Horses and Sheep and the Law, Oh My! by Deirdre Norman Lawyers at Leisure is a new feature of Virginia Lawyer that profi les the interesting hobbies, passions, and projects of the members of the Virginia State Bar. Deep in the Middleburg Hunt Country, past miles of black four-board fencing containing grazing horses, past mortar-less stone walls edging tree-lined lanes, down a long, rutted gravel road that doglegs at a small pasture where three small ponies quietly graze sits a small farm in Purcellville called West Manor, the home of farmer and lawyer Barbara S. Williams. Revolutionary War patriot John West built West Manor, crafted of stone, hewn timber, and clay and lime mortar, in 1791. West had been briefl y jailed for his anti-crown activi-ties during the war, but was released by King George because his uncle, Benjamin West, was one of the founders and the second presi-dent of the Royal Academy of Art in London. Today, the two-story shuttered house sits on a knoll overlooking Williams’s small farm. In her cozy kitchen, warmed by a black cast iron stove, where a slim gray cat lolls on the counter, Williams says, “I never wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to be a veterinarian.” She majored in Animal Science at Virginia Tech and upon graduation applied to veterinary schools. When she didn’t get into vet school, www.vsb.org 12 VIRGINIA LAWYER | April 2016 | Vol. 64 | LAWYERS AT LEISURE