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Leisure - Urban Cowboys

Rediscovering Oakland’s Horse People

By Amy Callis Photography
By Phillis Christopher

Rolling hills painted gold and purple with the setting sun surround a valley dotted with cattle. A hawk cries from above as a horse and rider come into view, stop at a high vista for a moment, then turn and gallop away. Sound like a Hollywood movie, or maybe Montana in the 1940s? It’s Oakland—last weekend.

Few people realize that Oakland has a rich equestrian history and a thriving horse community. And like the Bay Area, this community is richly diverse, from backyard ponies to $40,000 show horses, from cowgirls born and raised on ranches to college professors. Horse communities are not unique. Virginia, Kentucky and Montana are famed for their equestrian lifestyles. But what makes Oakland so unique is that it is one of the few larger cities with such easy access to more than 100 miles of trails—many within the Oakland borders and only 10 short minutes from downtown.

In the 1950s, there really were cowboys here. Backyard horses were common in the Skyline and Grass Valley neighborhoods. Today’s Campus Road housing development was a large horse pasture, and a hunt field with a cross-country course held regular horse trials off Redwood Road.The Oakland Hills were home to a dozen stables, some of them occupied with “famous” residents. Charlie O, a mule who was the Oakland A’s team mascot during the 1960s and 1970s, lived in the hills, as did a pair of Arabian horses from King Hussein of Spain. But by the 1980s, the cowboys had mostly moved on, several stables were closed and the horse community grew smaller. What changed? “Property values,” says Judi Bank of the Metropolitan Horsemen’s Association.“Many original owners, who were horse people, took advantage of the increased property value and sold their homes. Often times, the new owners were not horse people.”

Today there are only four public equestrian centers and one private center in Oakland.And even that is a bit of a stretch, since the City of Oakland-owned facility, City Stables, has been shut down for more than a year.“In addition to the smaller number of stables, the backyard horse population has also shrunk,” says Carol Ormond, an equine veterinarian who serves the Oakland Hills horse community. “The number is still substantial but certainly less than it was when I was riding as a youth more years ago than I’d like to admit.”

Recently, however, things have changed again, with the horse community experiencing something of a renaissance. Sara Crary, the manager of the Anthony Chabot Equestrian Center, sees interest in horses on the rise. “When I came to Chabot in 1994 we had 44 horses; I now house 80, and I have a waitlist for boarding. As for lessons,” she adds,“We provide about 100 lessons a week to the public and have the demand to do much more.”

Crary recently started a pony program for children as young as 3, and the response, without marketing, has been huge. “I’d like to add more lessons to accommodate all the parents and children, but I need to keep some time free to spend with my own kids,” she says.

Three of the facilities in Oakland provide lessons—Anthony Chabot Equestrian Center and Skyline Ranch (both owned by the East Bay Regional Park District) and Fox Ridge Farm, Oakland’s lone privately owned equestrian facility.Among the three stables, all disciplines of riding—dressage, hunter/jumper, vaulting and Western—are taught. Two East Bay Regional Park District facilities have therapeutic riding programs which Betsy Arcellana, a therapeutic riding instructor, says are growing in popularity.“Research shows that the movement of a horse is very beneficial for children with diseases like cerebral palsy. We’ve seen incredible progress with some of the children in our program.”

Lessons are not the only way horses and the public interact.The volunteer mounted patrol, a group that assists the East Bay Regional Park Mounted Patrol in monitoring the miles of trail that EBRPD manages, can often be seen on the trails in Oakland. These horses and their riders go through a demanding certification that includes helicopters flying overhead and other sensory training to make sure the horses are safe around unexpected situations.“ We need our horses to be prepared for anything that might be found in the park,” says Davi Lucas, a training coordinator with the volunteer mounted patrol. “We are there to help and educate, and we need to make sure our horses are safe and are good ambassadors.”

Other opportunities to see Oakland’s horses at their best are the Metropolitan Horsemen’s Association events.The MHA regularly schedules shows at the Sequoia Arena across from the clubhouse on Skyline Boulevard. Sequoia Arena, built in the 1940s, is a historic piece of Oakland’s equestrian history.The arena is nestled in a glen of redwood trees and is frequently bathed in fog during the early morning hours of summer shows. It is a beautiful facility and a unique place for local equestrians to show off their horses—and for the public to learn about equestrian shows in a relaxed atmosphere. MHA also regularly holds horse and dog “meet and greets” for dogs to get used to horses before encountering them on the trail.

In a city that has a recent high-tech and Internet focus, it’s interesting that it also has a rich low-tech history. Oakland’s horses have been around since the city’s birth, and while their popularity saw a decline in the 1980s and 1990s, their fan base is once again growing. “The ranches up in the hills are beautiful and serene; you can’t help but be in a good mood here. I really encourage people to come up and visit,” says Crary.

“Horses and nature are great therapy,” she says. “I tell everyone that the most important thing when working with horses is just to breathe. Relax and enjoy yourself.”

Saddleup

ANTHONY CHABOT EQUESTRIAN CENTER 14600 Skyline Blvd., (510) 569-4428 www.chabotequestriancenter.com

FOX RIDGE FARMS 5745 Redwood Road, (510) 531-0262

METROPOLITAN HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION P.O. Box 2734, www.mha-oakland.org

SKYLINE RANCH (AND PIEDMONT STABLES) 5750 Redwood Road, (510) 336-0850 www.skyline-ranch.com