Horses

As the horse named Sombrero strained up a hill above Hansen Dam, Mary Benson leaned forward over his neck and surveyed the stunning landscape of sun-dappled oaks and trickling mountain streams. But the view broke her heart: A subdivision where horse trails used to be. Condos and houses that used to have stables behind them. One sign after another of the disappearing horse culture in her neighborhood. "We are losing an irreplaceable piece of the American culture . . .

The calls and e-mails keep coming, and they are increasingly desperate: "I've lost my job. I'm losing my home. I can't afford to keep my horse. . . . Can you take it?" The answer is usually no, said Jill Starr, president of Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue in Lancaster. The ailing economy, soaring feed prices and the high cost of euthanizing old or sick animals are forcing many horse owners throughout Southern California to relinquish their pets, according to owners and caretakers.

Love and marriage, for Kelly Respess, are better suited to a horseless carriage -- specifically, the antique Ford that delivered her to her wedding on a busy Central Park corner. It was a small but eye-catching salvo in the long-running war between animal rights activists such as Respess and her groom, Paul Kercheval, and the horse-drawn carriages that are as much a fixture in Central Park as rats are in subway tunnels. If the Kerchevals have their way, a fleet of electric cars made to resemble vintage automobiles will replace the hansom cabs -- retaining, the couple says, Central Park's old-world flavor while relieving the beasts of their burden and being kind to the environment.

Joe Penn, a Kentucky horse and mule auctioneer, is not a sentimental man -- not once he enters the stockyard. He knows that the value of many horses is measured in pounds of flesh. But this winter, the horses are thinner than usual, and Penn finds himself wondering what becomes of the creatures with bare ribs and flat rumps, the ones that now sell for as little as $10. "I wonder," Penn said. "And then I tell myself I probably don't want to know."

A herd of horses trotted onto the 91 Freeway in Corona early Monday, causing two collisions that killed one of the animals, forced authorities to close the road for roughly five hours and left three motorists with minor injuries. The horses, about a dozen in all, escaped from Hart Ranch and a neighboring property and bolted several hundred yards in the predawn darkness to the freeway, near Green River Road, said Donna Hart, co-owner of the ranch.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It was triumph and tragedy as horse racing gained a superstar and lost a competitor this weekend at the Kentucky Derby. The tragedy was the death of filly Eight Belles on a major stage. It was a freak accident, and longtime horse racing observers, including veterinarian Larry Bramlage, said they had never seen anything quite like it, a horse suffering two broken ankles at once.

When 13 horses line up for Saturday's Preakness, horse racing will hold its collective breath. The sport absorbed a devastating blow two weeks ago at the 134th Kentucky Derby, when Eight Belles suffered a fatal breakdown moments after she finished second to champion Big Brown. It was the third death in two years of a thoroughbred who had run in a high-profile race -- the others being Barbaro, months after his 2006 Preakness injury, and George Washington in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic.

Los Angeles County animal control officials closed an Antelope Valley horse sanctuary Monday, euthanizing a dozen animals and relocating almost 90 more. Authorities also arrested Janis Damiani, the caretaker of Equus Sanctuary in Pearblossom, on suspicion of animal cruelty, according to the L.A. County Department of Animal Care and Control.

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers examining the health and safety of thoroughbred racehorses on Thursday advocated for a centralized governing authority that would regulate the sport, as critics of the racing industry called for congressional intervention to create that body. "We're looking for Arnold Schwarzenegger's upper body and then we go to Don Knotts' legs and knees," said Jess Jackson, owner of Curlin, the 2007 Horse of the Year. "We don't need all of the inbreeding we have.

Today's $750,000 American Oaks at Hollywood Park, the headliner among four graded stakes races offering purses totaling $2.1 million, has a bit of everything. The 1 1/4 -mile turf test for 3-year-old fillies has four European invitees -- Annie Skates and Zaskar from England, Caribbean Sunset from Ireland and Satan's Circus from France. The race has connections to Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown.