Muir Beach horse stable operators fight for livelihoods

[AsahinaKimi]

There was a time not long ago when a visit to Muir Beach along the Marin County coast would almost guarantee an encounter with a horseback rider.

The often cold, windswept oceanside cove has, for 48 years, had a stable where a dairy farm once stood. At its peak, there were as many as 50 horses grazing the area, and the free spirits who rode them could be seen regularly cantering on the beach and along the trails in the rugged hills overlooking the churning ocean.



There are now 11 horses at the Golden Gate Dairy Stables, but the people who run the place are fighting for their livelihoods. The stable operators are being required by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to almost completely reconfigure the facility, repair the hay barn and fix up the old dairy grounds if they want to continue stabling horses.

The work, which must be done in exchange for a 10-year use and occupancy lease, could cost as much as $250,000, according to Maureen Pinto, the stable operations manager and the executive director of the Ocean Riders equestrian group.

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Muir-Beach-horse-stable-operators-fight-for-5139911.php

[Niceguy1]

1. some people just want to ruin everything for everybody

[petronius]

2. It's difficult to know if the GGNRA is being unfair, without knowing the details of

the required improvements - it's not impossible that there is a valid need for safety, health, and environmental improvements. Standards and understandings do change, and it could be that the old way of doing things really isn't sustainable or sufficiently low-risk.

But that said, it seems to me that if the stables have been a part of the landscape for such a long time, the goal should be to facilitate keeping them if at all possible. And that means mitigating and minimizing the effects of any new regulations.

I'm personally not a huge fan of horses, and I get mildly annoyed when I encounter large groups of riders on my own local beach, but this has always seemed to me a very valid activity (for those who want it) in a multi-use recreation area...

[mackerel]

3. I hadn't been out that way since they closed Muir Beach last summer.

It's been easier for me to hang out at Stinson these days. Over the years I had seen less and less horses but was not aware of the reasons behind it.