Category:

Who's Who?

2/5/2020

I've been boarding at "The Ranch" for more than three years. In all that time, I don't think I've ever introduced you to everyone who lives there. The ranch is privately owned and not a "traditional" boarding facility. The owners have very generously allowed me to board there, but only because they like me.

In the beginning, the horses who lived there all belonged to the ranch owners, but over the past year, things have changed. Besides my boys and me and the ranch owners, there are now three other ladies and their horses who call the ranch home.

You already know this guy.

You already know Speedy, of course, but I'll start with him anyway. Speedy's a 15 year old Arabian who has done endurance and dressage. I am not sure who is stuck with whom, but we're definitely a pair.

He's no stranger either.

Izzy, frequently referred to as The Big Brown Horse, is an 11 year old RPSI gelding with a lot of Thoroughbred in his pedigree. We "dressage," but this space isn't called Not-So-Speedy Dressage for nothing.

Archie and Pixie

When you come down the ranch's driveway, you'll pass by the arena first. The next thing you'll see is a small grass pasture and these two friends, Archie and Pixie, or as I like to call her, Pixie Pony. Archie is a retired jumper. He's in his late 20s, but he still gets ridden a couple of times a year, usually by beginner riders.

Pixie, his pasture mate, is a sweet older girl, but I am not sure she's ever done much in her life. She was broke to ride, but was just too spooky for the ranch owner's tastes. She's now a companion for Archie. I do have a funny story about her though. A year or so ago, a friend of the ranch owner had a horse who died leaving her other horse alone. The ranch owner offered Pixie up as a new companion. We loaded her up and dropped her off. As the trailer pulled out of sight, Pixie jumped the fence and chased after the ranch owner's truck and trailer. That was the end of any talk of Pixie being placed elsewhere.

Dollar, the Stallion.

As you continue along the driveway, Dollar's pasture is next. I think Dollar is a Fox Trotter, I have asked so many times that I would be embarrassed to ask again. He's nearing 30. He had been a breeding stallion for most of his life, but he's been retired now for many years. I make it a point to give him a handful of grass and a few kind words every day. He and Speedy get along famously, so I let Speedy graze alongside Dollar's fence line. Dollar loves the company. He is a stallion though, so he likes to remind Speedy of that fact every now and then. When Dollar gives a squeal, everyone can hear it.

This is Rocky.

Speedy and Izzy live in the matching dry pasture behind Dollar. To the left of them is where Speedy used to live with Willy, and later Rocky. There is a row of four amply-sized pens, each of which empties out into a large dirt pasture. This is where Rocky still lives. He belongs to an employee of the ranch owners; to make the explanation less complicated, they're consultants. Rocky is a Quarter Horse who is either 15 or 16 yers old. His owner trail rides and does barrels.

She is hilarious!

Living in the same row as Rocky is the ranch owner's current riding horse, All In, or Alli for short. I think she's also a Fox Trotter, and she's around 10 - 12 years old. She's been at the ranch less than a year, but she's quite a lovely lady. She is also really funny. She's the queen of side eye, mare glare, and let me put you in your place facial expressions. I think Speedy's a little afraid of her, which she likes just fine, thank you very much.

Lucky and Cami

To the right of Rocky and Alli live Lucky the mule and Cami the TB. Lucky doesn't have much use for humans, but she is quite happy living with her TB girl friend. You can always tell when Cami is being worked or ridden because Lucky lets the whole world hear her braying. I actually quite like having a mule around as both of my boys see nothing weird about them when they see they see other mules at shows.

I don't exactly know how old Lucky is, but she's no spring chicken. I believe she was used as a pack mule. Now, she serves as a companion to whomever needs one. That's Cami right now.

Cami is a Thoroughbred mare who is around 12 years old. While owned by the ranch owner, she's currently being ridden by a woman whose own horse is struggling with soundness issues. Cami is a very personable and loving girl. She's also a nice mover.

This is Baloo the pony.

