Owners of horse ranch arrested

The owners of a family-run horse ranch near Frazier Park were taken into custody this week after investigators found 55 allegedly malnourished horses on their property.

Joan Bor, 65; her son Ernie Bor, 30; and his wife, Cecilia Bor, 35, were arrested on multiple felony counts of animal cruelty after a search warrant was served at Cochema Ranch, county authorities said.

The three were booked into County Jail on Wednesday on $10,000 bail each, said Capt. Ross Bonfiglio of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. The Bors stabled more than 100 horses on the 21-acre ranch, in the 16000 block of Curtis Trail in Lockwood Valley.

Investigators were called in when a neighbor reported that some of the animals appeared emaciated.

After the horses were assessed, 38 were removed Wednesday and taken to a Humane Society shelter in Ojai, Bonfiglio said. Thirteen horses had already been removed Sept. 24 and taken to another Ventura County shelter, he said.

The remaining horses will stay at the ranch under the supervision of the county animal regulation department, he said. An agent with the U.S. Forest Service was seriously injured during Wednesday’s confiscation when a horse reared up and struck her in the torso and another horse trampled her, Bonfiglio said.

Heather Campbell was airlifted to Ventura County Medical Center, where she was in stable condition Thursday, officials said.