Trotting Into Extinction? : Horsemanship: Caught between the squeeze of development, cost of water and high insurance rates, many North County stables are riding into the sunset, with the land up for sale. Others are hanging on and hoping for the best.

The neighbors complained about the horsy smells and noises, and the riding trails were poorly planned and maintained, Beverly DeWitt says. Then the cost of water pushed the $4,000-a-month mark.

“We aren’t on an agricultural rate,” says DeWitt, owner of Rancho Bernardo Riding Club, a commercial stable and boarding facility. “We have to pay the same as everyone else.”

So DeWitt has joined the ranks of many other North County stable owners by putting her 35 acres up for sale.

Dwindling open space, complaints from suburban neighbors, massive insurance rate increases and, yes, even the cost of water have compelled the owners of many North County stables to close or move. This in an area that once was a horse lover’s fantasy of riding stables and trails.

All Michele Anderson wants is what she’s doing: living on a ranch and training horses. As modest as that ambition might seem, the manager of Clover Hill Ranch in Oceanside also sees what she loves best in life slipping away.

“There is a new housing development going in that will block our access to the San Luis river,” Anderson said. “We mostly ride on our trail, but to get a ride of any length, you have to go to the river. That’s the only place we can go.”

The problems are more complex than development itself. Residents who buy homes in North County for the rural atmosphere often find that living near livestock has more the smell of manure than the scent of romance. They complain to stable owners and sometimes to city councils about the odor and noise, pressuring the stables to take what can be expensive steps to be more acceptable neighbors.

Insurance rates for hourly rides escalated so sharply in recent years--up to $20,000 a year--that renting a horse has become an extinct pastime. Ten years ago, there were as many as 20 North County stables where horses could be rented. Now the phone listings show no rental stables in North County and only a handful countywide.

In addition, new houses bring cars and dogs that spook horses.

Clover Hill Ranch will soon lose part of its property to a road when Melrose Drive is cut through to meet Mission Avenue, part of a housing tract planned by Pacesetter Homes. A shopping center is planned for the opposite corner.

Anderson says Clover Hill’s owner is lobbying for an underpass or overpass so that horses can cross the new street. However, an ordinary crossing, perhaps with a light and push-buttons to activate a red light for crossing, is expected.

Since moving to San Diego in 1971, Barbara Gerrior, owner of Horseman’s Park in the Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve, says the decline in riding stables has been easy to notice.

Particularly at risk now, Gerrior said, are the equine facilities in and near North City West. Landlords who can get more money with houses than horses, and neighbors who complain to authorities, can make staying open a constant struggle.

“They’re goners,” she said. “You can fight for a while, but, if you don’t have money to keep going, you lose.”

The owners of Clark’s Ranch, tucked in the hills between North City West and Penasquitos, know that.

Jim and Audrey Clark bought their ranch on Black Mountain Road 12 years ago. They board about 60 horses on 11 acres, give lessons and allow boarders to ride their horses on whatever trails are left. Despite some attempt to maintain trails in the county, Audrey Clark says there are few places left to ride in her area.

When the Clarks moved into the area 12 years ago, there were fewer than 400 residents living among the fields and canyons. Now, in North City West alone, there are more than 10,000. “I’m pretty upset about it,” said Audrey Clark. “There’s always pressure (to sell). If I get crowded out, I get crowded out. I hate to see that happen. This has been a life’s dream. But it looks like I’ll get wiped out.”

Tempting offers from developers have come her way, she said, at the same time that trails are diminishing, making riding less of a pleasure.

There now is only one operating ranch along Carmel Valley Road; several others have closed or moved, the land now on the market. “For Sale” signs dot the fields that remain between the new North City West neighborhoods. In one field, a horse trailer and other equestrian equipment near a barn sport a “For Sale” placard too.

DeWitt, the Rancho Bernardo Riding Club owner, says that being in a neighborhood that was marketed on its appeal to riders is no guarantee that horses are welcome.

Her spread is an oasis of well-tended fields, fences and barns, flanked on three sides by seas of suburban tract housing.

“We get a lot of complaints from homeowners,” she said. “They don’t like the smell. I’ve had people call me up in the middle of a Santa Ana wind and ask if we can’t put deodorant on the manure. They don’t like the flies. The horses get bored sometimes and bang on the pipe fences. The neighbors don’t like the noise.”

Although the developers built and marketed Rancho Bernardo as a horsy community, the riding trails weren’t well planned and are not maintained, DeWitt said. Riders must cross city streets to get to the trails, but, if they ride across the street, they get traffic tickets; riders are supposed to dismount and walk their horses across the street. She doesn’t encourage her customers to use the trails.

Although ranches in unincorporated county areas can have their own wells, the city of San Diego, where DeWitt’s commercial stable and boarding facility is located, requires the use of city water to keep the fields green for grazing and the rings watered to settle dust.

“A water bill can run $3,000 to $4,000 per month,” DeWitt said.

The increased costs have pushed the price of boarding a horse to as much as $287 a month, DeWitt said. She has lost some boarders to less-expensive inland stables, where monthly board is commonly as low as $135, she said.

At one time, DeWitt had 155 horses, but now has only about 60.

“We’re becoming obsolete,” she said.

She believes horse stables will be forced to move east, to Ramona and into the mountains. But she won’t be going there.

“We’ll probably go out of business,” she said. “To rebuild would be very difficult.”

Although county riders have launched an effort to preserve and expand the 50 miles of public trails, stable owners have no similar support system. Each new residential development near a horse ranch brings its own struggle with developers, planning commissioners and, eventually, neighbors.

