At the last Malibu City Council meeting, Councilman Jeff Jennings stated that he lived about a “3-iron” from the Malibu Equestrian Park. My wife and I live next to the entrance to the park and I would say we’re probably closer to a putting distance away. From our home we can see the entrance to the Equestrian Park and the surrounding trails. When the Councilman said, “I didn’t see any equestrians” while he was attending one of the sheepherding classes earlier in the year, this is quite correct because the equestrian community stays away when the dogs and sheep are there.
On many occasions we have seen horse trailers enter the facility, only to see them leave once they realize that the dogs and sheep are there. Also, on those days, we don’t even see riders on the trails.
About six months ago, not knowing that the dogs and sheep were at the arena, I took one of our horses down there to work with him. When I got there, I found that the sheep were actually in both arenas. When I told the sheep owners that the upper arena was supposed to be left open for public use, I was told that they had a permit from the city to use both arenas. When I asked to see the permit, they refused to produce it. I was then told that Trancas Riders and Ropers had given them permission to use both arenas. At that time, I was a member of the TR&R Board of Directors and I was fully aware that the board had not given them permission to use the upper arena.
We, as many of our neighbors, ride in the arenas and use the surrounding trails every week. We can hear the dogs barking from our property and because two of our horses are not comfortable with the barking, we no longer take our horses to the park.
We should all remember that this facility was originally intended for equestrian use only. The dogs are off-lease (in violation of the City Code) during the class and are a threat to any horse in the area. This arena is not capable of containing them and any horse can be a potential target for a dog to go after. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Hopefully, terminating the sheepherding programs will eliminate the chances of any horses, riders, dogs or sheep being injured because of this activity.
Mike Crowley