All of which brings us right back to Speedy. Or close anyway. Living right in front of Speedy is our newest friend, Baloo the pony. Baloo is a 6 year old Welsh-Azteca cross that stands just over 13 hands. He's much smaller and finer than I would have expected from such a pairing, but he's adorable. He's very nicely put together with a super sweet personality. The other day, something spooked Izzy which got Speedy all in a tizzy which then sent Baloo sprinting around his field. Hilarious. Baloo was purchased just a few weeks ago by a woman whose older horse recently passed. She's very much a beginner rider, but so far, she's really enjoying her new mount.

Good times!

We definitely have an eclectic mix at the ranch from ponies to mares to geldings to stallions to mules. We have show horses, retired horses, and trail horses. The thing I most like about boarding at the ranch is that all of the horses get to be horses. It's a very relaxed and happy place to be.

What's it like in your neck of the woods?

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Dawn

2/3/2020

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I see of a lot of dawn mornings in the summertime. It's so hot here May to October that you're likely to kill yourself off if you try to ride after around 11:00 a.m. Dawn in the winter is a whole other thing though.

I had a lesson on Sunday, but because of Super Bowl festivities, we needed to get it done first thing in the morning. That sounds great in a text, lesson at 8:00 a.m.?, but in real life, predawn grooming and tacking up is not fun. The sun doesn't even rise here until 6:54 a.m., but because of the nearby mountains, you can't even see the sun until an hour later.

As a Californian, my it's really cold meter runs on a different scale than what most of you deal with. Even so, 38 degrees is cold no matter where you live. It felt even colder considering that it was 70 the afternoon before.

With fingers stiff and burning, I powered through. By the time my lesson actually started, the sun had peeked over the mountain, warming us all.

It almost made me long for summer's warmth. Almost.

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Green as the Irish Hills

1/30/2020

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California's Central Valley is not known for being verdant and lush. It rains only in the winter, and only a few times at that. California's Central Valley is fed by melting snow, or runoff, from the nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains. As such, valley farmers rely on a vast system of canals to water the valley's massive agriculture output.

Unlike a lot of the rest of the country, our green shows up in the winter only to turn brown and die by mid-spring. Winter grass, as we call it, is a welcome respite from the dry hills we see most of the year. Last year, California had a fair amount of rain which contributed to the 2019 wildflower Super Bloom. When you live in a state as water starved as ours, flowers are pretty exciting.

One of my husband's photos from March 2019.

Our green period only lasts through the winter. Once the weather warms up, everything dies. Right now, my boys are loving the green grass. And even though both of them live in large dirt pastures, Speedy loves to get turned out.

Speedy's turn out.

While I ride Izzy, Speedy gets locked in the alley between the pastures. When I am not riding, I let him loose to wander where he may.

This will be brown in a few more weeks.

We have a new pony at the ranch, Baloo, and Speedy has taken a liking to him. He lives directly across from Speedy, so while Speedy was turned out on Sunday, he and Baloo spent some time visiting.

Izzy also enjoys the winter grass, but he still needs some supervision.

Spring is just around the corner for us, but its arrival always signals the end of the lushness of winter. In its place, we prepare for the arrival of the brown and yellow hills. We're not called the Golden State for nothing.

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Arena Re-do

1/21/2020

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Oops. This got published by mistake. Since I can only delete it, not un-publish it, you get Friday's post a few days early.

With the regular flow of rain this winter, not something we've seen much of over the past decade, our arena has taken a real beating. Thanks to the ranch owner, we have excellent footing. It's so nice that even after a heavy rain, I can ride without fear of slipping or sliding.

No matter how nice the footing though, it needs an occasional drag to smooth out the inevitable ridges that form in the corners and along the long sides. We had quite a trench forming. On Monday, we decided that it had finally dried out enough that the DG could actually be dragged around.

Straight up the middle of this photo there used to be a deep Speedy groove.

Reggie, the ranch's fixer of all things, is an excellent hand with the tractor. We had a good chat about where the problem areas were - the long sides and the short side at A, and with that, Reggie set to work. He used the tractor's bucket to slice off the high ridge, and then he dragged the DG down into the channel that Speedy and Izzy had made.

Looking better by the minute.

I can watch the tractor all day long. That thing is hypnotic. I was itching to get up there myself, not that I've ever driven a tractor, but it looks like such a zen thing to do. Like vacuuming.

Reggie adjusting the drag.

Once Reggie was done, I dragged out my meter tape, cones, and t-squares. I first built this dressage court last summer, and I've redone it a few times since, but I kept forgetting to bring the t-squares out to the barn. Man, do those things ever help!

Once it quits raining, I am also going to have to replace my letters. The weather has definitely left mine in less than readable shape. Good thing they're cheap.

And this is one of the better ones.

Building a dressage court definitely takes a lot of time, even if it is made of water bottles, orchard poles, and pvc tubes.

That's a lot of hoof prints for just two 30 minute rides!

Now that I have one though, I can't go back to just guessing. Having those letters and square corners has really helped my riding. Imagine how much better I'll get with fresh letters. Hey, I can hope!

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When You Don't Have Crossties

1/10/2020

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I've owned horses for nearly 40 years. I just turned 49, so that number keeps creeping up. Better than the alternative as my mom would say. In all those years, I've only kept my horses at a barn that had crossties exactly once. The rest of the time, I've tied my horses to whatever was handy - trees, hitching rails, my own trailer, fences, and even old trailers. Sort of like now.

It's just an old trailer.

You've all seen one of my horses tied up to this old trailer about a million times. Someone once asked if Izzy could fit in there. No, I don't believe he would. It seems like such a nothing special kind of place, but over the years, I've turned this tacking up spot into home.

For Izzy, it's a great place to tie because he has learned to stand patiently at a trailer and eat. Every square inch of the back of that trailer serves a purpose. I can leave either horse there for as long as I need to, and I know they're safe.

Everything but the bridle and grooming bucket live there all year round. As the hay gets wet or dusty, I dump it out, but the horses usually empty it before that happens. The wood chips are an absolute godsend; they keep the area free of dust, and rain just percolates right on through, so no puddles form. Before the wood chips, A lake would form every time it rained.

The mounting block usually holds my grooming bucket, but it's also convenient for when I need to stand on it for braiding, clipping bridle paths, or medicating goopy eyes. We have a three-step mounting block in the arena, so this one just serves the barn.

The ranch owner had the wheel cover built to protect the tires from sun, but it was also designed to protect the horses in the event that someone decides to throw an impromptu temper tantrum.

All the conveniences of home.

The little trailer is parked next to the barn, but not too close as to make the area feel crowded. When I am ready to saddle, I don't need a saddle stand outside. It's 3 or 4 short steps from my saddle rack to my horse. When I sit on my little stool to put on boots or check my phone, I can keep my eye on whoever is tied up at the moment.

Probably best of all is that there are lights for outside and an electrical outlet for running my clippers. I keep a short extension cord with my clippers which gives me plenty of room. In all my years of owning horses, this is only the second time I've had an electrical outlet that didn't require 12 miles of extension cords. That and the wood chips have me boarding here for life.

That's Speedy in the little red circle.

Not only can I keep my eye on whomever is tied up, but Izzy and Speedy can keep an eye on each other as well. When Speedy's tied up, Izzy comes up to the fence to hang out with us. Speedy lives on the other half of the field, so he can't get quite as close, but the horses like being able to see one another.

I am not sure who has adopted whom.

While tacking up in a barn certainly has its advantages, I find that unless it's pouring rain, the little niche that we've managed to carve out serves us quite well. Besides, I don't think Bunny would come as willing into a barn as he does with just a little trailer. Anyone else? What does your tacking up spot look like?

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Black Friday Left Me in the Red!

12/2/2019

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As I saw someone else write on Friday, "Someone please take away my phone and my laptop and my iPad. I can't afford them!"

