The couple offers warm greetings from the residence barn’s flower-filled patio. William exudes a calm, polite confidence, and Arden is at once the equable and friendly hostess. She is readily proud of their unique home, confiding she wasted no time upon taking up residence in softening its manliness with oriental rugs, antiques, artwork, and family mementos. In the den, a sofa jauntily draped with an Hermes horse-cooling blanket is flanked by huge antique bellows cleverly repurposed into floor lamps—a birthday gift from William’s father. A cast-iron wood-
burning stove cozies up the corner, juxtaposing sheer linen curtains and an antique tapestry. Two small, square interior windows provide a peek into the adjacent stalls. “William and I will be watching TV and something loud will come on. Suddenly, the horses’ heads will appear in the windows, like they are saying, ‘We hear you!’ It’s hysterical,” Arden says. “You have to really love animals to live here.” An efficient, galley-style kitchen outfitted with distressed black cabinetry, granite and butcher-block counters, and high-end stainless appliances offsets the warm wooden