Horses

Just a short jaunt from Huntington Beach’s bustling downtown is a serene place where whinnies and the stamping of hooves are more audible than the traffic. The Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center is a hidden gem nestled off Goldenwest Street. Its corner of the park is where Surf City’s urban surroundings fall away and a world dedicated to horse lovers takes its place. “It’s a little piece of country right here in Huntington Beach,” said Jennifer Kawai, the center’s event coordinator.

They finally finished up the World Championship Tour's Quiksilver Pro in perfect 5- to 6-foot waves at Snapper Rocks, Australia. The rights were screaming down the line pedal-to-the-metal, and the surf suited the style of Aussie Mick "the Quick" Fanning, who was lighting it up. Fanning, who's known for his high-speed turns, was surfing lightning fast throughout the whole event and looked to be the man to beat. In the final, the dark horse — the big Aussie Bede Durbidge — struck first with a sick tube and some mean slashes to score an eight-point ride, putting on the pressure and taking the early lead.

We'll probably never live down our little April Fools' Day joke about coal and casinos coming to Huntington Beach. It was inspired by a trip that we took recently to Arizona. On the first night, we stayed at the Avi Resort, an Indian casino on the Colorado River just south of Laughlin. At the time, we were more interested in the common goldeneyes and nesting Inca doves than in slot machines or jokes. The main purpose of the trip, however, was not birding for Vic, but rocks and fossils for me. I wanted to see the Petrified Forest National Park in eastern Arizona.

It's that time of year when the surf scene heads to the North Shore of Hawaii for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. The Triple Crown features the last rated surfing contests of the year in the big surf of Hawaii. The first jewel of the Triple Crown is the six-star, $125,000 O.P. Pro Hawaii held at Haleiwa, which began Nov. 12 and finished today. For the women, goofy-footed Aussie Chelsea Georgeson has won the first Triple Crown event, the Roxy Pro Hawaii, scoring the only perfect 10 of the contest with a triple vertical top-to-bottom turn on a steep 6-footer.

o7There is nothing we like to see so much as the gleam of pleasure in a person's eye when he feels that we have sympathized with him, understood him, interested our self in his welfare. At these moments, something fine and spiritual passes between two friends. These moments are the moments worth living. f7 -- DON MARQUIS "Cindy, I enjoyed reading last week's column about your trip with friends to the dude ranch in Wyoming, but you never wrote about the horseback riding," a friend said to me last week.

The manager of the Orange County Fairgrounds Equestrian Center, Rick Hanson, has been accused of failing to keep riding facilities clean and safe, raising tenants' rents without notice and making remarks characterized as intimidating and offensive. When some equestrian center riders and tenants leveled those charges at a fair board meeting Thursday, Hanson and some of his employees and customers denied the problems were as severe as presented. The fair board hires the manager of the equestrian center and can enforce contract terms such as those involving the condition of the facility.

Jenny Marder The program that teaches physically and mentally disabled people to horseback ride was forced to shut down last month and lay off its only full-time employee. Two private grants totaling $30,000 -- one from Boeing Co. and one from Pimco -- fell through, forcing the Therapeutic Riding Center to let instructor Darlene Harman go. Since she was let go on Feb. 1, the sound of hoofbeats has been temporarily silenced. But thanks to an outpouring of devoted volunteers, who have opened their wallets, their schedules and their hearts to save the center, it looks like riders will be back in the saddle by May 1. Dave Quatman, president of the center's board of directors, said it just became too difficult to shoulder Harman's $30,000 salary.

Jenny Marder If things don't start looking up for the Therapeutic Riding Center, it might have to be put down. Even with the $2,300 that the center raised at its annual fund-raiser Sunday, it's scraping the coffers to keep from going under. Horseback riding classes for people with physical and mental disabilities are held five days a week at the riding center, which is at the Huntington Beach Equestrian Center. For Megan Wymer, 31, riding horses helps her to improve balance, muscle control and self-esteem.

Mary A. Castillo When Mary Ann Ingle was diagnosed with lupus at 19, she was told her career as a steeple jumper was over. Brokenhearted, but not broken, Ingle never accepted that her life with horses had come to an end. Nearly 20 years later, she found the opportunity to work with them again as a volunteer at the Therapeutic Riding Center. Since August, the 37-year-old's life has a new focus. "When you get the horse bug, you get it bad," Ingle said as she drew a brush over Rhythm, one of the center's training horses.

Torus Tammer Barbara Kirk gave up riding horses two decades ago inorder to raise her two children. Riding remained dear toher heart, however, raising her family was her ultimatepriority. Kirk had all but given up on the idea of ever being able to saddle up again on a regular basis until three years ago. While at work, she was presented with the opportunity to volunteer at the Therapeutic Riding Center in Huntington Beach -- a nonprofit organization that provides horseback riding astherapy for disabled people.