Trainer facility ran by Hannah, who was still in high school at that time. Two horses quickly turned into ten horses and ten turned into twenty. It was during this time that Hannah purchased her very first rescue horse, a Percheron named Ben. This is where her love for rescues began.  The barn quickly became too small for what we needed. So Jean and Tim began to add onto the barn piece by piece until there simply was no room left. 

In 2019, Hannah, her family and the stable, endured quite the hardship. In the spring of 2019, the barn suffered tornado damage. Just a few weeks after the storm Hannah broke her arm and was unable to work horses. While Hannah was recovering in a full arm cast, she battled with the insurance company, their structural engineers and adjusters (and was ready for the attorneys). After months of battle, two different adjusters, 4 structural engineers and several contractors comments, she finally got a win. The insurance company would replace the old barn. Two weeks later, Hannah got her cast off and began rehab to prepare for the work ahead. A week after getting her cast off, Hannah had to say goodbye to the oldest and the original member of the Twin Lakes Stable herd, Reisen.  Although it was a hard decision to make, we all know he is in a better place and getting many treats in heaven by Jean. A week later, Hannah began researching the best builders, material, contractors, and anything you could imagine to prepare to build the new Twin Lakes Stable. In August 2019, the first wall of the old Twin Lakes Stable came down. By the end of September you would have never known a barn had sat there for 30 years. In October the family was hit with another devastating blow. Tim was diagnosed with lung cancer. Thankfully he was surrounded by people who love him and are cared for him.

While everyone was enjoying the Alabama Charity Championship Horse Show, Hannah was watching the first hole being dug to the new facility she designed herself. The new facility boasts over 15,000 sq ft with a spacious indoor arena, 16 stall barn, two large climate controlled tack rooms and a two story office. It is still very much a work in progress, but, the bones are there and we are ready for the challenge of creating a grand office and adding stalls as we need them! Check out our facility page to see a complete list of all the amenities Twin Lakes Stable will have when we are complete!