AR-News: (CA - US) New ranch will assist equestrian care

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New ranch will assist equestrian care

By Sophia Fischer
sfischer at theacorn.com
May 13, 2004

Neglected, abused and injured horses will soon have a local refuge. A $5 
million, 22-acre ranch is being developed in Hidden Valley by the Hogan Family 
Foundation to house up to 40 of the horses.

"There’s currently no facility like this in Ventura County," said Dale 
Cowgill, director of Development and Public Relations for the Hogan Family 
Foundation. "This will not be just a rehab center. We’ll find adoptions for them."

Besides being an equestrian refuge, the ranch will offer underprivileged 
children the opportunity to interact with and learn how to feed and care for the 
horses. Volunteers are being recruited to assist with the program, including 
professional and amateur equestrians who will serve as mentors and trainers for 
the children. 

Cowgill estimates annual operating costs to be around $250,000, to be paid by 
the Foundation.

"We already have a list of people who are interested in being involved with 
the ranch," Cowgill said. 

The facility is to be named Rancho San Francisco, after St. Francis of 
Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment. 

A 10-stall barn, 20-stall paddock system, stables, a main dwelling for a 
resident caretaker and two other smaller structures to house ranch hands will be 
built by contractor Chuck Melber, president of Peregrine, Inc. in Newbury Park. 
Melber built the Hogan Foundation’s Gardens of the World Community Park 
across from the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

"The County Department of Fish and Game says there’s a tremendous need for 
this and that we’ll have no problem finding horses," Melber said.

There are a number of oak trees on the property, which is located on Potrero 
Road near Wendy Drive, adjacent to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. 
Melber plans to keep the trees intact, building around them. 

"We are trying to keep it looking as natural as possible and keep within fire 
codes and have enough room for the horses," Melber said.

Foundation Chairman Ed Hogan, who owns three Arabian horses, got the idea for 
the ranch during last year’s Simi fires when he learned that a number of 
horses had been burned and abandoned. Also in the news at the time was a story 
about several hundred starving horses found near Santa Barbara.

"It stirred something in him," Cowgill said. "He said, ‘We have got to do 
something.’"

Melber estimates the facility will take about 18 months to build.He’s in the 
process of obtaining permits and hopes to break ground in the next two months.

"This is going to be a really neat facility and something Ed Hogan can be 
proud of," Cowgill said.



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