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!