An Easy Canter in Pursuit of the Zen of Horseback Riding

Under the glare of arena lights, a rider rises up and down with every other step of his mount, struggling to match the rhythm of the trot.

Nearby, another rider in leather chaps zipped over jeans moves in perfect balance with his horse as he effortlessly cues for a canter, forming giant circles in a figure eight.

Perched in the viewing box of an adjoining arena, a riding instructor clucks directions to her pupils--young professionals, including doctors, lawyers and entertainment executives, along with a few empty-nester moms.

“Everybody canter,” the instructor calls out. “Nooo racing. Valerie, you’re bouncing. Keep your outside rein tight.”

It’s late evening on a weeknight and dozens of riders are at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, located in Griffith Park near Burbank. Like going to the gym, an hour or so on horseback can refresh the mind and body. But here, there’s an added challenge: persuading a 1,200-pound beast to respond to the wish of the human aboard with the slightest command--a shift in weight, a finger movement or a position of the leg.

It’s called equitation, the art of riding a horse with style. Like golfers concentrating on bettering their score, these equestrians are in pursuit of the Zen of riding.

*

*

The Los Angeles Equestrian Center, once bankrupt in a tangled mess of debt, is thriving. For the first time since the facility opened 17 years ago, it is returning a share of profits to the city of Los Angeles, which owns the land. The payment, which is based on center revenues, came to $140,000 last year.

“The horse show business is booming again,” said Linda Bierma, who moved her English jumping and training operation here three years ago.

The improved economy gets some of the credit. Bierma and others also say that more people are coming to the center who don’t own horses, but want to enjoy them. “They want to take two lessons a week, they want to ride and they have more leisure money to spend,” she said.

Others willingly pay top dollar for luxury accommodations for their horses. Tetherballs, individual fans, even radios are mounted in stalls to keep horses cool and entertained. Nowhere is the growing enthusiasm more evident than at the Traditional Equitation School. Here, would-be riders of all ages are turning to recreational riding as a departure from their suburban routine.

“We get a lot of people who used to ride when they were kids. Now their kids are grown and they want to get back into it,” said Patricia Kinnaman, who operates the school and the well-stocked tack and saddle shop at the center, Dominion’s.

Other students, including many from the nearby studios, have never even been near a horse, but always wanted to learn to ride. “Horses change people,” said Jan Kuebler, who left a career in the entertainment field to work as an assistant at the equitation school 10 years ago.

The school includes among its staff about 20 working students who perform office chores, care for the horses or do other tasks in exchange for riding lessons.

*

*

The Equestrian Center is regarded as among the best of its kind in the nation, said representatives of state and national organizations, including the United States Equestrian Team.

Built by an organization led by the late equestrian sports promoter J. Albert Garcia, the complex at 480 Riverside Drive opened in 1982 with vast barns, arenas and a 4,300-seat enclosed Equidome.

But grand plans to increase revenues by developing premier restaurants, a luxury hotel and spa, Rodeo Drive-class shops and even by selling $30,000 “horse condominiums” collapsed in 1988 after operators accumulated $27 million in debt. Garcia’s creditors foreclosed on the property.

A new operator, LAEC Inc., a consortium of investors, took the franchise out of receivership in 1990 and paid a flat rental fee until 1998-99 profits showed a sufficient return.

Kenneth Mowry, LAEC general manager, credits the turnaround to a massive revision in operational procedures and efficiencies. One cost-cutting change involved switching from wood to plastic fencing--which doesn’t break and have to be replaced when horses crash into it.

An army of 75 workers caters to the horse population of 548, cleaning stalls, raking aisles and feeding alfalfa cubes twice daily. The 20 arenas are harrowed twice daily and water trucks spray down the dust.

“Hot walkers,” machines used to exercise or cool down horses, are abundant throughout the 72 acres, as are large concrete wash areas with hot and cold running water and modern restrooms.

“There are no flies here,” said Lee Walsh, a trainer who assists other trainer-operators at the center.

The services and all of that spick-and-span are not without a price.

The center is one of the more expensive in the Los Angeles area, where boarders pay a minimum of $300 a month for a 10-by-10-foot stall. The cost of a 12-by-12-foot stall in a main barn can mount up to $1,500 a month with full services such as daily grooming, training, exercising and blanketing. By comparison, other boarding facilities in Los Angeles County charge as little as $150 monthly.

The recession of the early 1990s took its toll on the horse business, forcing many centers across the nation out of business or to the verge of bankruptcy. “This is not an easy business to be in,” Mowry said.

Despite that, the Los Angeles center survived. Many of its upper-crust clients weren’t hurt by the recession. Others, with a strong passion for horses, made do.

“Horses are a primary source of recreation or relief,” said Tom Foran, who trains competition horses. “To tell the truth, most of my clients, if they don’t have a lot of money, they’ll sacrifice elsewhere.”