In all fairness, some of it was stuff I was going to buy anyway like Flaxseed oil and vitamins. I simply took advantage of Riding Warehouse's 20% off sale (which runs through today by the way) to buy my monthly supply.

20% off? Why thank you, I believe I will!

The rest of the stuff was on my will need soon list. So what did I order? Well first, my justification for ordering ...

My tall boots, which I really like by the way, have started to show some wear. It's wear that I can live with and still use, but I know the day is coming when the holes will be too big to be seen with in public.

Not a fatal hole, but it's a hole nonetheless.

I must use a lot of leg!

I've purchased two pairs of TuffRider boots, and while they haven't lasted forever, they've done what I expected for boots south of $200. The first pair, the TuffRider Baroques, lasted just over two years. I loved them. They were comfortable from the first day I wore them. I replaced them with the TuffRider Belmont Dress Boots which I loved even more. I've been wearing them for nearly two years.

While browsing through Riding Warehouse's current inventory of tall boots, I saw both the Baroques and Belmonts on clearance for $131 and change. They weren't eligible for the extra 20% off, but how could I complain when I was buying a pair of boots that I know and love for $131? I bought the Belmonts.

In storage for now.

Since my other pair is still going strong, I put the new boots in storage until the old pair suffers a fatal injury. But of course, more came in that Riding Warehouse box. It was a big box.

I tried to tell myself it was for the "free shipping," but we all know that's a lie since the boots alone were enough for Riding Warehouse to waive the shipping. So why did I need another Haas brush? I don't know, quit judging. We all have a thing, and right now I am kind of obsessed with these brushes. I already bought the Fellglanzsburste, which I love, so it seemed reasonable to expand my collection. This time I bought the Parcour which is a bit stiffer. Next on the list is the Diva. Hey, Santa? You hear that?

I promise this really is Bakersfield!

We've had some unusually wet and very cold weather this past week which forced me to pull out my collection of winter blankets. Whether it's due to the Cushing's or just age, Speedy didn't handle the first round of cold very well. I showed up and he was a gigantic ball of shivering jello. I quickly bundled him up in a winter blanket and crossed my fingers.

Since then, he's been happily blanketed on all of the rainy nights. Unfortunately, my nicest and heaviest blanket literally fell apart the first night I tried to use it. I wish I had taken photos. The ranch owner saw it at feeding time and was horrified to see it actually disintegrating in front of her eyes. She carefully picked up the pieces that had fallen off and judicially chose to wrap Speedy up in his lighter, but safer blanket. I threw the old one away.

The first night Izzy wore his blanket.

Four or five years ago I bought a new blanket for my last horse, but he never needed it. I threw it on Izzy for a couple of our most recent coldest and wettest nights, but he proceeded to ventilate it on both sides. Speedy gets a new one. He doesn't. As it just so happens, Horze was having a fabulous Black Friday sale on ... you guessed it, blankets!

This lovely beauty should be here at the end of the week.

While Speedy's medium weight blanket is still going strong, he really needs a warmer one. After deducting a coupon code from the sale price, I paid $71.55 for a 1200 denier, waterproof, windproof, and breathable blanket. Shipping was free of course. How could I turn that down, especially since Speedy's actually fell apart?

The cause of my recent spending spree.

On Small Business Saturday, I dropped another hundred bucks at my local feed store, Fred C. Gilbert's. Today's Cyber Monday, but I have jury duty so hopefully I won't have time to do any browsing.

I am not sure what the cold and mud had to do with reckless spending on Black Friday, but that's the story I am going with. Did you score any great deals?

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2 Horses, 1 Month

11/8/2019

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We all acknowledge that horses aren't cheap. Or easy. Or everyone's cup of tea. Mine certainly aren't anyway. In fact, mine are more than a handful. Just last night I spent a fair amount of time filling in a massive pit that Izzy had dug. It was so deep that it extended several feet into Speedy's dry pasture. I was so busy looking for Izzy's pulled shoe that I forgot to grab a photo of the pit.

So no, my horses aren't simple hay burners. They're hay burners for sure though. They also burn through a lot of other feed.

This is my November supply.

A few days ago I made my monthly run to the feed store. I never browse while I am there because they carry a lot of other stuff that would be hard on my wallet. Some of it's not even related to animals. Things like this beauty.

It's an antique scale that actually works.

I couldn't help it. After I paid my bill, I stopped for a quick glance at an antique scale. I picked it up and was shocked at how heavy it was. I was even more surprised that it worked. I turned around and headed back to the register. It's now living atop my cupboards in my kitchen. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

So what will Izzy and Speedy eat this month? Four bags of senior feed, a bag and a half of rice bran, a bag and a half of beet pulp, a bag and a few drops of flaxseed oil, a bag and a quarter of vitamins, and an antique scale. Well, not the scale.

So there it is - two horses, one month.

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Another Breeders' Cup

11/4/2019

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My husband is a fan of horse racing which is a good thing as I am a fan of horses. He and a few of bis buddies spend a lot of weekends "going to lunch" at a local sports bar that features live wagering on video. Once or twice a year, we like to head to Santa Anita to watch the races in person. It's a "horse" thing that he can easily talk me into doing.

2019 Breeders' Cup

This was our third time attending the Breeders' Cup. There is nothing quite like cheering for your horse with more than 50,000 other people.

The crowd for the day's final race, the Breeders' Cup Classic, which carried a $6,000,000 purse.

Since we've been to this track many times, we knew that getting there early makes for a very long day. Ee actually rolled in a little late, catching the third race. There were twelve races being run on Sunday, but nine turned out to be plenty for us.

We took a lot of pictures.

For most of the day, there were forty minutes between each race which allowed for plenty of time to place our bets, walk out to the paddocks, or grab a snack. We also took a lot of pictures. For the final race, there was an hour wait between race 11 and race 12.

He's quite the handsome guy.

I do not know if there is a track more beautiful than Santa Anita. We've been to Del Mar, which is also quite lovely, but nothing beats Santa Anita.

What I love about this track is how close you can get to the horses, the jockeys, the owners (I've walked right past Bob Baffert more times than I can count), and even the track itself.

Positioning the starting gate for a turf race.

While we had decent seats, we only sat in them once. The rest of the day we spent watching the races from different vantage points. My favorite spot to watch is right on the rail. You can't see much except for the front stretch, but when the horses run by, you can feel it in your toes.

Coming out of the gate.

We watched races from the rail at the top of the front stretch - away from the crowds, from the finish line - which was really crowded, and even from the grandstand which gives you a view of the whole track at once.

Like I said, beautiful.

Next year's Breeders' Cup is at Keeneland in Kentucky, and in 2021. it's back at Del Mar. I am pretty we won't be making either of those trips. That's okay. It will be back at Santa Anita before too long.

Another fun day at Santa Anita.

Besides the Breeders' Cup, Santa Anita hosts the Santa Anita Derby which is just as much fun. But frankly, my favorite time to go is when nothing special is going on. The roar of the crowd is amazing, but the sound of hoofbeats in the silence is even better.

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Dressage at SCEC - Part 1

10/30/2019

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Over the weekend, Speedy and I did our third USDF-rated show at Third Level. Three is apparently our lucky number. But first, have a look at this beautiful facility.

One end of the main barn.

The Mission Pacific equestrian facility was recently purchased and renamed the Southern California Equestrian Center. Since purchasing the property, the new owner has done a lot of neat things to spruce up the place.

The new lounge.

From a previous visit, I remember the lounge as being a dark junk room. Now, it's super clean, modern, and brightly lit. I don't think I would always feel motivated to ride if I had a place like this to hang out in on a hot day.

That's right. There are TWO lounges.

The second lounge, where the restrooms are located, is even more inviting, especially on a cold day. The large windows in the lounge slide open for fresh air on warmer days. You also get a nice view of the dressage court.

The other side of lounge two.

While a comfortable place to take a load off is nice, what's really nice are stalls so huge that you almost don't even need to turn horses out. There are 50 of them!

That's Speedy's white head poking out on the left.

This year, management reserved the entire left side of the barn for show horses. Full service included pre-bedded stalls, and each day after they cleaned, they added MORE shavings! The automatic waters were super clean stainless steel, so it was nice not to schlepp water buckets back and forth. The guys also fed the hay and pellets I left in front of Speedy's stall. Of course, I checked in on him about 4,000 times to be sure he didn't need anything, but it was nice that I didn't have to feed at 5:30 a.m. like I usually do. The price for full service was $185. I felt like it was totally worth it.

Permanent residents were at the other end.

This is truly the largest barn that I've ever been in. I am sure larger ones exist, but they're not that typical here in sunny California. The barn is shaped like a cross with two very long sides stretching from one end to the other and two shorter ends coming off the front and back of the barn.

Looking down the short "arm" toward the rear of the barn.

At the center of the "cross" there is an arm that holds wash racks, tack rooms, and a few other places that I didn't really take the time to check out. Out the back, where the bright white light is, there is a pair of wash racks.

Facing the other way toward the arenas.

Facing the other way is the new lounge through the first door on the left and the older, more comfy lounge at the end. There is a men's rest room in the middle. On the right hand side, there is a tack room through the first door, a breeze way where the farrier can work, and at the end, an office with a state of the art security monitoring system - in case you were getting any ideas.

A mini parade ring?

The property is vast. There are many pastures and other smaller barns scattered around, but they were too far to visit for photos. As you leave the barn though, you come down to this small ring that I am sure once served as a type of parade ring like you see at race tracks. Now it just connects the various rings and some pastures.

A close up of the fountain and grassy area.

Encircling the grassy ring, dressage court, warm up ring, and several smaller pastures is a quarter mile galloping track, fenced just like a race track.

The start of the track ...

Speedy and I walked/jogged the track each morning in hand. He loved it. The footing was great, and he was able to really move out which he loves to do before breakfast. On Sunday morning, he even talked me into a full out sprint.

Coming from the other direction.

I am not sure what the dressage ring's footing is composed of, but it was quite nice. The warm up was just as nice. To the left of the corner at K is a raised viewing platform that proved to be a great vantage point for watching tests and taking photos.

The view from A.

I ended up parking and camping in the day parking area which meant I did have to haul stuff, like my saddle, back and forth each day, but since I was the only one who camped, I had a super nice view and a very quite camp site.

Blue Truck still gets us from here to there and back again.

I am not sure why the shows at SCEC haven't been on my list, but after this visit, you can bet I'll be going back. My very good friend Jen manages the shows which gives me yet another reason to show there next year.

Speaking of showing ... more tomorrow.

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California, You Either Love Her or Hate Her

10/14/2019

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Sorry for Friday's radio silence. We were one of the many victims of the recent power outages. I am not sure how wide spread the news was, but it was all Californians were talking about last week. PG&E, Pacific Gas and Electric, and SCE, Southern California Edison, provide all of our state's electricity. You don't get to choose which one you'd prefer. They each have their service areas, and you get what you get.

Image was blatantly stolen from the internet.

A year or so ago, some of PG&E's electrical hardware was struck by heavy winds which caused a massive wildfire that completely leveled the town of Paradise. In a state that lives in perpetual drought, we don't need any help starting wildfires. So this year, in an effort to prevent another catastrophe, PG&E and SCE both cut power to more than a million homes last week because of high winds. Our house was just one of more than 800,000 homes affected.

We ate dinner on the patio and then just talked. It was actually quite refreshing.

I am not going to say we were grateful to PG&E, it was kind of a pain in the butt (we were forced to toss quite a bit from our refrigerator), but we get it. A friend of mine who lives in southern California had to evacuate her family over the weekend when a wildfire threatened their home. They had a reason to complain. We didn't

We coped with the inconvenience for a day and a half, and we cheered when the lights came back on. Oh, and my favorite topic of discussion, the apocalypse, got discussed a lot. Sometimes, I think life would be a lot simpler if all we had to worry about was finding food and fending off whatever apocalyptical disease/creature that mankind has let loose. Jobs, credit cards, and health insurance be damned.

