By Patric Hedlund

The elegant thoroughbred Seattle Buddy is the son of the great 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. A cool $300,000 in stud fees were paid to produce this colt. He won $103,000 at the racetrack for his owners. But photos obtained by workers with the Neigh Savers Foundation, a thoroughbred rescue group, show that after he was put to stud by CamRacing Farm, LLC of Lockwood Valley, the glistening bay stallion was reduced to a listless, skeletal victim of dehydration, starvation and abuse.

Seattle Buddy was removed from the Lockwood Valley ranch on the night of December 23, along with 11 other starving horses. By 2 a.m. on Christmas Eve, a caravan of horse trailers had arrived at a foster facility in Temecula, CA. Nicole Schwartz of Neigh Savers had negotiated an 11th hour surrender of the ailing horses from the owner, Priamos Yennaris.

Ventura County records confirm Yennaris owns the Lockwood Valley property. He is also owner of CamRacing Farm, LLC. The business was advertised online as “a full service facility” for “stud services, breeding, boarding, foaling, raising and training….” But the ranch was contacted numerous times by humane officers from the Humane Society of Ventura County (HSVC) over two and a half years, with concerns about conditions for the horses. HSVC sent out veterinarians and humane officers on multiple occasions. It is alleged there were over 100 horses on the property.

“We’ve been trying to work with them and to set up a program to do good things for these animals, trying to see that they got medical care, have sufficient food and water and are being treated well. An adult horse needs to drink 30 to 50 gallons of water a day. We kept going back because the conditions weren’t corrected,” said Jolene Hoffman, who has worked with the Ojai Humane Society shelter for 32 years.

In November 2011 The Mountain Enterprise ran a story about the deaths of several foals on the ranch. The caretaker attributed the deaths to a mountain lion. A California Department of Fish and Wildlife warden said the evidence did not seem to support the lion theory. Nicole Schwartz said the foals rescued on Christmas Eve were “dwarfed” by malnutrition, looking much younger than they actually are.

The Mountain Enterprise attempted to contact Yennaris and to learn where the other horses have gone. Of four contact numbers on the CamRacing Farm website, three are disconnected, including both Lockwood Valley numbers.

In March 2012, Yennaris was suspended from racing at the Santa Anita Race Track for allegedly not paying fees and then failing to appear for hearings on the charges, according to an official report of the California Horse Racing Board in April 2012. A similar complaint was lodged by the Sonoma County Fair Wine Country Racing board.

Yennaris’ horse racing operation, it appears, was running out of money, according to members of the rescue group. The Humane Society of Ventura County stepped up its attempt to monitor the welfare of the horses in Lockwood Valley.

They were concerned about reports that there was no hay on the ranch premises. But HSVC’s “hands were tied” by regulations.

By mid-December there was concern the horses would starve to death before they could be removed. The rescue group agreed to step in. A negotiation began with the owner to persuade him to surrender the horses before the thoroughbreds died.

Here’s the account Neigh Savers sent to its members:

“With only enough food on the property for another two days, a door was opened and Neigh Savers was officially brought to the table. Nicole Schwartz, President of Neigh Saver’s Board of Directors, began negotiating with the owners for the release of the 12 horses. After many hours, the owners agreed. And then they changed their mind.

“Negotiations resumed. Finally, after more than two days of back-and-forth, Neigh Savers received the green light and the rescue operation was officially underway.”

By some accounts, the owner was seeking the best tax benefit he could get for signing a bill of sale. But while that was taking place, the people organized to trailer the horses were put on hold. Many had to drop out. Here’s the rescuers’ account again:

“Hauling one horse can be a bit of a fiasco. Hauling 12 mostly unhandled horses, two days before Christmas, in the dark of night and below freezing temperatures?

“Schwartz…began making calls to her associates in the racing industry, horse show colleagues, neighboring rescue organizations, friends, family and relatives.

“Nearly 80 calls later a team was in place and three trailers were converging on the desolate property….”
Annie Eitman, from Moorpark, took photos of the empty hay barn. “We got there at dinner time,” she said in an interview, “but these horses were so used to not eating, not a single horse whinnied for food. It was incredibly eerie.”

The rescuers’ letter explains: “A survey of the property showed dirty water and not a single flake of hay left; total starvation was just around the corner. Many of the horses were young and had not been handled, so loading them into trailers was a challenge.

“The volunteers worked into the night, creating makeshift chutes and gently coaxing the frightened horses.”

The trailer caravan drove to southwestern Riverside County. By 2 a.m. on Christmas eve, all 12 horses had been moved to their new sanctuary at NexStar Ranch in Temecula, a Neigh Savers’ satellite facility.

The rescuers are providing medical care and nutrition now to bring the depressed and abused horses back to health so they can be trained and prepared for adoption.

Donations of resources are needed. If you would like to help, contact: Nicole Schwartz, nicole@neighsavers.org, www.neighsavers.org.

Photo captions:

Top: Seattle Buddy when he arrived at the Lockwood Valley CamRacing Farm and (above) on December 10, after being starved and abused. Water was dirty and frozen. There was no hay on the property, workers with the Neigh Savers Foundation said. The horse is tattooed for positive identification.

Seattle Buddy ‘at stud’ photo on CamRacing Farm, LLC’s website.

Seattle Buddy on December 10, 2014

Rescuers had been told there was two days’ food left for the 12 horses, but when they arrived the hay barn was completely empty. There was no food anywhere.

Left: As shadows lengthened on Dec. 23, wrangler Sterling Howard worked with Nicole Schwartz of Neigh Savers and volunteers to improvise chutes to calmly get the 12 unhandled horses into the trailers. They worked into the night and then drove to Riverside County to a foster facility in Temecula, arriving on Christmas eve.

—Added reporting by Gary Meyer

To see full stories with photos, please purchase a copy of the newspaper at one of the locations listed below.

Or, have your newspaper delivered via mail and include internet access! Just call 661-245-3794.

The e-Edition is available now with full photos and stories at The Mountain Enterprise e-Edition

(subscriber login required)

Pick up your copy of The Mountain Enterprise at these locations:

Frazier Park
Frazier Park Market
Frazier Park Post Office
Don’s Liquor Market
Caveman Cavey’s Pizza
Frazier Park Pharmacy
Alpine Lumber & Hardware
La Sierra Mexican Restaurant
Factory Direct Appliances
Ace Hardware / Frazier Park Lumber
Falcon’s Nest Restaurant
Big John’s Restaurant
Tecuya Feed
Coffee Cantina

Lebec
Sam’s Liquor Market
Flying J Denny’s entrance
Shell Gas Station
Chevron Gas Station
Los Pinos Mexican Restaurant
Clinica Sierra Vista
Lebec Post Office
Ridge Route Antiques

Lake of the Woods
Midway Market
Mountain View Market
Mike’s Pizza Co.

Pinon Pines
At the mailboxes

Pine Mountain Community
Pine Mountain Post Office
Pine Mountain General Store
Bear Claw Bakery
Mommy’s Roadhouse Restaurant
Pine Mountain Pizza Co.
Cafe Silva Bella
Pine Mountain Clubhouse (Bistro entrance)

Gorman
Carl’s Jr.
Gorman Plaza Market

West Antelope Valley
Antelope Acres Market
Wee Ville Market
Fairmont Market

This is part of the January 9, 2015 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.