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!

A visit to Venice, Car research and looking forward to Friday!

Yesterday evening we decided to head over to Venice to have a look around. We took a stroll down Abbot Kinney Boulevard, which is lined with a variety of quaint shops, from home-made ice cream, to trendy bars, to sock shops and quirky little houses squished amongst them. We passed some kind of outdoor meeting where everyone was wearing pure white, flowing clothes and were about to do something that involved a lot of cushions on the ground?!?! Definitely an interesting area and somewhere I'm looking forward to exploring further.

The sunset along Abbott Kinney Blvd

Today I have been looking at cars to lease although we won't be able to actually get something until our social security numbers arrive, which is somewhat annoying but doesn't seem to be something we can get around. On the plus side the lease plans are so much better than in the UK, with typical interest rates about 1% compared to between 5% and 10% in England! I was especially proud I drove on the 'free way' (i.e. the motorway) on my own for the first time today and survived to tell the tale!

On Friday, I'm off to the lifesavers wild horse ranch for a day with the staff there to see what it would be like to work there. I'm so looking forward to being near a horse, just to get the smell on my hands and feel a soft neck on my cheek... it's something I've really missed since we came out here and I can't wait just to have some 'horsey' time....

So far this week....

So the big news is we've found some where to live and we've been accepted so moving date is set for Saturday 7th May! We spent a lot of time debating whether to live in a apartment complex or a little house, but as neither of us have ever lived in an apartment, we decided that if this was something we wanted to try, now was the time to give it a go! I can't wait to move in and have a place that feels like our own that we can settle in to. However, our stuff we shipped from England hasn't even left the UK yet, so it may be July before we get any of our 'homely' things...

I've been looking at part time work in the city so that financially, the pressure to find riding work won't be so great. I've applied for a couple of PA positions and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, as with Dave working everyday now, I'm feeling a bit of a lemon sitting at home, wondering what to do with my day....
Obviously horses will always be my passion, but a bit of teaching alongside a 'normal' job, will be the best way to start building up contacts and clients without the immediate pressure to bring home the dollars!

I'm starting to miss home a bit now. It's great to video call my family and I feel like I'm talking to them more than I did when I was at home, but nothing quite compares to a physical hug sometimes. We both miss the cats so much, and we said we didn't want to make the commitment to another animal here, so I've been looking in to fostering, which is a great way to enjoy some animal time, without the long term responsibility and there are plenty of rescue centres here looking for help so watch this space!

Driving, News, The whiskey and more apartments!

Driving
I've been trying to get as much driving practise around LA as I can but even though I'm an extremely confident driver at home, driving here is very daunting. Junctions or "intersections" here are the worst thing as not only do you have multiple lanes (2 to go straight, one to turn right, and at least 1 to turn left), but these are traffic light controlled and they change quickly, and often there will be one of these "intersections" every 100 hundred yards! You really have to have your wits about you to change lanes, keep your eyes on the lights and other drivers all at the same time, as undertaking is completely legal here and pedestrians love to cross the road when they're not supposed to! I'll admit I've had a few moments of panick where I've got in the wrong lane or not seen the lights change until the last minute which isn't helping my confidence! 

News
One thing that does make me laugh here is the news....Breakfast news here is a cross between the serious stuff, local news and videos that have gone viral on you tube! It certainly makes for less doom and gloom television when, for example, a brief piece about the current US election campaign is followed by a video of a racoon, doing "roly-poly's" down some ones hallway, with the jovial presenters unable to contol their giggles!

Whiskey a go go on Sunset Blvd

Whiskey a  go-go!
On Friday night, we drove to Hollywood to visit a piece of rock'n'roll history and see a band I like called 'Black Stone Cherry'. We had no idea what to expect but we bought tickets on the door and entered the most amazing, small venue, the kind you just don't get in London anymore. Whiskey is famous for showcasing some amazing bands early on in their career such as Gun's and Roses, Kiss, and Motley Crue to name but a few and you could spend hours just looking at the photos on the walls of all the greats who have played here. The band of the night were outstanding and having never seen them live before, I was completely blown away by the skills of the drummer. It was a really good night although the back of my neck wasn't in such good shape the following morning from all the enthusiastic head-nodding!

Nice...but very little actual worktop space....

More apartments....
Saturday was full on with six different apartments to look at, ranging from loft style apartments in a brand new complex right next to all the central shops of downtown Culver, to a stunning bungalow with a front veranda covered in fragrant jasmin on a quiet leafy side street nearer to the beach. We're still completely bewildered about which suits us best and by the afternoon we felt like our brains were fried! More to look at today!

Sunshine, more happy people, apartment and job hunting....

Weather
Sorry to state the obvious but the weather here is glorious! A single day like this in England and everyone would be calling in to work sick, rummaging around to find that holiday pair of shorts from the bottom of the wardrobe and trying to find some where that hadn't immediately sold out of ice cream!

Since we've arrived, with the exception of the very first day which was rather windy (El Nino) the day time temperature has stayed within an extremely pleasant 27-30 degrees C! Americans however use Fahrenheit to describe the temperature on the television, so I have to check on my phone to start being able to translate it a language I can understand.

Daily blue sky and the feeling of the sun on your skin has not got old yet and I want to ensure I don't start taking it for granted. David's favourite joke is to comment "oh... it's a bit cloudy today..." sarcastically when there is not a cloud to be seen in the sky, at least a couple of times a day.

A few clouds.... a very rare sight!

Happy People
I've started my own social experiment to see if everyone is as chipper as I have so far encountered, so now, if I pass someone in a doorway or meet any shop person, I offer a smile and maybe a 'hello' to see if I get a similarly friendly response. So far (with the exception of a somewhat grumpy Chinese lady who works in the tobacco store nearby) I've had a 100% positive response rate! The down side is, here 'hello' very quickly turns into a full on in depth conversation about the weather/ where you're going/ where your from etc, etc, and sometimes breaking up the conversation isn't so easy!

Apartments
We've been looking at apartments to rent  and although we've looked at lots of different areas, it's very difficult to know where to choose, when everyone has an opinion and you have no experience of you own. Hence, we've decided to look as close to David's work as possible as one thing that is not an uncertainty is how bad the morning traffic is, so a commute that can be done on foot or bike is a big plus! This means we will most likely be in Culver City which is where all the film studios are based and is a trendy and vibrant area with significant recent investment both in retail and property in the area. I particularly like Culver because it has lots of great restaurants in close proximity and it's really central for getting to most other parts of LA.
We've mostly looked at apartment complexes so far but this weekend were going to look at some privately rented apartments/ bungalows to get another perspective. We do need to find something soon though as we need to be out of the office apartment by the 14th May!

Possible work
I've also been spending a lot of time on the internet looking for suitable horsey employment. I've found a ranch which is not exactly close at 70 miles away, but google says in good traffic I can make it in just over an hour and it seems particularly perfect for me as it's a ranch that rescues horses who have been effected by cruelty or who are being sent for slaughter. They're looking for a natural horsemanship trainer to work with some of the horses who can potentially be re-homed, which is exactly the kind of job I've always dreamed of, but also they do Equine therapy with veterans suffering from PTSD! Talk about my dream job! So far they seem very interested in what I can offer and might be able to do something part time for me, so I'll be heading over to the ranch next week to find out more....

Week 1 - Happy people

So, I've left the beautiful English countryside for the sunny streets of Los Angeles!

I've lived in England all my life and was very lucky to live in a beautiful Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire for most of it,  so moving to the inner city of LA couldn't be further from what I'm used to. But I'm 32 years old, and I regularly remind myself that life is not a dress rehearsal and although my husband and I discussed this big move at great lengths before we made the final decision, I'd rather give it a try, hate it and come home, than regret not being brave enough to try something different, later in my life!

We've been here less than a week and I'm approaching everything with an open mind and trying to take everything in! The most overwhelming difference here is the people. They smile, a lot! People genuinely seem very happy. If you pass some one in a residential street or hold a door for some one they say hello and thank you with a smile. When we first went to the supermarket they were playing music and I noticed a girl vivaciously tapping her foot to the music whilst perusing the shelves. Further on into the supermarket, I came across her again and by now she was full on shaking her hips and singing to the music whilst picking her groceries. It was a revelation to see some one so cheerful, even whilst doing her food shop and no one around seemed to notice, or think this was at all an odd behaviour. In England, if I came across someone dancing and singing in cereal aisle in Sainsbury's, I'd walk past quickly giving said person a wide birth!

Every person I've interacted with, be it at the checkout, in a restaurant or taxi, seems to genuinely like making conversation and I haven't heard anyone complain about anything - yet! 

Maybe it's the weather? Maybe there's something in the water? But whatever it is, it seems infectious...