Visitors!!!

So Chloe, Joshua and Rob finally arrived!!! It felt like ages since I'd seen them all and I was so excited as I waited at the arrivals gate at the airport!!!!

Rob was only staying for ten short days so we wanted to cram as much in as possible in the first week!

 We began with a trip to Ihop! For those of you at home this stands for 'international house of pancakes' and we sure had a good breakfast that day! Then we headed to Hollywood to do the obligatory, Hollywood walk of fame and see the famous Chinese theatre.
 

We spent a lot of time at the beach whilst Rob was here, watching all the unique and individual characters at Venice beach. From body builders working at at Muscle beach, to skateboarders doing tricks and stunts at the skate park, to pensioners jamming to disco on roller-skates! We also did a lot of sunbathing and playing in the surf!


Universal studios was a great day out. The studio tour took us round famous sets from back to the future, war of the worlds, psycho and even Buffy! It was extremely hot that day but Joshua, Chloe and Rob enjoyed many of the amazing rides. I was even brave enough to go through the walking dead maze!!!


The bike ride from Venice beach to Manhattan beach was another great day and it was especially entertaining with the tandem! On the way back, the smoke form the near by Sand Fire was blowing across the city and the sky turned an eerie colour unlike anything I've ever seen. Thankfully the fire is now 88% contained, but it's taken nearly 2 weeks to get it under control!

On the last night we went to the cheesecake factory in the Marina and ate far to much to finish off Rob's trip. I think he really enjoyed it and we hope he'll be back to visit soon.

Chloe is missing her horses back home a lot, so I took her riding with me and Don this week. The three girls were excellent as always and Chloe said she could get used to riding Western as it's so comfortable! I even taught he some American horse lingo i.e. jog, post and lope! It was a lovely day for a ride and Chloe was particularly impressed how Don works all three girls in the round pen before he rides at liberty, even being able to stop 2 of them at the canter and keep one going!!! Clever stuff!

We've had a few injured horses at the ranch recently (when you have over 200 semi wild horses living together, some of them are bound to get themselves in a pickle every now and then). Whilst tending to their injuries, gives us a chance to get them more used to being around people and even haltered and learn to pick up their feet ready for the farrier.

 

Later today were off to a Dodgers Baseball game which is something I've never done before so very excited! Play ball!!!!

Where have the last few weeks gone?!

Since I got back from England it's felt so busy!

At the Mustang Rescue
Work at the ranch has been hectic! We had an open day the weekend I got back from England which was a huge success and 4 horses got adopted!! 

I've been doing a lot of work with a little pony called Junior. He's a cracking fellow but at 17 years old, it's not so easy to get adopted. He's trained Western but to add another string to his bow I've been teaching him some English riding too and we're even working on a little dressage! I really hope I can find a nice home for him.

I've fallen in love myself already, with a little dark bay mare called Ariana! She's a 5 year old mustang who was rescued from Fallen feed lot (a place where horses are sold often for meat!) and she's just adorable!

 I've been handling her and getting her used to being groomed and started some very basic groundwork but apart from being haltered and having her feet trimmed she's basically untouched. Fingers crossed, I'll be able to adopt her soon... stay tuned!

Trail riding
Whilst one of the other trainers is away visiting her family in Italy, I'm also helping to exercise horses in nearby Aqua Dulce Canyon. Dom has 3 lovely mares he keeps at home and we ride out together twice a week. The scenery is beautiful and all three horses are exceptionally well behaved!

The three girls out together...

Great views on board Raven

4th of July
Last weekend here was 4th of July weekend. We walked down to the Marina with our friend Josh and watched the fireworks over the bay! It was really fun to get involved and it felt very different to watching the fireworks in November in 20 layers of clothing!!

A night at the Greek
Last but certainly not least, David and I had our first trip to the Greek Theatre which is an open air music venue, up in the hills near Griffith Park and we went to see.....Bryan Adams!! He was absolutely awesome and I was blown away by how amazing his voice still is! The venue made it even more magical, sitting outside in the summer evening air below the stars.... I night I will never forget!

Next weekend...
... Chloe, Joshua and Rob arrive to visit!!! I'm so excited and I've got lots of fun things planned and great places to eat....not long now!!

2 weeks in England and France

(Apologies for the lack of pictures - smashed my phone and have lost them all!)

So, part of being an English girl in LA I suppose, is the trips to and from Europe to visit family and friends! I have no problem travelling and actually still enjoy flying so 11 hours on a plane isn’t the worst thing in the world for me.

My flight to England was uneventful, faithful Keith our local, lovely taxi driver was ready and waiting to collect me (Keith even took me to my wedding!) and I got to stay with my good friend Rebecca Walker when I arrived. We headed straight back out the door as soon as I’d put my bags down to go to our local pub for the monthly open mic night. It was a great night and they even managed to fit me in for a quick song on short notice! It was lovely to see so many familiar faces.

The next day I crammed in a hack around Hodgemoor on my adopted steed, William, the ginger ninja, who was a pleasure as always, a quick stop at Moorwards to say hi to all the equines and Lauren, Jenna and the rest of the team there. It was a pleasant surprise to also get to see my dear friend Sue Hale, who happened to be there, and who drew the priceless pencil portraits of my two boys for me. A quick cup of tea and a catch up with Rob Waine, who will be visiting me in the states next month, and then off to Snowball farm to support Louise Gardner who I used to teach and her horse Blondie, in the Riding Club Team One Day event Qualifier. They finished 2^nd in the juniors! All in all, a busy but great day back in bucks! 

Early the next morning, I was on a plane to France. I cannot tell you how excited I was to see Peroni. Obviously I’d missed my family especially my youngest sister Chloe, but before I came to LA, I was used to seeing Peroni once if not twice a day, and we’ve spent a lot of time together and built up a very strong bond. 

I was over the moon to see how well he looked and how happy he is with his little friend Pedro the donkey! It was lovely to have the opportunity to work on a few things with him, such as lowering his head and getting him really comfortable with my arm and hand over his neck and down between his ears which is something he’s always struggled with. He’s also getting much better with having his ears touched, and we’ve been practising with the fly mask also! He had lots of TLC and grooming, he had a bath and his mane and fetlocks trimmed and we’ve been on some walks and practised our ground work. Although it’s been two months, it felt like it was yesterday we were playing the 7 games at Kevin’s yard in England, and he remembers the games as clearly as if it were!

Pedro the donkey finally had his castration now that the stables were up to protect the wound from the flies during the hot weather. We managed the first part standing although half way through, despite our efforts, Pedro decided to lay down for the second part. Let me tell you, as small as he may be, he is deceptively heavy! Pedro recovered well and seems to have forgiven us, although as yet, his little op hasn’t stopped his urge to mount Peroni! Thankfully Peroni has never seemed to mind and just continues to graze! It’s hilarious to watch!!!

It’s also been nice to spend some time with Hero, my Mum’s horse, who I looked after for the first year in England. I love him so much, especially his occasional cheeky streak and we’ve had a great time gallivanting or plodding around the French countryside with Chloe. He’s even turned into a bit of a “matchy matchy” diva with his bling bridle and matching saddlecloth/ fly fringe sets!!!

The cats were finally let outside under my watchful eye and all worries were alleviated. Mostly they just like to sleep in the sunshine and have a great time, chasing field mice and lizards. They are in cat heaven I think.

I also whipped up a few dinners whilst I was there to give the family a break from cooking. We enjoyed, fluffy pancakes and homemade cottage pie and fresh fish to name but a few of the lovely meals we’ve shared.

10 days later I was on a plane back to the UK. Another quick ride straight from the airport on William, this time with great company in the form of my good friend Christine on Harley. I met Christine at Moorwards where I used to teach her and she is now a proud member of Kevin’s crew at Highclere Farm, with her own clicker and everything. Sometimes I feel we could chat for hours we get on so well.

Rebecca kindly put me up for another night, and we even managed to take some time just to sit outside in the sunshine and chat. Rebecca is one of my very best friends and although we might not call each other all the time, were close on a level that we can talk about anything and always seem to pick up right where we left off. It was nice to help her at her yard, which is where a used to keep Guinness before her passed away and it was almost comforting that many of the routines were still the same.

An arduous journey to Brighton on the coach followed (I won’t bore you with the details but it was long and stressful) and I finally got to spend some time with my boy, Joshua. We had the whole weekend together and it felt like old times. We did many of the things we did when he was younger including arcade games on the pier, Laserzone and of course, dinner at Donatello’s, Joshua’s favourite Italian restaurant. As much as we talk on the internet it, I was really grateful to be physical close to him and even though he’s 12, he’s not embarrassed to hold my hand and he gives the best hugs.

It was all over too quickly and before I knew it I was back on the plane to Los Angeles. Although I’ve had a great time, I always miss David terribly when we’re apart, but I think it’s good for me and him to do things separately sometimes. I often get scared on my own, when I have to do things I’m unsure of (like getting the coach to Brighton!) but I feel proud of myself when I do even if it feels like I have to force myself sometimes. David is so worldly and confident it can be all too easy to rely on him all the time and being able to do more things for myself makes for a healthier relationship. It also reminds me how lucky I am to have him.

First day at work!

So yesterday was my first official day at my new job!

Although the ranch is literally in the middle of nowhere, the desert is incredibly peaceful and I really like it!

I worked with a horse called Walker in the morning. He's a branded Mustang which means he was born in the wild and brought down and caught as a youngster and that's where he would have got the brand under his mane. He was very edgy and would flinch when you touched him and jump in the air when something moved in the wind.

We spent a long time getting to know each other and I groomed him for ages, just encouraging him to relax and drop his head. We then went into the round pen and did some ground work. He has obviously done this before and understood all the basics but he felt he had to do everything at 100 miles an hour (I think some one must have named him walker as a joke!). We worked a lot on him just being comfortable to stand and relax on the end of the 12 ft line. With time and a lot of patience and reassurance, we managed to walk a circle both ways, which was a huge improvement to the circles of gallop we started with!

I then tacked him up very slowly whilst giving him lots of reassurance each step of the way. At first, Fernando walked with me holding me also, but with tiny tiny steps and lots of standing still, relax and praise time after each short walk stretch... we were walking round the round pen by ourselves both ways on our own, without rushing and without spooking or jumping in the air! I was very pleased with Walker and we had lots of cuddles and scratching time after. I think he will make a lovely horse for someone, but he may always be the type who's 10% ready for a monster to jump out of the bushes! I'm very keen to work with him again this week (I think I'm a little bit in love already!)

In the afternoon I worked with Valentine. Valentine is Palomino gelding about 9 years old I think.
He was rescued from a feed lot which is basically a huge auction where horses are sold before they are transported to either Mexico or Canada for slaughter!

He's been at the ranch for a while, and wasn't great at picking up his feet for the farrier but is much improved now. He had not been ridden since he arrived so this was the first time anyone had sat on him since he came from the feed lot. 

He was an absolute Angel!!! I caught, groomed and tacked him up and he was totally chilled the whole time. We rode in the round pen for a while but I got the impression he would rather go somewhere rather than round and around, so we rode around the ranch for a while. Walk, trot, canter stop and turn all perfect! He stopped on my breathing and basically was happy to go if you asked him but would rather just walk if possible! He'd make an awesome family pony for some one and he's so handsome, I don't think it will take him long to find a home, now we know what an excellent riding horse he is!

I'm back again tomorrow so I wonder what fun that will bring!

Wow- Where did this week go!

Apologies to everyone who messaged me about what I've been up to.... I don't know where this week has gone!

New Apartment
We've moved in to our new apartment!!! Yey! I absolutely love the space. It has exactly what I was hoping for with a big open plan kitchen/ lounge and is big enough for a big dining area too. It's all a bit sparse at present with very little furniture but we have the basics now... table, sofa, TV, and bed! I can't wait for our other bedroom furniture to turn up and all our lovely pictures....

