Back in the saddle: Longtime horse stable relocates to new home

Julie Schad, owner of Griffith Park Horse Rentals, doesn’t see her business’ new location as a new start but instead as business as usual.

“It was definitely a new start, but at the same time, we didn’t lose a beat,” Schad said Tuesday afternoon as she tended to one of her horses. “The universe stepped in and said, ‘Do what you do over here now.’ It felt like we were just along for the ride.”

That ride, a nearly three-year legal battle with her former landlord at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, ended up with a happy ending. Earlier this month, Schad’s longtime business of about 15 years made the stables at 1820 Riverside Drive in Glendale its new home after spending about 50 years in the neighboring facility.

Schad said the new facility is much smaller than her previous setup. Instead of having 30 stalls and a large corral to house her 50 horses, she’s had to resort to having only six stalls and a large corral.

However, Schad has plans to make improvements to the facility, which will include building a canopy over the corral, fixing the fencing around the property and upgrading a small, secluded picnic area next to the corral where families can host parties.

“It’s got a great energy, and we’ll just build on that,” Schad said.

Finding a facility so close by her old location was serendipitous for Schad.

In mid-May, around the time when she was wrapping up her operations at her previous stable, her dog went missing. Schad looked around the neighborhood and ended up at the property where her business would soon be relocated.

Schad said she bumped into the property owner and asked if they had seen her dog. Her dog was not there, but she found something else.

“I knew the landlord here, and he told me he was getting the place ready to rent,” she said. “At the time, I didn’t think of it, but then, long story short, I called him and asked if we could move there, and he said, ‘yes.’”

Her dog ended up being back at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, but now she also found a new place to put her business.

Schad said she knew the new location would suit her well when her horses were not being fussy about the new facility. And like her horses, Schad can now take a deep breath and continue running her horse rental as if the legal battle she was tangled in hadn’t happened.

In February 2015, Schad filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, alleging the business had breached a contract the two parties had entered into in April 2014.

The equestrian center was supposed to negotiate a sublease extension with Schad and draft a request for proposal to be submitted to the Los Angeles Department of Recreations and Parks. However, Schad alleged the request was biased toward a competing horse-rental business, Circle K Riding Stables in Burbank.

During that time, the equestrian center issued Schad a 60-day notice to vacate the facility. Schad had argued that the notice didn’t give a reason for the eviction and she was up to date on the fees she had to pay under her sublease.

Then, in May 2016, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center filed an eviction lawsuit against Schad. The case was ultimately dismissed in January 2017 after both parties settled on the lawsuit filed by Schad.

Schad said there are no feelings of animosity between her and the equestrian center since the move. In fact, her former landlords allowed her to post a sign where her stables once stood notifying customers the business had moved down the street.

There has been another issue on Schad’s mind since she moved to the new facility. With Rancho District residents from both Glendale and Burbank opposing a proposed housing project on the site of Silver Spur Stables just down the street, Schad said she has heard rumors regarding her site being another property of contention.

But until that rumor comes to fruition, Schad said she will continue moving forward with her business and enjoying this new chapter in her life.

“It’s hard not to get stressed out, but [the last three years] was a good lesson in doing what you can do, not giving up and staying positive,” she said.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio