Horse Center Wants Polo Ban Lifted While Probe Continues

Los Angeles Equestrian Center executives sought permission Wednesday to continue holding indoor polo matches at the center even though city officials ordered such matches halted pending the outcome of an investigation into the deaths of two polo ponies.

Dean Harrison, general counsel for Gibraltar Savings of Beverly Hills, which operates the Griffith Park facility, said the center is challenging the shutdown of its polo season by seeking a permit from the Department of Animal Regulation to allow it to host polo matches while the investigation continues.

Harrison said the center wants to hold a game Saturday between the Los Angeles Colts and the Houston Longhorns at the center’s 3,500-seat Equidome.

“We run a clean operation out there, and there’s nothing wrong with the way the horses are treated,” Harrison said. “We’re counting on having a game this weekend, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”

Investigation Scheduled

Michael Burns, district supervisor for the department, said if the center passes an inspection this week that proves that polo ponies are being properly treated and trained, it will be allowed to hold the Saturday match.

But even if the game is played, an investigation into the treatment of polo ponies at the center will continue, Burns said.

The department shut down the indoor polo season at the financially plagued center after the deaths of two thoroughbred horses during a polo match March 11. The horses had to be destroyed when they broke legs during the first minutes of the match, center officials said.

Burns said he also had heard unconfirmed reports of two other horses being killed at the center.

The center did not have proper permits to hold the matches or other horse-related events, even though polo matches have been staged there since 1983, Burns said.

Expression of Confidence

Harrison said he is confident that the center will pass the inspection and that the game will be played Saturday.

Some horse boarders at the center, on property owned by the city of Los Angeles, have told city officials that they have seen polo horses with large open sores. Burns said his department will investigate whether the center is violating state humane laws in the treatment of the horses.

Suzanne Peika, a spokeswoman for the center, said boarders and other users of the facility are distraught about the cancellation of the polo matches. “People have been calling up here crying, thinking the whole place has been shut down,” Peika said.