A Haven for Horse Lovers

Summertime gallops in on a full moon. School’s out and the days are long and lazy. Everywhere, the hearts of young people--mostly girls--are turning to . . . horses.

“Aaahh, horses,” sighed a very young Elizabeth Taylor in “National Velvet.”

But never once in that classic film did the dewy-cheeked Liz muck out stalls.

Not so at hundreds of stables around the Valley--public, private and run-of-the-mill backyard--where the horse season is in. There’s plenty of mucking going on.

Morgan Rich, 12, of Saugus, is a mucker. So is her friend Jennifer Smolski, 13, of Canyon Country. They are among several dozen horse lovers who regularly hang out at Don-E-Brook Farms boarding stable in Saugus.

During the school year, Morgan spends at least 10 hours a week at the ranch. But in summer, “she lives here,” explained her mom, Kathe Rich, a critical-care nurse.

“If I weren’t here, I’d probably be laying in bed, eating and watching TV,” says Jenny, as everyone calls her.

“My parents would be yelling at me to clean my room,” Morgan chimes in.

When they can’t hitch a ride with parents or friends, they bicycle to the ranch. Morgan lives just three miles away, but it takes Jenny an hour to pedal eight miles. Time flies by as they live, breathe and talk horses all day, pitching in on a variety of daily chores.

They call each of the 100 horses by name and know their personalities. Ranch donkeys Gladys and Elsie make a frightful noise, Shawnie is mean to other horses, and Starfire chases anyone who goes in his corral.

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Poet is the 6-week-old filly, born in the wee hours of the morning while the girls were away. “The dogs tried to eat the placenta,” says one, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Eeee-ooo,” echoes the other.

“My horse is the prettiest,” boasts Morgan, gazing lovingly at her 6-year-old gelding, a gift from her parents a year ago. “He’s a running quarter, which means he’s part thoroughbred. He has a pretty nice build. He gets the most exercise on this ranch. He’s still pretty young and spooky. If I didn’t ride him a lot, he would kill me. He doesn’t like to do barrels; he’s afraid of knocking them down.

“He’s bucked me off lots of times--most of my friends, too.”

“He’s never bucked me off,” interjects Jenny. “He likes me. He talks to you by moving his lips and he gives kisses,” she says, turning her cheek toward the horse nonchalantly nibbling hay off the ground.

“But he tries to eat my frog backpack.”

Jenny’s horse is special too. The mare once fell off a steep cliff in Griffith Park and had to be rescued by helicopter. “Penny is very famous,” crows Jenny, gently stroking the mare. “They just did a rerun of animal rescues on TV and she was in it. She turned 17 on April 25. She used to be a racehorse and did some team penning and jumping. She doesn’t buck or rear--ever.”

They get a lot of their information from books, the girls say. And there are daily lessons from just being around the ranch.

“Watch out, Jenny!” Morgan suddenly hollers, just as a gray Arab, ears flattened and teeth bared, lunges at Jenny’s shoulder, as she leaned against a stall. Too late. Jenny bravely holds back tears as she checks the severity of the nip (which did not break the skin).

“Maybe she’s in heat,” Morgan theorizes.

That leads to a discussion about selling horses “to the dog food factory,” a practice both agree they would never, ever do. “You don’t really hate any of them,” elaborates Jenny, adding “some people even sell horses’ teeth for money. I think they make them into jewelry.”

Morgan’s family moved from Van Nuys to Saugus in 1993 “to escape the big city,” said Robin Rich, Morgan’s dad, who commutes by motorcycle to his West Los Angeles job as an electrical engineer.

The family succumbed to horse fever after sponsoring a trail ride for a dozen friends to celebrate Morgan’s ninth birthday. Morgan and her sister, Eva, 11, who also has a horse, have been regulars at the ranch since. Even Kathe Rich, who takes her daughters to the ranch every morning, now leases a horse.

Only Robin Rich says he prefers to watch the family rather than participate, but willingly pays the bills, which average about $350 a month per horse for board and care, insiders say.

Recreational riding “is a good investment,” Robin Rich said. “It has positive effects in a hundred ways. It’s thrilling and athletic, exposes the girls to a different lifestyle, different people of all ages, makes them responsible and, best of all, really tires them out.”

He had just worked three consecutive 12-hour days so he could take two days off to help his daughters prepare for a horse show this weekend.

With his daughters around horses all day, does Robin Rich worry about their safety? “Of course,” he conceded, lounging in the shade of a eucalyptus tree at the ranch. “Worrying is my job. There’s inherent danger in everything they do here. But they are experiencing a part of the world at large. It’s really kind of cool.”

The Riches are among a growing number of equine owners joining a resurgence in equitation sports, say representatives of various breed organizations.

Statistically, the number of horses in the nation has declined dramatically, from 6.6 million in 1987 to 4.9 million in 1991, according to surveys by the American Veterinary Medical Assn. But insiders say those figures are outdated and that they are seeing a growth in newcomers, with a demand, particularly, for so-called “backyard horses.”

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National statistics estimate the equine industry at $15.2 billion a year, accounting for 16% of the gross national product of the agriculture, forestry and fisheries section of the economy. The horse industry generates as much revenue as 65% of all lumber and wood products, 83% of textile mill products, and the combined output of the entire tobacco and leather products industries.

Equestrian Trails Inc., a 49-year-old Sylmar-based volunteer organization that lobbies to preserve and develop riding trails and horse-keeping areas, boasts a record 3,000 members in Southern California. “Participation is definitely increasing,” said ETI President Dale Rich (no relation to the Saugus family).

More than 300 riders are participating this weekend in the annual ETI National Show and Convention at Los Angeles Equestrian Center. The three days of competition, encompassing various styles of riding for all ages, will culminate Sunday with a full day of championship events beginning at 7:30 a.m.

Morgan and Jenny will be there, not with their own horses but to cheer on their sisters and other riding mates from the Don-E-Brook stables.

They’ll also be mucking out stalls and refilling water buckets.

Aaahh, horses!