FILLMORE : Horse in the Middle of Family Dispute

Four years ago, Crystal League’s parents got her a horse in hopes of driving away their daughter’s depression. Now they charge in a lawsuit that the cousins who originally owned the horse have stolen it back to settle the score on a family argument.

Crystal’s mother, Diane League, 38, of Fillmore says a psychiatrist told her and her husband, Richard, 39, that a birth defect led to a slight learning disability and low self-esteem for Crystal.

“We tried getting her into sports,” Diane League said. “We tried getting her into beauty pageants. That just didn’t work.”

After talking to Diane League’s cousin, Glenda Hill, and Hill’s husband, John, who raise horses in Fillmore, the Leagues decided that owning and caring for a horse might give Crystal the sense of accomplishment she needed, according to the suit filed this week in Ventura County Superior Court.

According to the suit, the Leagues and the Hills agreed verbally that the Hills would turn over a brood mare named Red Rock Moon to Crystal. In exchange, the Leagues would take care of the horse and give the Hills the mare’s foal.

Soon, Crystal’s parents were taking her “seven days a week, 365 days a year” to the stables where they boarded the horse, Diane League said. The Hills revived a horse club for their niece to join, and the girl’s bedroom became “a shrine” to horses. She began winning belt buckles and ribbons at the county fair.

“She became a whole person,” her mother said.

But last year, Diane League had a falling out with the Hills over another matter, she said. “We just got in an argument, and it got worse and worse,” she said.

The Hills then said they wanted the horse back, and the Leagues refused. Late last December, according to the Leagues’ lawsuit, John Hill gave them a written statement saying he would sell them the horse for $1,000 and warning them that he would take the horse if the Leagues didn’t pay by June, 1991.

The Leagues say that because they’ve adhered to the earlier, verbal agreement, Crystal still owns the horse.

According to Diane League, the Hills took the horse from her stall on the morning of May 12. The suit also says the Hills are harassing them, including threatening to kill the mare if the Leagues try to get her back.

Neither Glenda nor John Hill could be reached for comment.

Although the Leagues’ lawsuit asks for payment of damages, Diane League says she only wants the horse back for Crystal. The girl now has a 6-month-old foal of Red Rock Moon’s as well as another horse too old to ride.

But Crystal misses the mare, her mother says. “We’ve told her we’re going to get it back.”