4 Horses That Had Baffling Illness Are Put to Death

State health officials Tuesday were racing to identify a baffling illness that has killed at least 18 horses, stricken several others and shaken owners and trainers throughout Southern California since it surfaced 10 days ago in Orange County.

Four of the horses apparently suffering from the mysterious ailment were destroyed Tuesday--two in Ventura County, one in Los Angeles County and one in San Bernardino.

As veterinarians speculated that the illness might be caused by a type of food poisoning, some Orange County owners who lost horses criticized managers of the Orange County Fairgrounds Equestrian Center for not changing the feed sooner.

Seven horses boarded at the equestrian center have died, and two others are showing symptoms of the illness. But officials said Tuesday that they have committed all resources available and that they were encouraged that no new cases have been reported since Sunday.

State officials and a team of veterinarians held a news conference at the equestrian center Tuesday, but they could offer few answers and little solace to the angry owners and trainers whose horses succumbed to the malady.

“He was like a part of my family,” said Mary Carpenter of her Arabian champion show horse Mazerati, which died Sunday. Carpenter, who lives in Huntington Beach, attended the news conference and broke down sobbing several times as she related his last hours. She said the horse was valued “in the six figures.”

“My 10-year-old son was there when he died, and friends and family held prayer vigils around his stall,” Carpenter said. “He did not die alone.”

Veterinarians said they have not determined a cause for the illness but that they have focused attention on the food supply, which apparently is the only common link among the stricken equines.

At least three horses have also died at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank.

Several veterinarians who have treated the sick horses say the symptoms of twitching muscles, rapid breathing and difficulty chewing and swallowing are consistent with botulism, a form of food poisoning caused by a bacteria-borne toxin.

“Our analysis of the hay is still in the works, and we plan to collect more samples from different sources,” said Dennis Thompson, a veterinarian in the animal health branch of the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

Thompson said investigators are analyzing cubes of compressed alfalfa processed by Paramount Cubing of Artesia, a feed company that supplies the Costa Mesa center and stables throughout Southern California.

Thompson said that remnants of fur and hide, apparently from a rabbit, had been found in one feed sample, which “leads to consideration of botulism as a cause.”

Thompson said, however, that Paramount Cubing has not been ordered to stop distributing its feed.

“There is no conclusive evidence that the (feed) is the cause,” he said. “We would, however, advise people to be cautious with the cubes of hay. Right now we just don’t have enough information.”

Norbert Bartosik, general manager of the Orange County center, said Paramount Cubing officials had been invited to the press conference but declined to attend on the advice of their attorney.

However, company owner Ken Rhomberg said earlier Tuesday that his firm has used the same procedure to make and distribute cubes for 15 years and that he doubts that they are to blame.

Alex Ardans, director of the California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory system, based at UC Davis, said necropsies of five horses showed virtually nothing on which to base a diagnosis.

The Orange County Equestrian Center established a voluntary quarantine of its stables Friday to prevent horses’ being taken out or brought in. Bartosik said Tuesday that the Huntington Beach Equestrian Center and the Sycamore Trails and Rancho Sierra Vista stables, both in San Juan Capistrano, have also agreed to quarantine their horses.

Owners and trainers at the Orange County equestrian center have mounted round-the-clock vigils to look after their animals, and some blamed officials for not acting sooner to remove the feed.

“There are things they should have done that they didn’t do,” Carpenter said. “They should have stopped feeding the horses the cubes immediately, and they didn’t.”

Pamela Gimple, manager of the equestrian center, said officials replaced the feed Nov. 3, when they began to suspect a link among three deaths previously believed to be unrelated. The first death at the center was reported on Oct. 28; the other two occurred Nov. 1 and 3.

However, Gimple acknowledged that the cubed feed from Paramount was not discontinued until Monday, when the center began using non-cubed alfalfa hay.

Andrea Kary, who has kept her horse, Star, at the Costa Mesa center for four years, said several owners took it upon themselves to place “No Feeding” signs in front of stalls and to handle the feed chores themselves.

“It’s a heartbreaking thing and has been very scary for all of us,” Kary said. “It’s like a nightmare, something that you read about happening on the other side of the country but not here.”

She said Star had been given the alfalfa cubes but had left many of them uneaten and is apparently doing fine.

Maureen McLane of Huntington Beach boards her 12-year-old quarter horse at the Costa Mesa center. McLane said she has suspected “the hay cubes from the beginning.” She said the cubes she saw at the center last week were “discolored.” They were a “gray moldy color, rather than fresh green,” she said.

Times staff writer Steven R. Churm contributed to this report.