The attitude of a community has a lot to do with how well horse facilities fare, said Carol Rivera, president and majority owner of San Marcos Equestrian Center on Twin Oaks Valley Road.

“San Marcos has a strong citizens’ group,” Rivera said. “They are determined to keep it horse-oriented. The new developments all have equestrian trails and there is strict zoning regarding square feet per lot.”

Some stable owners, however, take a philosophical view of their plight and even expect to profit from the shortage of buildable land in North County’s most accessible areas.

“We have a superb location for stables, but it is a superb location for houses as well,” said Marvin Gerst, managing partner of Peppertree Farms.

Peppertree sits just east of Interstate 5 on Carmel Valley Road, the last remaining horse farm in North City West.

Since he purchased the land in 1986, Gerst has worked with city planners to provide for riding trails from his ranch along Carmel Valley Road and over Sorrento Mesa into Penasquitos Canyon.

Then, along came city and Caltrans plans to build Highway 56 through the south side of the San Dieguito River Valley. If it wins approval, the freeway will cut through Peppertree Farms’ 18 acres, requiring the condemnation of the stables.

“So we’ll have trails but no stables,” Gerst said.

Gerst hopes that plans to route the highway through the valley will be scrapped in favor of putting the road on Sorrento Mesa to the south, where development is still in the early phase.

Even so, Gerst doesn’t expect Peppertree to survive much longer.

“Say the freeway doesn’t come through, the land eventually will convert to houses because that would be the highest use,” Gerst said.

“I’ve got partners who have invested money on the expectation that they will get a good return,” he explained. “Currently, you can’t get a good return on horse stables. I’m not opposed to development. The development around us has not been a problem.”

Gerst said that, if Peppertree is condemned or sold, he will move.

One stable that has already crossed swords with residential growth and won is Horseman’s Park, the riding and training facility in Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. Barbara Gerrior, who leases property for the stables from the city, fought her battle in the early 1970s, when the late developer Irving Kahn, and later AVCO Development, were just beginning to develop Rancho Penasquitos.

Gerrior was renting the land from Irving Kahn. When Kahn died and AVCO bought the land, the company sent her an eviction notice. After a lengthy battle, the city bought the land and gave her a long-term lease.

“The community came forth and supported the idea of open space,” Gerrior said. Now, Los Penasquitos is a 3,600-acre preserve containing more than 100 species of plants, 40 types of birds, and riding and hiking trails open to the public.

Because about 13 years remain on her lease, Gerrior said she is confident about plans to upgrade the stables and improve services.

Yet for many of the other stables, observed Gerrior, “It’s just a matter of time. And it just isn’t necessary. Everyone could be accommodated.”

Where to Find a Place to Ride

HORSE RENTALS

There are no phone book listings of stables that rent horses to the public in North County. Hourly rentals are available in eastern and southern San Diego County or in south Orange County.

Live Oak Canyon Stables

31101 Live Oak Canyon Road, Trabuco Canyon

$15 an hour with guide. Weekends only. 714-858-9922

Bright Valley Farm

11990 Campo Road, Spring Valley

$12.50 an hour with guide. 670-1861

California Horse Rentals

2105 Hollister, San Diego

$13 an hour with or without a guide. 690-3933. If you ride two hours you get a third hour free.

Holidays on Horseback

24928 Viejas Blvd., Descanso

Summer special: 1 1/2 hours at $15 for children 12 and under, $20 for adults; $40 for two hours; $50 for three hours and includes lunch. Five- and seven-hour rides and overnight holidays also available. All rides are led by a guide. 445-3997.

Sandi’s Rental Stable

2060 Hollister, San Diego

$13 an hour with or without a guide. 424-3124. If you ride two hours, you get a third hour free.

Camp Pendleton Stables, Camp Pendleton, 725-4905. Open to military personnel only; one civilian guest allowed per ID card.

HAYRIDES

Horseman’s Park

Black Mountain Road

Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve

271-1120

POLO

Rancho Santa Fe Polo Club

First polo tournament is June 15; season ends Oct. 15.

Wednesday and Friday games start at 5 p.m.; free to public.

Saturday games are at 2 and 4 p.m.

Sunday games, 1 and 3 p.m.

Admission $5, except for fund-raising and special events.

El Camino Real near Via de la Valle.

481-9217

RIDING LESSONS

Benson Carroll Training Stables

16567 Circa del Norte, Rancho Santa Fe

756-0535

Fairbrook Farm

4949 S. Mission Road, Fallbrook

728-5625

Horseman’s Park

12115 Black Mountain Road

San Diego 271-1120

Kalimar Farms Equestrian School

San Dieguito Road, Fairbanks Ranch

756-5947

North County Riding Center

3975 Via de la Valle, Del Mar

755-4260

Peppertree Farms

3401 Carmel Valley Road, Del Mar

755-5021

Rancho Bernardo Riding Club

18009 Pomerado Road, San Diego

451-1920

Rancho Del Mar

14333 San Dieguito Road, San Diego

481-0612

Rancho East

Aliso Canyon Road, Rancho Santa Fe

756-1712

Rancho Riding Club

16924 Rambla de las Flores, Rancho Santa Fe

756-2923

Roper Ranch

6365 El Apajo, Rancho Santa Fe

756-0884

San Marcos Equestrian Center

2635 N. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos

744-7032

OTHER

Valley Center Equestrian/Agricultural Park

Practice arena open to riding public, $2.50 per horse.

First and third Sundays of each month.

End of Aerie Road, Valley Center.

749-706 or 749-0858