Agency Votes to End Horse Ranch Lease

For nearly 30 years, Alvin “Bully” Caddin has run the Two Winds equestrian ranch in Newbury Park, renting horses to the public, offering free instruction to disabled children and giving low-income youngsters the chance to own their own steeds.

But Caddin’s business may soon ride into the sunset.

The Conejo Open-Space Conservancy Agency, which oversees the land that currently houses Two Winds, voted last week to terminate Caddin’s lease for nonpayment of rent.

Caddin said he has been forced to spend so much money upgrading the facility that there has been little cash left over to make those payments.

“I got a funny feeling it’s politics more than anything,” the rancher said. “They’re saying that they’re looking for a permanent site for me, but that’s going to cost me an arm and a leg.”

But COSCA members said they couldn’t allow Caddin to stay on the property without paying his rent.

“My daughter volunteers at the ranch; I love Bully,” said City Councilman Andy Fox, who sits on the board but was not present for the Two Winds vote. “But he has been there rent-free for many years. We allow him to operate a private business on public land, and he is supposed to pay us to do that. The only problem is, he hasn’t paid us.”

For 27 years, the Two Winds ranch rested on a 50-acre site across the road from its current location, until its land was claimed by the 2,350-unit, $700-million Dos Vientos housing project.

The city then moved the ranch to a municipal-owned lot across the street. But the smaller 20-acre site had no facilities and no electricity. That forced Caddin to spend money providing those amenities, leaving him little to make good on his rent.

“He had to put in a lot of his own money to get it moved across the street, and because he had no electricity, he had to pay for his own generator,” said City Councilwoman Linda Parks, who sits on the agency panel that revoked Caddin’s lease and cast the lone dissenting vote against that action.

“It’s such a service,” she said. “It really broke my heart.”