City-run activities suspended until fall

By Lauren McSherry, Town Crier Staff Writer

The Los Altos Hills Parks and Recreation Department has suspended its horse-riding programs until the fall, but that doesn’t mean children in the Hills won’t have opportunities this summer to get a taste of the sport.

The department has contracted with Fremont Hills Country Club Stables to provide spaces in its summer riding camp for Hills children. Additionally, Westwind Barn’s 4-H Riding for the Handicapped program has volunteered its horses and an instructor for a one-week riding program in August.

“We want to be part of the solution,” said Nancy Couperus, who heads the 4-H program. “We saw it as an opportunity to express Westwind’s goodwill because we know kids might have been disappointed.”

The 4-H camp can accommodate 12 children. Fremont’s camp could have up to five spots for Hills children for each of its two-week sessions. There are five sessions total.

Last summer the department served 40 campers through three weeklong riding camps.

The parks and recreation department announced last month that it was taking a hiatus to build up infrastructure for its year-round riding, horse management and summer camp programs.

The department relied heavily on expertise from volunteers; it also borrowed privately owned horses and horses from Westwind’s 4-H program and the Pacific Ridge Pony Club to keep its programs running, said Jimmy Forbis, department supervisor. Continuously relying on others to volunteer their resources created a strain on the riding programs.

Forbis said the department is taking time out to “break the cycle. … We’ve begged and borrowed for so long. It really became quite taxing.”

The department stated in a report to the city council April 17, “This practice of borrowing or leasing horses from outside organizations fosters an environment of uncertainty and reliance that stretches the resources of both horse provider and horse user.”

The department applied to the council for park bond money to build paddocks and a round pen and to secure horses and instructors for the fall. Horses could be leased, or the non-profit group Los Altos Hills Recreation Programs could purchase them, Forbis said.

Couperus said 4-H went through similar growing pains when it began in 1978. A joint effort from the city, the Packard Foundation and other local foundations assisted 4-H in acquiring horses and building a small barn.