‘Farm’ Owner Accused of Animal Cruelty : Dispute: Authorities confiscate 12 ponies and horses from Chatsworth property. Woman is detained by police, then released.

The owner of Reseda’s only pony ride and petting zoo was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of animal cruelty--allegedly in connection with not trimming her ponies’ hoofs.

Animal regulation officials also confiscated 12 of Linda Menary’s ponies and horses from her property in Chatsworth with the aid of Sandi Venables, who runs a Chatsworth-based nonprofit horse rescue agency, both Menary and Venables said.

The animals were taken by trailer to the West Valley Animal Shelter, where they are awaiting a veterinarian and a horseshoer, Venables said.

Officials at the Devonshire Division of the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that Menary was detained on suspicion of animal cruelty, then released. She said she drove herself there after Department of Animal Regulation officers told her that she was under arrest.

The incident pitted two of the San Fernando Valley’s most prominent equestrians against each other. Menary, who owns a pony ride known as “The Farm” on Tampa Avenue in Reseda, has been locked in a high-profile tussle with city regulators for several years.

She recently sued the city to prevent officials from shutting down the pony ride after she tried and failed to get a land-use permit to keep it open.

Venables is a former manicurist and bail bondswoman who runs Jolene’s Horse Rescue, a charity organization devoted to saving horses from neglect, cruelty and the slaughterhouse.

Wednesday’s incident occurred at a property Menary owns in the 22100 block of Chatsworth Street, about several miles northwest of the pony ride.

Venables recounted with outrage how, acting on a tip, she went onto the property Tuesday when Menary wasn’t there and took pictures of the animals. She then showed the photos to animal regulation officials, and helped them during Wednesday’s raid.

Some of the horses and ponies had hoofs that had grown five to six inches beyond where they should be, a potentially crippling condition, she said.

“They looked like little elf feet. . . . It was just unbelievable,” Venables said. Hoofs should be trimmed every six to eight weeks, Venables said, adding that Menary’s animals appeared not to have had a trim for several months.

Menary said she arrived at the property as officials were loading animals into trailers, and agreed to turn herself in after calling her lawyer.

Menary called the raid an overreaction by animal regulation officers. “I think it’s harassment,” she said. “I think it’s retaliation because I sued the city.

“I admit they (the ponies) needed their feet trimmed and that it was urgent,” she added. “But they left me a notice that I was to do it within 24 hours. If I was in jail, how was I supposed to trim their hoofs?”

Animal regulation officials could not be reached for comment.