Horses Saved At Will Rogers State Historic Park

Cha Cha Jago lost her house to the Palisades Fire. But she’s more focused, at least at the moment, on how the aftermath of that wildfire is affecting the horses, horse workers and horse riders of Jigsaw Farms, her equine riding company. In recent years it’s been the concessionaire contracted at Will Rogers State Historic Park, named after Hollywood’s most beloved on-screen cowboy. That property, including the main ranch house as well as the stables, has been wiped out by the 23,000-acre blaze, which has destroyed more than 1,200 structures through much of the Pacific Palisades and eastern Malibu.

Jago tells The Hollywood Reporter that after the fire started on Jan. 7, she and her staff led their 17 horses from the stables to the base of the park, beneath the famed polo field. “The horses were stressed, wondering what was happening, because the winds were so strong, 80 miles an hour,” she says. “The last horse was out by 4:30 that afternoon, and by six o’clock the entire park was in flames.” Jago adds, of the apocalyptic operation, that “it was a bit like Noah’s Ark.” (Jennifer Rogers, who runs the park-supporting Will Rogers Foundation, notes that her great-grandfather would’ve approved: “He would’ve saved the horses before anything else. That would’ve been his No. 1 priority, too.”)

The herd was first relocated northeast to Sullivan Canyon in Brentwood. But hours later that back-up location proved unsafe as well. Soon they were evacuated again, along with fellow horses from Sullivan Canyon — a total of 54 — to Burbank. Since then, some have been on nebulizers due to persistent air quality issues. Others have been moved further away to Santa Ynez in Central California.

Jago’s business, which now faces an uncertain future (“Our barns, arenas, equipment, and cherished spaces have all been lost,” a GoFundMe appeal explains), had been a staple of field trips for schools across the Los Angeles region. But she notes that “a lot of our students have lived in the Palisades.” Some of the children have already visited the horses in Burbank. “They’ve had this huge bond. It’s like therapy for them and it’s like the only thing they have left. Their houses are gone, their school has burned down. These horses and these kids really need each other.”