As a former ranch kid and a dedicated trail rider with 7,000 logged trail hours, I now ride in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. It is the largest City park in the world, with nearly 60 miles of horse trail.

It is a prized and unique feature of a huge city like L.A. to have this Park adjacent to centralized horse-keeping facilities. The Griffith Park system is overloaded and under budgeted, like most parks in the U.S. They deal with a wide variety of demands in the public’s usage of the park areas. The horse riders, a minority, have their own agenda to fulfill.

ENLIGHTENED SELF INTEREST
If it is a danger or nuisance to you, it will be for other riders also.
When I first started riding in Griffith Park, I noticed many things about

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Thirty-three horse-and-rider duos a demanding Leopoldo Palacios-designed course at the $35,000 Summer Classic II Grand Prix, held Aug. 21 at Rancho Mission Viejo Horse Park.

Only the first two on course — Lane Clarke aboard Bay Rose’s Nikko and Hannah Selleck riding the fiery mare, Tosca — were able to do so. After a battle of the sexes in the jump-off, the 21-year-old Selleck won with with a stellar double-clear ride.

The course was technical and demanded a careful, yet gutsy ride. A total of 17 obstacles, including three combinations and a water jump in a keep-up-the-pace allowed time of 87 seconds.

“This was a very tough national grand prix,” admitted Palacios. “I tried to challenge the group as much as possible.”

BURBANK – Nadine Tilley remembers the day she saw a baby colt in the snow at Mirasol Andalusians in Minnesota, owned by her friend, Barbara Berquist.

“I told her right there that I had first dibs if she ever decided to sell him,” says Nadine, owner of Tilley Andalusians in Hemet.

Two years later, she bought Amici BB, the handsome son of Escamillo. Now a 6-year old, he’s a good candidate to win a International Andalusian and Lusitano Horse Association Senior Grand National Stallion Championship in Fort Worth, Texas, in October.

California’s largest tack store, Broken Horn Saddlery in Baldwin Park, is getting ready for its “don’t miss” event – the Third Annual Broken Horn Western Sale. If you’ve attended this spectacle, you understand that it’s not just a sale. In addition to up to 50 percent off “everything western”, there will be drawings every hour for boots, hats, jeans, shirts, reins, bridles, stable supplies, supplements – it’s amazing. To enter, you have dress western – “either a pair of Wrangler jeans, western boots, a western shirt, or a cowboy hat.” And this is the time to act if you’ve been thinking about buying a western saddle because Broken Horn will pay the sales tax! Plus, if the saddle is over $600, Broken Horn will provide a free saddle pad. Check out the centerfold ad for Broken Horn on pages 48-49 for all the details!

Don’t miss the 24th Annual Draft Horse Classic & Harvest Fair! Held Sept. 23-26 at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley,

LEXINGTON, Ky. — In the same arena where the world’s best jumpers will compete this fall at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, a team of California Young Riders put together a sterling effort to win the 2010 FEI Adequan American Junior and Young Rider team show jumping crown.

In addition to the California’s Young Riders team title, the Junior Rider team award went to the Alberta, Canada, squad.

A thread between the respective Young Rider and Junior Rider teams is trainer Dick Carvin of Meadow Grove Farm in Lake View Terrace where he trains two of the Young Riders, Lucy Davis and Richard Neal. He also travels to Calgary, Alberta, to train Bretton Chad, a member of the gold medal-winning Canadian Junior Riders.

“I had Ricky and Lucy on the Young Rider Team and Bretton on the Junior team — it was an exciting week,” said Carvin.

Olaf Peterson, Jr. designed a demanding test at Kentucky Horse Park for each group of riders that included a double combination, a triple combination and a tricky open water obstacle. Each rider completed a first round course and the rider with the greatest number of faults had their score dropped before having all faults added together. The six teams with the lowest fault count after the first round returned to tackle the course for a second time in the same format.

BONSALL – Memorial services for Frank “Scoop” Vessels were set for Aug. 16 after the third generation horseman was killed in a private plane crash near Burns, Ore., Aug. 11.

Vessels, 58, of Bonsall, was flying his light plane when it crashed at 8:55 a.m. about 80 miles south of Burns, a Harney County Sheriff’s official said. Vessels’s passenger and his friend, Sam Bartley Cannell, 73, of Anderson, also was killed. The two were on their way to Montana from Redding for an annual fishing trip with friends when the 1962 Aero Commander 500-B broke apart and fell from the sky, Sheriff David R. Glerup said. The two men were killed on impact and the aircraft was completely destroyed, Glerup said.

Equestrians pursuing working relationships with San Diego County land use staff have scheduled meetings that are open for public participation.

On Aug. 23, the new San Diego County Equestrian Foundation will meet 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Town and Country Resort and Hotel in San Diego. Chandra Waller, general manager of Land Use and Environment, will be on hand along with consulant Jim Whalen of J.Whalen and Associates. For more information, contact Terri Cagle at (760) 720-5088 or visit www.sdcef.org.