Hard Times: The San Fernando Valley used...

Hard Times: The San Fernando Valley used to be horse country. But today, horses are a business mostly in theory. Typical is Damoor Farms in Granada Hills, where a 9-to-5 job outside the farm pays the bills . . . Said Eddie Milligan of Lake View Terrace’s Hanson Dam Equestrian Center: “We are not nonprofit. It just happens to come out that way.”

Urban Creep: Merging old ways with new realities can sometimes be tough. Urban encroachment caught up with Damoor’s Michelle Valentine when storm water runoff from tract homes nearby swept away her barn . . . Urban-rural tensions also affected Shari Steinberg, owner of Hillcrest Stables in Granada Hills, who says loitering street toughs have often scared away customers.

Downsizing: It’s not just stables. Beany Fusano, owner of East Valley Feed & Tack, has watched competitors fold over the years. His family embodies the decline of the rural lifestyle: An Italian grandfather planted olive groves in Sylmar and hauled hay by mule; Fusano now sells cat food to make ends meet. “I’m gearing for when there won’t be any horses here,” he said.

Still Horse Crazy: Luckily, horse lovers seem to endure--although often in new forms. Once, stables thrived off “young girls, with daddy paying the bills,” said Milligan, of the Lake View Terrace stable. Now his clientele consists mostly of older, working women. “They always wanted to ride and their parents didn’t provide,” he said.

New Sales: Horses may be coming back. Nearly 2,000 were licensed in the city of Los Angeles last year, animal control officials said . . . In Chatsworth, horse breeder Anita Baker has finally sold nine purebred Arabians that for years had awaited buyers.