MOORPARK : Officials to Consider Rejecting Horse Bids

College district officials are recommending that trustees tonight reject all of the bids for horses owned by Moorpark College because they were uncertain how many horses they had to sell and advertisements about the auction were not legal.

In a staff report prepared for tonight’s special meeting of the Ventura County Community College District board, Vice Chancellor Jeff Marsee recommends that a new auction be scheduled.

But if all the animals do not sell at auction, Marsee is recommending that college officials sell the horses privately.

Marsee is on vacation and will not attend tonight’s meeting. Chancellor Thomas G. Lakin, who approved the recommendation made by the vice chancellor, also was out of town Tuesday and not available for comment.

Moorpark College President James Walker said Tuesday there are now 23 horses up for bid that are left over from the defunct equine program, including seven being kept at an Ojai Valley ranch.

Four horses that college officials said were taken without approval earlier this month by the Foxfield Riding Academy have been returned, but were not available for viewing prior to the auction, a sealed-bid sale that closed Friday.

The plan to postpone the auction has angered some of the 14 potential buyers who sent in bids for the animals.

“It makes very little sense to railroad an auction through and then say, ‘ wait a minute we’re not going to do this,’ ” said John Eblen, a Newbury Park physicist who bid on one of the animals.

Tonight’s special board meeting will be at 6 p.m. in the district office, 71 Day Road in Ventura.