Removal of Horses at Will Rogers Park Upheld

Horse owners will have to temporarily remove horses boarded at Will Rogers State Historical Park so park officials can evaluate the animals’ impact on the environment, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday.

The judge’s ruling essentially upholds an order by Rusty Areias, director of the state Department of Parks and Recreation, who said in October that the owners of 45 horses boarded there had 90 days to load up their animals and move.

The order came as the department plans million of dollars’ worth of repairs and improvements at the park. State officials suspected that having so many horses boarded at the park had harmed historic buildings, polluted the ground water and destroyed vegetation.

Horse owners sued in December, noting that although the ban was technically temporary, it had no expiration date.

“Nobody has said when or even if horses are going to return,” said Brentwood resident Kelly Harrison, 30, who has boarded her 9-year-old quarter horse, Woobie, there for two years. “The fact that they [park officials] did not keep up the stewardship of the park is not the fault of the boarders.”

The group of horse owners and other equestrians plans to appeal Friday’s decision before the removal deadline of April 5, said Eric George, the group’s lawyer.

He contested the need to remove the horses to conduct further tests: “There’s no sound scientific evidence that’s been offered as to why the horses have to be vacated even on a temporary basis.”

An outside vendor runs the boarding facility for the 25 privately owned horses still kept there. Twenty others were moved out after Areias made his order.

George said the park, deeded to the state in 1944 by Will Rogers’ widow, Betty, was intended to be used as a “memorial and historical monument” to the comedian and entertainer. If not adequately maintained, ownership of the park reverts back to his descendants.

The deed gave all members of the public the right to use the park--horse boarders included, George said.

But Rogers’ grandchildren, such as Chuck Rogers, became concerned that too many of the park’s resources and staff were devoted to maintaining the boarding concession at the expense of the historical barn and other buildings on the property above Pacific Palisades.

“The equestrian part of park was the tail wagging the dog,” said William Abbey, deputy attorney general representing the parks department. “Much too much was being spent on that as opposed to other parts of the park.”

Rogers’ descendants said the boarding amounted to private use of a public park, noting that some horse owners were wealthy, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But horse owners argued that “an active equestrian presence” was mandated in the park’s general plan, and that removing boarded horses would dramatically change that.

“When you talk about equestrian presence, it’s not just a horse,” said Steve White, superintendent of the parks region that includes Will Rogers. “The presence is manifest in the historical footage, in the statuary, in the polo field itself.”

“There were lots of other elements of his life and the life of his family” aside from horses, Abbey said.

And the order terminated only boarding of horses. Horses can still be ridden on trails and polo games will begin again as the season starts at the end of April.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry Friedman said the matter is ultimately about the terms of the deed, not the horses.

“I know why this matter has taken on great interest,” Friedman said. “Horses are beloved. I love horses too.”

But the case did not violate the terms of the deed or amount to revision of the general plan, he said.

Friedman encouraged boarders to join an equestrian advisory committee set up to discuss future uses of the park. The group already has met twice, said Steve Capps, assistant deputy director of communications for the parks department.

But for now, horse owners will have to look for new stables in Burbank, Topanga or elsewhere. There aren’t any other places on the Westside to house horses, said horse owner Harrison. “For many of us who work, it’s going to cut largely into the time we spend with our animals,” she said.