Horses in Unstable Condition

For Janice Posnikoff, the possible loss of the horse stables at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is a bitter reminder of how the county is losing its rural lifestyle.

Three other Orange County stables have closed in the past two years.

“For many who board their horses here,” said Posnikoff, an equine veterinarian, “it means they will take and board their horses out of the county.”

Dozens of horse owners last week received notices from county officials notifying them that they must vacate by July 1. They are the latest victims, casualties they claim, in the war over building an international airport at El Toro. The notice affects more than 150 horses.

The owners have scheduled a news conference today at the stables at 5 p.m. to discuss the situation.

The Navy has set July 1 as the deadline for transferring police authority to the county and negotiating a master lease for the 4,700-acre base. But the process has stalled.

While horse owners hope that a last-minute agreement between the Navy and county officials will materialize, they believe their chances of finding available horse stables are grim.

The healthy economy that resurrected equestrian life in the mid- to late-1990s has also resulted in more development that has forced out stables.

“In Orange County there are fewer and fewer open spaces for stables, but it’s odd, because you do see a lot of new golf courses. I don’t have anything against golf courses, but we’re low on the recreational totem pole,” said Rob Huffman, owner of River Trail Stables in Orange.

With 200 horse stalls, Huffman has only five vacancies.

According to Huffman and other stable owners, there have been many stable closures in the county in the last two years, including Creekside Equestrian Center in San Juan Capistrano, which stabled 250 horses, Triple B stables in Yorba Linda, which had 100 horses, and UC Irvine, which evicted 26 horses to make room for a $15.3-million student center.

In addition, Rancho del Rio, a 200-horse facility in Anaheim, is facing eviction next month.

“We have 150 horses right now, and there’s a waiting list because we’re full,” said Becky Bailey-Findley, general manager of the Orange County Fairgrounds, which includes an equestrian center. “We continually fight pressures from people who want to use the property for something other than horses, but we’re staying committed to horses.”

At El Toro stables, Lynn Delano considers her horse Centaur a refugee of sorts, because it’s the animal’s third stable closing.

“Look, the horses here aren’t your $200,000 prize jumpers,” said Delano, an Irvine schoolteacher. “A lot of the owners are just average people with average horses.”

For example, she found Centaur, a 21-year-old Arabian gelding, when it had been neglected by a previous owner who was in poor health and too frail to make regular visits. She bought the horse by paying $600 in outstanding veterinary bills.

The impending eviction also affects a riding school for the handicapped, a 4-H club and a riding club. It also affects those whose livelihood depends on the stables, including 10 grooms, farriers and trainers like Sonja Bostwick of Canterbury Farms, whose clients own more than 35 horses.

“If they shut the facility, it means the end of my business,” Bostwick said. “Even if people find openings at other stables, they can’t bring their trainers with them. They have to use trainers there.”

Cindy Jenner, a volunteer leader at the stables, said it will be impossible to move all the horses in time to meet the July 1 deadline. Some horses are sick, one is blind and another is a mare expecting her first foal in the first week of July.

When the notice from the county arrived, Jenner was heartsick, she said.

The May 26 letter from Alan Murphy, John Wayne Airport director, stated: “Given the current uncertainty as to whether the master lease will be in place by July 1, we have no choice but to notify you that your horse boarding . . . agreement may be terminated and you may have to vacate the premises.”

Jenner said she remains optimistic: “We hope there’s an agreement before then.”