It also has a gym and a pool which I've made use of. In England, I was not a 'gym' person, and I don't particularly like working out in front of other people as I'm very unfit and get really self concious but there's hardly ever any one in the gym in the week, so I've started running a bit. I managed 2 miles on Tuesday and 3 miles and Thursday so I think that's good progress. Although the weather has been fairly temperate and cloudy (apparently I didn't break the weather, but it's always like this near the coast at this time of year and they call it "May Grey"), I got some time by the pool when the sun came out for a few hours....

It's also in a great location. We're only 20 minutes drive from David's work in rush hour, and we're very near Cosco (amazing Pizza!) and "In and Out Burger". There's a "dunkin dougnuts" on the corner which is difficult to resist, and an organic supermarket called "Rainbow Acres" which sells all sorts of organic, vegan and welfare assured food. We're also only 10 minutes from the beach although we're yet to make it down there since we moved.

Lifesavers Horse Rescue Ranch
I went back to the Lifesavers horse ranch last week for another trial day, this time with their current trainer Shauna, who works 2 days a week. We got on very well and she was happy for me to get right in. We haltered the foals for their 2nd ever trim with the farrier, we gave tetanus boosters and wormers to some of the horses and moved some more horses around ready for another delivery. I was extremely please when the next day I got a call asking if I would like to take the position!!!! I really do love it there, even though it's a 90 mile drive each way (!) it just feels like I'm doing something really worthwhile and their whole approach and energy is exactly how I like it! My first official day is tomorrow!

Some of the babies who had a trim...

Mill Creek Ranch Topanga
A friend of a friend, also showed me around a lovely stables in Topanga which is only 30 mins from home. It's what we would call a livery yard in England, but they also have a riding school. The horses range from very expensive grand prix dressage horses to childrens ponies, but everyone was exceptionally friendly and I gave them my CV with the possibility of doing some freelance teaching or holiday cover work... we'll wait and see... 
The set up again, is very different from home, with the horses being stabled without turnout, but they are all fed ad lib 3 times a day with plenty of roughage and all exercised daily. The stables have pipes running along the roof that intermittantly spray a mist of fly spray and water to keep the horses cool and free from flies!

Socialising
We've spent some time with our good friend Josh, who lives here, having drinks in Brentwood on Friday and Dinner in Korea Town on Sunday night. Joshua took us for authentic Korean "hot-pot" which was something completely new to me. Think 'cook your own wagamma' and your half way there. Basically it's all you can eat, and you have a large wok like dish in the middle of the table on a gas burner. You choose 2 types of stock (we got one miso based and one spicy) and then you help yourself to as much of what you want to cook in the broth. Everything from mushrooms, onions, bok choi, spinach, tofu, prawns, squid, won tons, fish balls, lobster, bean sprouts and all different types of noodles. Then if you like meat, you order a platter of various steak, chicken, lamb or pork which come raw and very finely sliced and cooks in the broth in minutes. 

"Hot-pot"

You throw all this in together, cook it up, and share and then at the end your left with an awesome flavoured broth which you soak up with a load of noodles. I loved it! Tiny glasses of rice wine (tastes like watery gin..) made the whole evening a wonderful experience!

New Car
We also bought a car this weekend. Second hand cars here seem extremely expensive, but one of the reasons is, unlike in the UK where you only pay tax on new vehicles, here you pay tax on used cars too! However, the lack of rain means the cars do not get rust or other associated water damage and the dry conditions means engines live a lot longer. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I was going to put a lot of miles on, driving out to the desert all the time, so I'm happy with my old Toyota Camrey.... She drives great and I'm pleased we have something as our rental goes back this week.

Meeting my step cousin for the first time
My step cousin, Alison, lives here in Los Angeles, and I'd never met her before, so we arranged to have breakfast this morning. Her father, Ed, who married my Auntie Linda live in France now, but he's originally Dutch and married an American lady from LA and had Alison. Alison grew up in Holland, but moved to LA over ten years ago and it's a lovely feeling knowing you have some family when you move so far away.
She is also the absolutley most lovely person and I can see us spending a lot of time together!

