A Horse of a Different Color : Carson: J & E Stables is an anachronism--a refuge for horses in the heart of industry. The city has targeted the area for redevelopment, but the horse lovers say nay.

It seems an unlikely place for a gallop, what with the buzzing electrical towers soaring overhead, the drone of the Artesia Freeway in the background and the nondescript warehouses here and there.

But there it is, the J & E Stables, home to Red, Hostess, Cowboy and other equine senior citizens, many living out their golden years smack in the middle of an industrial corner of Carson.

On this dusty lot hard by the highway, stable owner Patricia Cox, 47, found peace of mind after cancer surgeries by caring for 40-odd horses, owned mostly by South Bay horse-lovers of modest means.

“I’m from a Montana ranch, so this reminds me a lot of where I grew up,” Cox said last week on a stroll past a row of stalls, the warm afternoon air heavy with the scent of hay, manure and freeway exhaust.

But the low-rent stable’s quirky location, a 2.5-acre swath of power line right of way leased from Southern California Edison, may be its undoing: Carson city officials have targeted the property for redevelopment.

In a letter earlier this month, the city planning office advised Cox to relocate the stable because the boarding of horses doesn’t square with the city’s redevelopment plans, which call for construction of a shopping center on the surrounding property. She was informed she probably won’t get another user permit when her current one expires in December.

“Why are they taking my business away from me?” Cox, her eyes moistening, said last week at the stable, just south of the Artesia Freeway. “We need help.”

Cox’s go-round with Carson officials illustrates the problems urban stable owners often face when confronted with city planners, who often favor stores and houses over stables and horses. Rising liability insurance also has taken its toll, horse industry officials said.

Indeed, such predicaments are becoming increasingly common in the Los Angeles area, where horse owners say they have experienced a sharp decline in the number of urban stables over the past two decades.

In the city of Los Angeles, for example, the number of horse stables and riding academies has declined 75% in 20 years, from 74 in 1972 to 18 last year. But stables are holding more horses. The number of horse licenses issued increased from 1,290 in 1977 to 2,252, according to the city’s Department of Animal Regulation.

Underlying Cox’s troubles are the redevelopment visions of Carson Mayor Michael Mitoma, who successfully lobbied the City Council last year to revoke Cox’s then-recently granted eight-year permit and replace it with a permit valid for only one year.

Although permanent buildings are not allowed on Cox’s parcel because of Edison’s power lines, the city says the property should be put to use in a way that complements the shopping center. One such use would be as a parking lot, a city planner said.

Mitoma said he sees the stable, with its corrugated tin corrals and country odor, as an eyesore that could scare away potential developers.

“We are trying to attract major companies, and when people see what uses are there, they get concerned,” he said. “You can see it from the freeway and it’s not a beautiful sight.”

Cox said the city is being heartless.

She and many of the horse owners said they fear they won’t be able to find affordable stables for the horses. Some loyal owners said they would rather have their horses destroyed than to part with Cox.

“I go to bed every night thinking that so many horses are going to have to be put to sleep,” said Cox, whose boarders maintain J & E is the last low-rent stable left in the South Bay. They say they can’t afford to rent pricier stalls on the Palos Verdes Peninsula or in the San Fernando Valley.

“I shudder to think what I would do if it closes down,” said horse owner Brenda Sappington, who boards Duchess and Mercado at J & E. “I may have to euthanize them because I don’t want to put them in a bad home. I can’t afford the $200 (a month) they want (at stables on the Palos Verdes Peninsula).”

At J & E, horse owners said, they have found a close-knit group of “horse people,” trying to experience the country life many lived or dreamed about in childhood.

They speak unabashedly about what they see as the human quality of their horses.

“Come over and let Red say hi to you,” Stephanie Lamboy said to a visitor, introducing her 21-year-old mount. Red nods his head up and down, occasionally sticking his tongue out.

For Lamboy, having Red is a way to remember her childhood growing up on a Massachusetts farm.

Like other owners, she said she thinks nothing of the contrast between J & E and the freeway, power lines and industrial buildings. In fact, she insists the region’s psyche would be better off with more stables.

“We had stables all over the L.A. Basin and they have just been put out by greedy city councils to just develop and get rid of any form of the past,” Lamboy said. “The urban horse is an endangered species.”

Gently stroking Red’s forehead, she added, “Cities need to have this, where you can get as close to nature as you can.”

“These are our babies,” said Carolyn Bernal, who often takes her Buff to nursing homes with Cox, the organizer of a traveling petting zoo. “We eat, sleep and drink horses. It’s like somebody with poker fever.”

Tending her horses or transporting them by trailer to trails in outlying areas offers Bernal a chance to “get away from human society and the hustle and bustle and the people. There’s a beauty out there you can’t get from driving a car.”

“I always wanted to move to a ranch but we can’t really afford it, so this is like my escape,” said Iris Prieto, who at 18 is one of the youngest horse owners at J & E. Many of the others are retired.

She and her friend Maria Talero, 21, have six horses between them, all acquired over the past eight years.

The other afternoon she rode Star, a black-and-white 9-year-old who is the envy of many owners because of the black and white patches on his coat. “It took me forever to calm him down when I first got him. He thought he was a stallion.”

For others, a visit to the stables is a family affair. Sundays are big picnic days.

While her 6-year-old daughter Shannon rode Cowboy, Maurine Musial said she and her children often have barbecues at the ranch on Sundays.

“It’s outdoors. It has animals. It’s kind of like a sanctuary in the city,” Musial said.

She’s not sure the 20-year-old horse could endure the stress of travel if she had to move him to another stable.

Besides, she said, other stables may be out of range of her cosmetician salary and she frets that other stable owners won’t be as devoted to Cowboy as Cox is.

“I’ve been at other stables and they are really callous,” Musial said. “She’s totally understanding and she loves the horses. She’s not in it for the business.”

Cox herself has three horses and also takes in abandoned ducks, geese and other wildlife.

The owners said they have found Cox willing to go to extremes to care for their horses, sometimes staying up all night to care for a sick animal.

“Buff’s back was swollen once after a ride and Pat was the first one there with the ice,” Bernal said.

A former race car driver, Cox bought the stable in 1983 as part of her therapy for medical troubles. The stable had been there under previous owners since the late 1960s.

Now she is weighing whether to pay the $1,500 fee to reapply for a permit by Oct. 12, the application deadline. Cox worries that it will be a waste of money and time because officials told her the chances of getting another one don’t look good.

Her concern appears well-founded.

“It is incompatible with our plans for that area,” Mitoma said last week, explaining why he wants the stables to go.

“We are trying to clean that area up. Right across the street we are planning for a major retail development,” Mitoma said, although no developer has been found and just when that development would occur is uncertain.

Yet Mitoma stopped short of saying he would vote against another one-year permit. In the stable’s favor, he said, could be the fact that redevelopment in the area surely won’t get under way within a year.

Mitoma and other city officials said they have compassion for the horses. Mitoma said he had one when he was a boy.

Still, they say they are wary of allowing Carson’s only stable to remain.

“We certainly have nothing against the stable,” said Sheri Repp, the city’s senior planner. “If it wasn’t in the middle of a city it probably wouldn’t be an issue.”

Urban Horse Stable Carson city officials wanted J & E Stables to move from its location just south of the Artesia Freeway because the city has targeted the property for redevelopment.