It’s a cool fall late-October day in Exeter. Chris Rider, wearing his blue “submarine veteran” baseball cap, has amiable granted a request for a sub-related anecdote:

Sometime in REDACTED, at the height of the Cold War, a twenty-something sailor named Chris Rider was serving on the U.S.S. REDACTED. They were on a mission several hundred miles off the coast of REDACTED, patrolling near U.S. waters, on the lookout for reported Soviet spy ships that had camouflaged themselves as fishing vessels.

The Captain of the REDACTED relayed orders to his crew - an odd set of directives, Chris thought (but dared not speak). Whisper-quiet, the REDACTED maneuvered to a specific location in the Atlantic until, with a scream of dumped ballast and whining machinery, the submarine shot to the surface like a cork - right into the middle of the enclave of the Russian ships. The U.S. sailors let loose a series of taunts and internationally-recognized rude gestures and, as quickly as they surfaced, dipped back beneath the waves.

This is just one entry in an anthology of stories that make up Chris’s life, which he would be the first to characterize as a “roller coaster.” The ups are way up there: running an auto body business, finding huge success in the real estate market, owning multiple Porsches, an airplane, and a helicopter, and starting an environmental products company that distributes DirtGlue®, a space-age water-based polymer.

But the lows were subterranean. Several years into his auto body career, he discovered he had been methodically poisoning himself while using a toxic compound. Then, during the 1989 recession, Chris and wife Jill witnessed their accumulated wealth evaporate. They were forced to liquidate nearly all of their possessions to pay their debts.

The worst was yet to come. With creditors baying at their door, Jill, a lifelong equestrian, made the painful decision to part with her prized show horses. Shockingly, tragically, before a transaction could even be completed, the barn where the horses were temporarily housed - along with over 65 other show horses - burned to the ground, killing nearly every horse inside, including Jill’s. She was shattered. It would take many years before Jill would ride again.

“She had those horses since they were yearlings,” Chris says. “They were genuinely part of the family. She was devastated.”

At their nadir, Chris and Jill had just one asset remaining: their house in Ipswich. It was enough of an anchor and held enough value through the bounce-back years that when they decided to move to New Hampshire, to pursue the scenic beauty and green space they both craved, they had an asset to sell to make that possible. So, in 2005, they sold the house, ventured north, and found a compelling property at the nexus of Exeter, East Kingston, and Kensington.

“We walked the property and went inside the house,” Chris says. “I liked it. My wife really loved it.”

After many months of discussion and negotiations, the Riders were able to acquire the property. Their intent was always to secure a conservation easement and ensure the land would be preserved. However, efforts over the years did not unfold as planned, which led to some financial challenges.

“After more than 18 years of perseverance," Chris says, “we are glad to have found a partner in SELT to complete this crucial conservation effort.”

“As can be the case with complex conservation projects like this, there are many i’s to dot and t’s to cross,” said Kaitlin Deyo, Conservation Project Manager for SELT. “The good news is that this wonderful land was ultimately protected forever. Chris has been steadfast in his commitment to seeing this beautiful property conserved and his dedication has been key in making this project a reality."

It is indeed a land worth negotiating the labyrinth paperwork for. At the mouth of the winding driveway, you are met with a New Hampshire Tree Farm designation, indicating the Riders’ commitment to conscientious land management (NH Tree Farms are properties of 10 acres or more, stewarded by management plans crafted by a licensed forester).

That earnest, thorough property management is evidenced as you walk the land: the green field where Jill’s two horses dwell looks like it slipped off a postcard, and navigating the acreage behind reveals well-stewarded horse trails, buttressed by diverse forests and habitat.

Through the years Chris has seen moose, bear, and hundreds of deer and turkeys traverse the property. Add to that, the conservation of the Riders’ land safeguards water quality and drinking water supplies, especially important in a region that burns bright for residential development.

“Horsepilot Farm has it all,” Kaitlin says. “With over 160 acres of farmland soils and existing entirely within state identified High Priority Water Supply lands, the Riders' property not only preserves the water quality of Great Brook, which runs into the Exeter River, but ensures the farmland soils are here to stay.”

There’s even some unique history to be found, as a portion of the land had once been the home of the Eno Brickyard from sometime around the 1840’s to about 1960 (Chris estimates he’s stumbled across over 2,000 bricks in his various travels since he’s owned the property). And a short walk from the house the “Tri-Town Marker” can be seen, a great hefty slab of stone from 1785 indicating the locus of three old town borders: Exeter, East Kingston, and Haverhill (prior to the formation of the United States, and the area that now encompasses Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine was called Massachusetts Colony).

For Chris and Jill, the closing of the conservation easement - completed on April 9 - puts a bow on a shared journey filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows; they have permanently conserved the land that they have come to love.

“Now we know that we can live here for the rest of our lives,” Chris says.

On the walk back to the driveway, Chris takes a moment to show off his beloved two-person helicopter, a prized vestige from the booming ‘80s before everything went sideways. There are few things he loves more than taking the chopper for a spin over the property, surveying the woods, the wildlife, and the rolling farmlands, perhaps even catching a glimpse of Jill trotting through the forest, astride one of the horses.

The two of them, back in the saddle.

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The Horsepilot Farm project is a partnership effort between SELT and the Town of Kensington, who contributed $103,000 in funding, and the Towns of Exeter and East Kingston, who each contributed $100,000 in funding. These funds, plus a generous bargain sale by Chris and Jill below the easement’s fair market value, matched a grant from the state’s Groundwater and Drinking Water Trust Fund and Local Source Water Protection fund. Additional funding was provided by the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership.