Sunday, 31 July 2016

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!!!!

Sunday, 10 July 2016

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!!