Why Rolling Hills Estates' Horse Trails Don't Stop at the Street

The version of this story you've already read online goes like this: Rolling Hills Estates has over 25 miles of bridle trails, a few equestrian facilities, and a strong horse culture. True on all counts. What that version leaves out is the engineering detail that explains why equestrian life here has lasted while similar communities around LA County have slowly retreated — the trails go under the streets.

Two of the busiest arterials in Rolling Hills Estates, Hawthorne Boulevard and Crenshaw Boulevard, have horse-grade culverts built into them. Riders moving through the city's trail network duck under Hawthorne via the culvert off the Hewlett Trail, pick up the Moccasin Trail on the other side, then cross under Crenshaw at a second underpass to reach the Lariat Trail. The horse never touches a car road.

This is not a trail system that runs parallel to the city. It runs through it.

The Circuit, From the Ground Up

Most riders start at Ernie Howlett Park at 25851 Hawthorne Boulevard. The equestrian facility there has three riding rings, a dressage area with a grandstand, and a multi-use trail that connects directly into the wider network. From the park, the Hewlett Trail heads south, threads under Hawthorne through the culvert, and feeds into the Moccasin Trail heading north. The Lariat Trail picks up from there, tracing the perimeter of the South Coast Botanic Garden before the route crosses Rolling Hills Road.

From that crossing, the Bent Springs Trail runs north to the Empty Saddle Trail, which follows the Empty Saddle Club east and enters the Chandler Nature Preserve via the Chandler Trail. The loop comes back around toward Crenshaw, where the underpass deposits riders near Peter Weber Equestrian Center at 26401 Crenshaw Boulevard.

Two other entry points complete the picture. Dapplegray Park, at the northwest corner of Palos Verdes Drive North and Palos Verdes Drive East, has several bridle trails connected directly to its riding rings — a practical warmup stop before heading out. Chandler Park, at Crenshaw Boulevard and Palos Verdes Drive, is where the Mayor's Breakfast Ride assembles each May. Three entry points. Five named trail segments. Two street underpasses. One continuous circuit a rider can follow for hours without encountering traffic.

What's Along the Route

Peter Weber Equestrian Center, the city-operated facility on Crenshaw, is the hub where the trail mileage multiplies. The city's 25 miles of maintained bridle paths are the foundation, but Peter Weber has access to 90 miles of trails across the wider Palos Verdes Peninsula — the difference between a neighborhood loop and a half-day ride deep into the hills above Portuguese Bend. The center offers boarding, lessons with both Western and English trainers, and summer and winter pony camps for younger riders.

Rolling Hills Stables runs guided trail rides for those who want to get onto the network without their own horse. Trail rides are open for the 2025 season and require booking in advance. Birthday parties and events round out the calendar, which is relevant context if you have children who have figured out that some celebrations are better with horses.

Alderin Sporthorses operates a full-service center in Rolling Hills Estates with a multi-tiered program led by trainers who compete at the Grand Prix level — the serious training end of the spectrum. Mystic Canyon Stable runs lessons across English, Western, and jumping disciplines and focuses on beginners and younger riders, though it frequently carries a waitlist, so booking ahead matters. For riders prepared to go nine miles south, the Portuguese Bend Riding Club sits on 10 acres in a gated community on the peninsula hillside, with a Mediterranean courtyard setting and multiple levels of training programs tailored to individual goals.

The Calendar Gives It Structure

Two events put the equestrian community on the same schedule each year, and both are worth knowing if you've lived here long enough to assume everyone already does.

The Mayor's Breakfast Ride assembles at Chandler Park on a Saturday morning in May — in 2025, May 11 at 8:30 a.m. Riders bring their horses for a guided tour of the trail network. No entry fee, no competition, organized by the city. It is exactly what it sounds like: neighbors on horses, on trails they ride all year, with the mayor.

The Portuguese Bend National Horse Show runs at a different scale. The 2025 edition, the 67th, ran September 5 through 7 at Ernie Howlett Park as an A-rated event drawing competitive riders from across the West Coast. The prize schedule reflects that level: a $15,000 Seahorse Open Jumper Classic, a $10,000 Harman Family Jr-A/O Jumper Classic, and two $2,500 Hunt & Go Derbies ran alongside the Pacific Coast Horse Association Horsemanship Medal Finals. The PCHA Victor Hugo Vidal Adult Horsemanship Class covers riders 35 and over. If you've tried to park near Ernie Howlett on a September weekend and found the lot overwhelmed, that is the reason.

Sixty-seven consecutive years of the same show at the same park is not a streak that maintains itself. It reflects a community that keeps entering and keeps showing up to watch.

What Non-Riders Actually Notice

The culverts are visible from the road if you know what to look for. On Hawthorne and Crenshaw, signs mark the trail access points at the driveways leading to the underpasses. The trails themselves run between residential properties in places, dipping under the arterials and resurfacing on the other side as though the roads were a temporary interruption rather than a boundary.

For residents without horses, the practical effect is a neighborhood with low fence lines — equestrian properties are designed to connect to the trail, not seal it off — and weekend mornings that move more slowly than the surrounding South Bay. Riders are visible from the street. Horses are audible from Ernie Howlett when the rings are in use.

The city's equestrian infrastructure sits alongside 10 miles of bicycle paths and seven parks, all actively maintained. It is not a legacy feature kept around for historical texture. It is built into the street-level engineering of the city — literally, in the case of the underpasses — and actively renewed through programs, shows, and events that bring new riders in at every age and skill level.

Other communities in Los Angeles County have horse trails. Rolling Hills Estates designed streets that accommodate the horse in the first place. That is the detail the generic version never mentions, and it is the reason this community's equestrian culture has stayed intact for seven decades while comparable ones have quietly faded.

If you want to understand what daily life in Rolling Hills Estates actually looks like — the trails, the parks, the rhythms that don't show up in a listing description — Adela Randazzo has spent years working in this community and knows it in the kind of detail that only comes from being here. Request your free home valuation or reach out with any questions.