Apodaca: An unstable situation at the O.C. fairgrounds’ Equestrian Center
I know next to nothing about horses. The number of times I’ve been on horseback can be counted on one hand plus a few digits from the other hand. On the rare occasions that I’ve encountered a horse up close, my reaction has invariably been astonishment that they are way bigger than I had remembered.
But my lack of knowledge doesn’t stop me from imagining that I am inside the brains of the horses that are central to the ongoing feud between the management of the Orange County Fair & Event Center and the majority of the boarders at the center’s equestrian facility.
And here is what I am imagining these animals are all thinking: Humans are nuts.
That’s a reasonable conclusion to draw from the months-long drama involving rent hikes, contract disputes, charges of mismanagement, counter-accusations of untenable demands, and emotional pleas to save the horses after some were barred from the facility’s exercise area.
It’s the Showdown at the O.C. Corral. While I have no idea which side is bound to prevail, right now it’s pretty clear that the biggest losers so far are the horses. So, really, they have every right to wonder why it’s so darn hard for people to work out a decent compromise and end a standoff that never should have gotten this far.
At the time of this writing, such an outcome appears unlikely.
Tensions started rising not long after fairground officials took over operations from a private contractor in early 2023, and there’s been no let-up ever since. I have spoken with people on both sides of this dispute, and feelings are now so raw, the hostility so palpable, and the positions so firmly dug in that they each offer completely opposing views of the situation.
I won’t rehash every detail, but here’s a sampling of the alternate-universe positions:
According to some boarders, the outside contractor hired to maintain the equestrian facility — providing such services as mucking out stalls, feeding horses and dragging the arena — is doing a substandard job.
OC Fair & Event Center CEO Michele Richards said the contractor is doing “a great job.”
One side considers the steep rent increases that are being phased in to be outrageous. Management maintains the hikes are necessitated by fiscal reality, particularly given that the center is a public facility that must meet strict state standards.
Boarders complain that the new rental agreements they were asked to sign are too vague and leave them vulnerable to extra costs, undefined spaces and other potential problems. Richards maintains they are standard rental agreements, plain and simple.
Some horse owners say that Richards has refused to meet with them to resolve their differences. Richards calls such an assertion “insulting” and says she has met with owners on several occasions.
As for accusations by some boarders that Richards is angling to push them out, she maintains that’s flat-out untrue and argues that the boarders are displaying a stubborn resistance to change.
Yet if Richards has her way, more change is coming. She and her staff plan to unveil a blueprint for a wholesale makeover of the equestrian grounds at the end of September. To be called “The Ranch,” this new vision would transition the center from a private boarding and training facility to a “an educational center where everyone in the community could come and learn about and interact with these beautiful animals,” she said.
“The current boarders and trainers were all invited to stay and be part of this new vision.”
A nationwide movement spurred by students’ inability to focus, bullying and other challenges aims to restrict cellphones at K-12 schools. Newport-Mesa has instituted its own policy with few objections.
But right now, any enthusiasm that might be generated by her ideas is being squashed by the dispute with boarders, which has recently taken an even uglier turn. The 20-or-so boarders who refused to sign the rental agreement as is are barred from exercising their horses in the center’s arena.
That’s unhealthy for the horses, boarders say. “All we can do is walk them up and down the asphalt driveway, which is dangerous,” said Gibran Stout, who runs the nonprofit OC Equestrian Vaulting.
The situation is so fraught that some local officials are now getting involved. County Supervisor Katrina Foley and Assemblywoman Diane Dixon have both called on fairgrounds management to negotiate with the boarders and end the standoff.
Nonetheless, Richards and Fair Board Chair Nick Kovacevich have notified boarders without signed agreements that their property would be removed from the center if they don’t submit signed documents and pay the required rent. As I write, it’s unclear what would become of the horses.
Why don’t the boarders move their horses elsewhere?
Because their options range from slim to none. Public equine boarding facilities have become increasingly rare as Orange County has urbanized, and open spots are scarce. Boarders say they would have to move their horses to facilities far away, and that would be unworkable for their local clientele and those who receive equine therapy through the center’s nonprofit operations.
So they stay and fight. Lawyers have been hired. Protests ensue. Relations grow increasingly acrimonious.
And all the while the horses remain caught in the middle, left to the mercy of the humans who determine their fate.
Horses, I’m told, are soulful and highly intuitive. But — here I am, mind-reading again — even these sensitive creatures must have reached their limit.
Get it together, people, and figure out a way forward that everyone can live with. I’m pretty sure that’s what they’d like to tell us.
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