Horse camps abruptly canceled as Daly City landmark changes ownership

DALY CITY - It was going to be a fun summer for Sophia Scykmanski, a middle-school student in Daly City, who had planned to attend a horse camp at Mar Vista Stables on the coast.

"I was going to do it with my friend Madi because we did it last year," said Sophia.

Two weeks before the camp, however, Sophia and her family received a letter by email from an attorney saying the camp was canceled.

Mar Vista Stables which operated the site, was being evicted by the new owners who had bought the property.

"It really stinks because why didn't they let them finish out the season, finish out the summer. They had 10-11 weeks of camps planned," said Sofia's father Mark Szymanski.

The new owners, Zachary Leyden and Tony Kasaris who are co-owners of ZLTK Real Estate, LLC, said they sealed the deal in mid-May and decided they had to evict the Mar Vista stables in order to make renovations.

"It was a large investment moving in and so we needed to be able to move in and take control and possession of this," said Kasaris, "When you have mortgage payments you can't let 4 months go by without being able to start establishing your business."

Leyden says they have big plans to keep the trail rides and horse camps going.

"We have a little tiny horse paradise right on the ocean front. It's just a dream," said Leyden, "Tony and I saw this opportunity, and thought we'd be upset with ourselves forever if we didn't try."

The former operators of Mar Vista Stables, Brenda and David Ingram, said the horse stables business was their dream too.

They had managed the site for six years before they bought the Mar Vista operation.

"The prior person that we bought it from was also leasing the property for the last 35 years. He finally passed the name on to us. We bought the name from him and the horses and all the equipment. And that was in August 31st of last year," said David Ingram.

They say when they bought it they hired on some new help.

"Very nice fellow, came to the gate, wanted to help us out muck stalls and help out on the property," said David Ingram.  

Turns out that fellow was Zachary Leyden.

"He found out we didn't own the property, we leased it. So we were working really closely. We renovated it. He moved onto the property. And then things started changing," said David Ingram.

The Ingrams say Leyden purchased the property without saying a word to them. Now they say they feel betrayed and are scrambling to move their 30 horses up to El Dorado Hills and start over.

Leyden says his attorney was speaking to their attorney "months prior to the purchase."

The Ingrams say they plan to have their 30 horses out by the Monday deadline. They say all the summer camp families will receive a refund.

The new owners say they are renaming the property Ocean View Stables and hope to have it open in August.