After breakfast selfie!

Peroni
Lastly, and update on Peroni in France. Chloe has been doing and amazing job, looking after my little monkey and the stables are finally up!!! A huge thank you to Mum, Dad, Chloe and Linda for all the effort they've put in organising and manual labour. Peroni and Pedro had their first time in the stables today and enjoyed a munch on some hay. It's great they now have a place to come in in bad or hot weather...

"oooh... this is nice..."

Looking very well and shiny..

"I like my little window!"

Finally got to have a ride!

So last week, I booked a 'trail ride' (that's American for a hack), in Griffith Park. My lovely and incredibly generous friend and client, Sue Hale, who not only did the amazing portraits of Guinness and Peroni for me, also bought me a gift voucher for a two hour ride here in LA, and finally I had the time to go and do something just for me!

Guinness and Peroni already have pride of place in the new apartment!

I drove through Holywood and up a long windy residential road, to arrive at a ranch right beneath the holywood sign! As I got out the car and changed my boots, these furry little creatures started poking their noses out of their burrows. They were so cute and reminded me of my Degus I had as pets when I was younger.

At the ranch, the horses were all being groomed and tacked up ready for the day. They were all very well behaved and lined up on behind the other and then, once ready, just wandered back to the rest of the herd, saddled and ready until it was their turn.

I was pleased as the most experienced rider in the group I got to lead. The Quarter horse mare I was riding, named 'Marylin' liked to walk out and it was almost like the tranquillity of being out hacking on my own.

The paths up the mountain were wide but the drop down the cliff sides were steep and the horses were obviously used to walking along the cliff edge side which was slightly unnerving at first, but it was obvious very quickly this was what they were used to. They also take their time which is great, as they know how long the walk is so the entire hack was very leisurely..

This was my first time riding western and I have to say, it's very comfortable! Marylin was excellent and responded instantly to my energy without any need for leg.

We were out for 2 hours, and the views accross the city were amazing, even on a cloudy day. We even had a light rain shower, which must be a real treat to the horses here as it hardly ever rains!

The Holywood sign in the distance...

My Guide, Tempest, was very eager to chat as we rode, and we discussed a whole manner of horsey topics on the way back down.

It was such a lovely day, I almost didn't want to leave. Thank you so much Sue, I'll definitely be going back and I might even take David with me next time!

Kisses for Marylin!

French patisserie, Los Angeles Fauna and a catch up on Peroni

Yesterday evening David and I decided to walk around the corner to the little French Cafe on Washington that we'd found to treat ourselves to some dessert! There aren't many places you can actually walk to here as everything is designed around the fact that everyone drives everywhere, but we stumbled across this little treasure and we love it! With my parents living in the south of France, I know what good French patisserie should taste like and this place is as good as I've eaten!

The smell of Jasmine outside the cafe is overwhelming, and although the Jasmine is in it's final stage and just starting to turn, the fragrance is still out of this world!

Jasmine outside Le Dijonaise Cafe

I noticed as we walked past the other houses in our road, how different the gardens are here. People are encouraged to be extremely frugal with water, and so it's very different to the manicured lawns you see at home. I took some pictures to show some of the intricate and very unusal plants people use here to survive in very dry conditions. They may be different but I think they are just as beautiful.

I particularly love the bark on the trees as well as the beautiful purple blossoms that can be seen almost everywhere in LA at this time of year. 

Stunning purple blossom

I hope you like them as much as I do!

Peroni is doing well in France with my sister Chloe, although he's been a bit cheeky since he slipped his head collar off and has since refused to let her put it back on! Thankfully she can change his rugs, check his feet and do his fly spray with him loose! She sent me this short video as, being the overprotective mother that I am, I wanted to see for myself! He's gained some more weight which is good and he's still very much best friends with Pedro the Donkey!

I think I broke the weather!

