Unless you watched the Aug. 24 Solvang Council Meeting, the facts as reported were skewed at best. The Canary opinion (“Overdramatic,” Aug. 27) was a cheap shot. Of the 52 emails the city received—how many were from horse owners?
There is no room for a second horse conveyance in the tourist-related-commercial area with Copenhagen Street closed off for two blocks, and not due to outside pressure.
Why would anyone at their own expense come all the way from Chicago and the East Coast to talk for their three allotted minutes about the slim potential of two horses getting hurt? You need to follow the money.
As for the Santa Barbara veterinarian who came over the hill—who asked him to speak against horses to pull a conveyance? None of the valley vets were concerned.
The city has gone out of its way to impose rules to ensure the horses are protected and cared for during the time pulling the trolley in the city. If the outsiders had done their homework, they would have understood that this valley is horse country. Horses are trailered all over this valley on a continuous basis. Valley horse farms have owners from as far away as Saudi Arabia with Arabian, Egyptian, quarter, and Belgium horses being the majority. Endurance rides around Lake Cachuma are a yearly event. One woman brings horses in her Boeing 737 from Florida to be trained in this valley.
Fred Kovol
Solvang
This article appears in Sep 3-10, 2020.