VASS — Kim and Bryan Rosenberg have lived in a barn and can tell you firsthand that horses do not make the best housemates.

The arrangement was only temporary, until their furniture arrived from a previous residence. Bryan says Dutch the horse soon learned that snacks and treats were not an option after bedtime no matter how much of a ruckus he made.

But lest you picture  the Rosenbergs having to settle down on a soft bed of hay, that was not the case. The second story of the barn at Flagship Farm is a beautiful two-bedroom apartment with vaulted ceilings, granite counters, shiny hardwood floors and a master closet bigger than the one at the main house.

Visitors can tour the second-floor apartment and the rest of the barn at Flagship Farm Oct. 15 as part of the Horse Farm Tour to benefit the Prancing Horse Center for Therapeutic Horsemanship.

Even though the cute barn apartment is a must-see, the first floor is the main attraction. Two wide corridors running perpendicular are capped by wide barn doors at either end. Streaming sunlight and a cross breeze through the open doors and thick stone walls make electricity almost an afterthought. At the axis, a four-story cupola directs a sunlit spotlight onto a brickwork inlay of the farm’s logo.

Vaulted ceilings of pickled hardwood above and walkways of rubber brick below turn the traditional barn look on its ear. Bryan says the reason for soft rubber bricks are obvious to anyone, or any horse, “who’s ever walked on concrete in metal shoes.” Glass panes and transoms on and above interior doors open up the already wide and airy corridors. Brickwork running halfway up the wall, French doors and coated wrought iron gates on the stalls add a feel of countryside shops. Barn residents are treated to a view of the pond or riding ring through exterior doors, usually left open, in each of the spacious stalls. Two wash stations with heat lamps and fans make this an eight-bedroom, two-bath barn for Dutch, the 17-hand Belgian Warmblood and his two companions on the farm.

Perhaps the most unbarn-like feature of the horse habitat is the display of oversized works of art hanging between stalls, inside the stairwell and next to the tack room door. Bryan says it was a task to find pieces to scale with the barn’s high ceilings and wide halls, yet durable enough to withstand dirt and dust.

Outside, deep green shutters and trim frame the barn’s fieldstone face. Mica veining through the beige and gray-toned stones almost glitters in the sunlight on a recent late morning tour. Bushes of bright pink roses add color and remind visitors that this is a home for champions.

Bryan says it was the barn, which sits in front of the main house, that sold him and his wife on Flagship Farm. The way he tells it, they drove down from Raleigh about five years ago “just to look.” The way she tells it, Bryan came home from that “look-see” and immediately started straightening the pantry to put their Raleigh home on the market.

Soon after moving in, Kim requested a vegetable garden like the one belonging to Meryl Streep in the 2009 film “It’s Complicated.” Bryan says they eat “a lot” of cabbage, broccoli, peas radishes, grapes, eggplant and even jicama from the surprisingly small plot. Turns out the giant jicama plant is a natural insecticide. The Rosenbergs don’t use any pesticides on their crops. Bryan admits they end up “sharing” some of their vegetables with the bugs, but says they don’t mind too much. And of course, the horses end up eating the bulk of the carrots.

Tour organizer and Prancing Horse executive director Judy Lewis says the barn at Flagship Farm is just the beginning of what visitors will experience on this year’s tour. Three family farms and the Equine Health Center at Southern Pines, a satellite facility of N.C. State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, round out the six locations. Visitors can watch dentistry demonstrations at the equine health center and learn about driving a carriage at another farm.

The annual horse farm tour benefits Prancing Horse Center for Therapeutic Horsemanship. Each ticket sold covers the cost of a class for one rider.

"By buying a ticket they are putting a student on a horse,” says Judy.

Prancing Horse has provided free riding lessons to individuals with special needs for 30 years. The charity recently purchased a permanent home and expanded dramatically. Dozens of volunteers and a herd of 11 horses serve more than 120 riders from eight public schools. Prancing Horse also offers private sessions to soldiers and veterans suffering from physical and emotional wounds. But still the need for healing through horses is greater.

“It’s just taken off. We’ve been stunned that even at this point we have a waiting list,” says Judy Lewis.

Judy says they hope to raise $20,000 from the annual horse farm tour, more than they’ve ever raised before.

Meeting their goal will be a challenge, but  it seems small when compared with the daily hardships faced by Prancing Horse riders. Judy remembers a high school student who needed a walker to get around, but grew strong enough through her lessons at the riding center to walk on her own.

“She was able to go to the cafeteria and carry her tray without her walker and feel like part of the group,” says Judy.

A middle school student who came to the farm was afraid of everything from bugs to cats to horses. Over time, he overcame that fear until one day he looked down from the back of a horse and announced to the world, “I am brave. I am strong. I am courageous.”

All the money raised from ticket sales will to be used for a riding scholarship fund for public school students with special needs.