So, karma obviously caught up with me for emphasising how lovely the weather has been here and now I think I've broken it! The other day I was amazed we actually had some fluffy clouds in the sky, but this morning it actually looks like England! I really hope I haven't brought the English weather with me!

From fluffy clouds on Monday....

....to grey sky today :-(

We've been so busy getting ready to move in to our own place this weekend. We've sorted all the utilities, we measured up and bought furniture and yesterday I did a massive Ikea shop to get kitchen utensils and mattresses. It must have been funny to the onlookers as it took 2 people to help me get them in the car!

I'm getting much more confident driving around LA and using the interstates. As long as my sat nav doesn't drop out on me right before I'm supposed to make an exit, I can now get from A to B without having a melt down :-)

We also managed to find some time to hang out with some of our friends last weekend. We went out for szechuan lunch with Josh, his sister and Genesseo. IT was very spicy with lots of pink peppercorns and chilli but I was pleased I managed to try everything. It was really nice to just go out with friends and eat and talk, which is something I didn't do that much when I was in England. Genesseo got Josh an amazing chocolate cake decorated with pecan nuts and filled with a salted caramel filling! It was so yummy and we sung happy brithday and everything!

A day at the horse rescue ranch

So yesterday I headed out the door at 6am (!) to drive to a ranch where they rehabilitate horses that have been rescued either from neglect or from being sent for slaughter.

The 2 hour drive took me out in to the middle of nowhere and the landscape was vast and barren, unlike anything I've ever seen before but still truly spectacular!

When I arrived, I was greeted by several smiley, happy people, looking somewhat exasperated and armed with long sticks with plastic bags taped to the ends!? They were sorting some of the youngsters as some of them were being moved to a trainers to receive some basic handling and 'friendlying' from a fellow supporter of the ranch. These horses were basically, totally wild and not even used to wearing a headcollar but they have a clever system of paddocks all connected by alleys with moveable gates so you can create a pathway from one to the other, so that the horses can be sent along. It's effective when a horse needs separating from the herd for whatever reason but it's also kind of out of control! The sticks with bags, know as flags, are used to wave to send the horses in a particular direction, or also to wave frantically if they charge towards you! These horses are wild and will run you over if they are panicked and you happen to be in the way, but they've take every precaution possible to stay as safe as they can, mostly positioning yourself on the other side of a fence.

Once all the excitement was over, it dawned on me how many horses there were here. Over 200 on a 50 acres site run by a handful of very hard-working and passionate people. They were almost entirely mustangs of various sizes and ages. Some babies only 6 months old- to some in their late 30's! They have a special pen for the partially sighted/ blind horses and another for the very elderly. Then there's an area for the sick ones who are currently receiving treatment and mares and geldings are separated into groups in much larger pens depending on who gets along with who.

This poorly little girl was currently in the 'hospital' on a special weight gain program along with getting treatment for her cushings..

The day was so busy with there vet visiting and treating some 20 of the horses that day. One had a sand colic which is quite common here, one had a tumour under her tail which had caused total paralysis of her dock and some of her hind quarters, another had an eye injury and there were discussions about whether or not to operate. One thing was very apparent, that they would always do whatever was best for the horse regardless of cost, but always putting the welfare of the animal first, which unfortunately for the old mare with the tumour, meant euthanasia.

I couldn't believe this place, and all it's facilities could be run by so few people, so well, and financially supported only by donations and grants!

baby mustangs....

....having a nap...

It was a long, exhausting and very eye opening day but I'm keen to go back and spend a day with one of their other trainers and see how my skills can hopefully make a difference. The more horses that can be comfortable with a head collar, being led, groomed and taught to be calm and stand still for the farrier, the more likely they are to be able to be re-homed, which is what they wish for every horse they have. Realistically a vast majority of the horses here have some or another ailment or condition, be it physical or psychophysical, which will prevent them from ever being re-homed, but there are also a lot of very fine horses, still with plenty of years left in them who with basic training, could go on to make lovely riding horses.....

Some of the geldings, out in the 20 acre paddock... there were around 60 in this paddock alone!