Taggers Smell Defeat : Stable Manager Wards Off Graffiti Vandals With Horse Dung

It could have been pepper spray, but it couldn’t have been worse.

A 17-year-old stable manager warded off three graffiti taggers at the Arroyo Seco Stables on Monday with nothing more than a stern warning and a handful of horse dung.

“I wasn’t afraid of picking up the horse droppings, but I was scared to death of [the intruders],” said Heidi Barnes of Highland Park. “Usually I have my pepper spray with me, but I left it at home.”

Three adolescent boys who had been spray-painting their tags on walls outside the stable had grown more ambitious in their attack when Barnes found them. “They were sitting on the wall, attempting to spray-paint a horse’s nose,” she said.

Barnes said she held up the manure and threatened: “If you don’t get off that wall at the count of three, I’m going to throw this at you.”

She counted.

They stood their ground.

And by the time the South Pasadena police arrived 15 minutes later, officers had no trouble sniffing out the perpetrators.

Angered by the incident but wary of approaching the stable, the taggers left their mark on a stone wall by the street and threw rocks, golf balls and profane slurs at Barnes-- missing her but hitting a stable dog, Lt. Joseph Payne said.

Three police cars caught up with the youths, who had taken off running. The Los Angeles residents, two 13-year-olds and a 12-year-old, were charged with cruelty to animals, assault and malicious mischief--all misdemeanors, Payne said. They were released to their parents and are scheduled to appear Oct. 30 in Pasadena Juvenile Court.

“This is the most heroic thing I have seen a young person do,” said George Axt, 77, the owner of the horse the boys attempted to paint.

Axt marveled at how Barnes staved off the taggers, showing those hoodlums what a girl can do when she uses her wits . . . and whatever else happens to be lying around.