Happy Trails: Woman Explains Why She Came to Hollywood on Horseback

Photo by Emma Gallegos/LAist

Hollywood has always loved a good story about a horseback journey, and that's been true for Karin Hauenstein, who I caught riding down Sunset Boulevard through traffic on Tuesday.

She e-mailed LAist to let us know about her long journey from the Central Coast to Hollywood with her three horses Glory, Coley and Smoke.

Hauenstein is a professional horse behaviorist who lives about 65 miles north of Santa Barbara, but she is also an activist. She had planned on taking a long horseback journey to advocate against the inhumane treatment of horses and horse slaughter this year, but she had to leave ahead of schedule after President Obama signed an appropriations bill this fall that funded the USDA to certify U.S. horse meat for human consumption and sale in other countries.

She writes, "It is going to take the power of the U.S. General Public, informed and outraged, to stem the development of fully-contained (which means nobody sees in and nobody hears in, like McDonald's facilities...) horse slaughter facilities in the northern U.S."

Her journey is starting in California, but later on she's going to transport her horses to D.C. this spring so she can ride with other activists on horseback to speak out against the federal legislation. But for now she's happy to ride in through Hollywood, Studio City and Burbank, where she says she's met "some of the friendliest and most upright people I've encountered on the trail so far:"

This area, in Hollywood, has shown us a tremendous amount of acceptance, love and support. LAPD have been extremely respectful, helpful and supportive to us (me and the horses.) The public on the streets LOVE what I am doing and are really very courteous. The horses and I are treated much like a slow moving vehicle and have the legal right-of-way on every road and highway other than freeways where pedestrian and bike traffic is not allowed.

So how do you get from the Central Coast to Hollywood? Hauenstein started her journey near Lompoc and rode Highway 246 through Buellton, Solvang and Santa Ynez. She rode through the Santa Ynez Range into Goleta and Santa Barbara. (She rode through the foothills of Santa Barbara and Montecito twice.) Then she and the gang took access roads through Summerland and Carpinteria, but they had to hang tight for a week and wait for a big swell to calm down so they could make the beach crossing. They continued to Ventura near the 101 on Harbor Boulevard to Port Hueneme and then they took the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu. She cut through Decker Canyon Road to Westlake then Oak Park, Agoura Hills, Kanan Road to Mulholland Drive to Beverly Hills and finally she was at Sunset Boulevard.

There's one other reason she's excited to be in Hollywood. While she's here, she plans to hitch up her horses at CBS Studios so she can catch a live-taping of the "Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@laist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Emma G. Gallegos in News on January 26, 2012 12:30 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Raven Flores

YeeHaw! Way to go Karin, Glory, Coley and Smoke !!

Just say NO to Horse Slaughter. Keep USA horses in the pastures and off the tables.

Grace

I am glad that she is an activist and wants to help the horses. However, I would not ride them to get the attention of human beings. In the Christian Vegan faith, horse riding is not allowed as horse eating. All animal services and animal products must be avoided, so our friends can be free. Please read: The Lord Christ Jesus Was A Vegan and The Christian Vegan Revised Psalms by Saba.

Christie Finn

Christ chose to ride the humble burro in keeping with an Old Testament prophesy on his last grand entrance into Jerusalem.

Mary C

I was one of the very lucky people who met Karin and her gorgeous horses on Hollywood Blvd. one night last week. What beautiful, gentle animals those 3 horses were, and what an admirable cause Karin represents!

Janet Schultz

Yeah - Karin!

Horse_n_around49

Perhaps a couple thousand horseback riders converging on the White House would show them we mean business?!! Come Spring thats what should be done!!!!

Christie Finn

And ribbons for horses that were adopted from rescues to show the AAEP that horses in rescues are not unwanted by everyone. Mine are found treasure.

canecorso229

That would be powerful..and have the horses that were rescued from slaughter wear specific ribbons on their bridles..I'm in Nevada and count me "in" ..

megpylant

Kudos to you Karin. Wish I could be there with ya sharing the message and letting people know the horrible truth about horse slaughter. I am on the East Coast so maybe we need to get that going here as well as north and south so we can share the message from all sides of the US.

BHumane

There's a clear and telling answer to the question of
whether US-based horse slaughter would be 'humane and honest'. We've already seen US-based horse
slaughter and we KNOW not to go there again. Proof of that? See the USDA's own
records and photos of what US-based horse slaughter looks like at the next
link. This is why we oppose horse slaughter: http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/ and
http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/n...
Washington can't be expected to know what occurred at that Texas plant before it closed in 2007. Washington needs to hear and see why we say NO to slaughter in the US.

Show them these USDA photos and records. EVERY photo shows a
violation: failure of fitness to travel, over 6 mos of age, not likely to give
birth during the trip, offload and rest every 28 hrs . . . let’s end this hell
for horses. Contact your Rep and Senators in Washington, ask them to cosponsor and work
for passage of S1176 & HR2966, the federal bills banning horse slaughter
for human consumption. Find yours:
http://www.votesmart.org/

AR Idiocy

She may be a "professional horse behaviorist" (I don't think that's a real job) but she sure as hell can't ride . . .

Christie Finn

You don’t sound like you know much about horses or you would know about the keen interest about horse behavior within the equine community. Horses have a very complex but silent language that, if understood, can be useful to anyone working with or around horses, and especially for those who enjoy the company of horses and people who enjoy the company of horses.

Rhonda Lanier

I agree with Ms. Bryant. Excuse me but if she can't ride how did she get herself on horseback here?

AR Idiocy

She got here like a crooked, flopping sack of potatoes, judging by the photo.

Suzanne Bryant

Is making insensitive, completely off topic comments your job? I can't help but notice that you have plenty of time during the day to do it. Maybe if you don't like something you should get off your computer, lift your butt out of the chair and take a real stand instead of hiding behind a stupid fake moniker and making dumb remarks on the internet. Oh, wait, that's a probably a little too close to having to actually work, huh?

lisanorman

Kudos to Karin for taking this message to the streets. Be careful on road with those horses! Almost 80% Americans oppose horse slaughter. Horsemeat was banned in pet products over 30 years ago. It's not even safe for dogs to eat but our government wants to sell it abroad for human consumption.