Dear Ridecampers, friends, ETI members, fellow horsepeople;
I am writing regarding the situation in Altadena, and in the Los Angeles
area. I had written to ridecamp yesterday regarding the article in the Los
Angeles Times on Sunday January 27, entitled "Trail Advocates Say 'Whoa' to
Home Projects". Interestingly in the same paper there
was an article by Rusty Areias who is director of the California state parks
department. That article was a vitriolic attack on horsepeople, entitled,
"Will Rogers Didn't Leave His Park to Horses". This man deserves email
flames big time. He is determined to remove the horse boarding from the park
from the "Historic Barn" citing too much work, soil compaction in the corrals,
and pollution of the creek. He complains about the "priveledged
few", their "private grooms working in the area" (That's funny, I
thought the park service did all the work. He wants those nasty animals
removed, but of course they will continue with Polo, (which is! not a
private, nor privledged activity) and maybe they will have rental horses, or
maybe a horse show or maybe a public demonstration of roping.
My friend and I went over to Altadena today, to the
particular trail that was mentioned in the LA times. On the south side
of the street is a flooded arena. From there a narrow trail heads north,
across a street, and between a chain link fence and a wire cable. The trail
passes right by a busy park/gymnasium complex. Then it seems to disappear into
a trash filled gully, and then veers to the east because of the private gated
area of development. From there it picks up again along a narrow cliff trail
which was very much erroded after our recent rain. It was steep, muddy, and a
severe drop off. Watch the news, next time you see a horse being helicoptered
out of Altadena, it could be here.
Horse people in this area are being treated like so
much garbage. The horses are considered to be like inanimate objects or
vehicles with no thought to the possibility of them making unscheduled
movements in unofficial directions. Riders are being squeezed out, harassed
and endangered. I am totally fed up , and angered by it. My friend
and I went to an Altadena restaurant to talk about it, and interestingly, we
ran into 5 people in the restaurant, whom I had never met, who were horse
people and jumped into our conversation. One of them my friend had met 15
years before. They discussed how Equestrian groups are a gentle giant. We are
separated into smaller clubs that rarely interact, or work together. Yet we
have the same looming problems and threats.
PLEASE help us, and the riders who live all
throughout Los Angeles County. I swear to God I will never ignore
an email plea for trail help again, be it 2,000 miles away! By email we
can bombard our elected officials, and our newsgroups with our objections. We
can let them know that we exist, and that we refuse to shut up, sit on our
couch and watch Oprah!!! Please look at the LA Times articles at
http://www.latimes.com Then
please forward this letter to anyone you know who rides a horse! It would be
really easy for you to do that! Then write to the LA times, let them
know how you feel about the articles. Contact LA County Supervisor Mike
Antonovich at this address, because he will be looking into these issues. his
email is
fifthdistrict@bos.co.la.ca.us
Let him know that you support th! e Altadena riders, that other people go to
Altadena to ride, and we support businesses in the area when we are there. No
matter where we go to ride, we buy gas, we buy food etc.!
Thank you so much for your support...let the writing
begin!! yours...Beth Glover