By KIM CALVERT Special to the Daily Press
MAIN STREET — On any given Sunday, animal rights activists line the sidewalk here, yelling at parents and children for participating in the Farmers’ Market pony rides.
If Santa Monica resident Colin Walkden had his way, the ponies would be “liberated” and their owner banned from a venue he says should be about “fruit, flowers, fun and music.”
“For some reason, people in this country equate pony rides with apple pie and the flag,” the British-born Walkden said. “But you only have to look in the pony’s eyes to see they’re suffering.”
Despite the drama routinely played out in front of the pony ring, parents and their children continue to line up to pay $3 for a ride. Last Sunday, Santa Monica resident Sonia Metz-Vancott, with her two children Cassidy, 15 months, and Hunter, 4, were among them.
“They (the protesters) say the ponies are sad. But how do they know that?” Metz-Vancott asked. “I see the ponies every week and I’ve never seen any animal abuse.”
Metz-Vancott said was concerned about the effects the protesters might have on children.
“They chant, ‘Shame on you. Shame on you!’ over and over,” Metz-Vancott said. “It’s terrible.
They’re ruining everyone’s fun.”
Another protester, Brenda Carey, who identified herself as a trained “human enforcement officer,” said she observed the ponies for several hours and did not see any urine or fecal matter — which she said indicated the ponies had not been fed — surmising it was to avoid having the animals make a mess at the market.
She also pointed out the ponies were walking on concrete, which she claims is hard on their feet and legs.
“They should at least turn the ponies so they don’t have to always walk in the same direction,” she said.
The protesters have been demonstrating at the Sunday Farmers’ Market since November, prompting complaints to the Santa Monica Police Department that resulted in Walkden’s arrest and incarceration Jan. 30 on charges of aggressive solicitation in a public place and for being under the influence of a controlled substance. The charges have since been dropped.
Tawni Angel-Nestor, who owns the ponies, alleges that Walkden and his fellow protesters have been verbally abusive to her, her employees and her customers.
“They’re over-the-top extremists,” Angel-Nestor said. “They tell people things that aren’t true. They say I beat my ponies, that I starve them... it’s making me a nervous wreck.”
According to Angel-Nestor, her ponies live on a five-acre pasture in Ventura County during the week and receive excellent care that includes appropriate food, water, hoof-trimming and vet care.
She said the protesters were trying to ruin her reputation and destroy her business. She’s also concerned they will follow her back to her farm and turn the ponies loose.
“If they did something like that, there’s a good chance the ponies would wander out in the road and get hit by a car,” Angel-Nestor said, adding that the ponies get regular breaks and are given plenty of food and water.
Walkden said, that although he and the protesters get support from many Farmers’ Market patrons, they have received a “torrent of abuse” from other bystanders and from Farmers’ Market supervisor Laura Avery.
“Once Laura got involved, we were routinely harassed by police,” he said. “She and the ride operator told police I spit at people — well, maybe when I shout, I inadvertently spit — but I don’t intentionally spit on anyone.”
Walkden said Angel-Nestor also told police that he threatened to shoot her.
“I said ‘we’re going to shut you down, not shoot you down,’” he said.
Regardless of what is said on the sidewalk, Avery believes the protesters are taking their cause too far.
“They intimidate the children,” she said. “They scream at the kids. They point to the ride operators and call them ‘slave owners.’ I heard them say, ‘the slave owner must be killed.’
“I respect people’s right to free speech, but not when it was an incitement to violence.”
Dr. Beth Stolvey, who has been an equine veterinary specialist for more than 20 years and cares for Angel-Nestor’s ponies, said the ponies are treated well.
“Those ponies are like weekend warriors,” she said. “They do a small amount of work and then they hang out in a grassy pasture and play the rest of the week.
“I think Tawni’s doing the public a service,” Stolvey added. “She’s giving city kids the chance to develop an interest and familiarity with animals they might not otherwise be able to develop an interest in.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 12, 2005. Read the original PDF.