With Californians making up a full 12% of the USA's population, we have just a shade under 40 million people, the rest of the world either sees the state as a crown jewel or a perpetual hot mess. For those that are undecided, I thought I'd share a few facts with you to show you that California is a state like ... well, like none other.

Much to the consternation of California's conservative Central Valley, our state is overwhelmingly Democratic. Kevin McCarthy (R), our US Representative to Congress, has served as House Majority leader but is currently the House Minority Leader. He's from Bakersfield.

California is the third largest state after Alaska and Texas. With a length of 770 miles and a width of 250 miles, crossing the state means climbing over one mountain range, zipping across the central valley only to cross a second mountain range. It's at least a 6 hour drive. Top to bottom is going to take you a very long day. The most I've done at one time is Chico to San Diego, 596 miles.

I was in college. It was a late night.

California has the highest point in the contiguous US and the lowest point in all of North America. And surprisingly, those two points are less than 85 miles from each other.

While California is only the third largest state by area, by population we have the rest of you beat. At 39,747,267 people we have 10,000,000 more people than Texas - the second highest populated state, and a whopping 18,000,000 more than Florida - the third highest populated state. By density, we're only ranked 11th which means more people will fit, but we're good for now, thank you.

Speedy's fence line.

I recently wrote a post about needing to reevaluate my horses' feed. I wrote that each horse gets 2-3 flakes of grass or alfalfa daily. There was some shock that I fed my horses so "little." As it turns out, a flake in California is not the same as a flake in other parts of the country. There was also some real concern about how horses live in California.

Izzy's dry "pasture."

The truth is, we have every single type of living arrangement you can picture: box stalls, dry paddocks, sandy pastures, and grass pasture - irrigated or dry. In more densely populated areas like Los Angeles, you'll see a combination of box stalls and dry paddocks. In more rural areas, of which we have plenty, you'll see grass pastures, both green and brown. My boys live in large, sandy paddocks. They're big enough to run and play in, but not big enough to flat out gallop.

One advantage to having our horses in generally dry living arrangements is that hooves in California tend to look neat and tidy. You rarely see a horse with crumbly feet. Wet pastures, which much of the rest of the country has, provide lots of grass, but they can also be hard on feet. Another thing we don't see a lot of are weird, creepy bugs and flies. Sure we have fly season, but they don't torment the horses to the point that they have to live indoors.

To help you all visualize a California hay bale, here are what our bales look like. Both the grass and alfalfa bales weigh well over a hundred pounds each. I cannot pick up an alfalfa bale. To load one in my trailer for a show, I've been known to slide one onto a large piece of cardboard so that I could drag it to my trailer. Then I use every ounce of strength to stand it up on one end and shove it into the horse compartment where it travels against the inside wall of the trailer.

So there you have it. California. In many ways, she truly is a hot mess, but on the other hand, it's one of the most beautiful places you'll ever see. Food's not bad either.

Last fall.

If you ever want to come for a visit, just send me a message. We'll make you feel right at home.

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About the
Writer & Rider

I am a lifetime rider.
I began endurance riding in 1996 where I ultimately completed five, one-day 100 mile races, the 200-mile Death Valley Encounter, and numerous other 50, 65, and 75 mile races. I began showing dressage in 2010.
Welcome to my dressage journey.

Photo by Lori Ovanessian

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About Speedy G

Speedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. We're currently showing Third Level for the 2019 show season. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.

August 2018

About Izzy

Izzy was started as a four-year old and then spent the next 18 months in pasture growing up. I bought him as a six-year old, and together, we are schooling and showing at the lower levels. He is a 2008, 16'3 hand warmblood gelding. His Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) name is Imperioso.

March 2019

Bakersfield Dressage approved!

FOR THE SMALLER EQUINE ATHLETE

I love her stuff!

National Awards

USDF Second Level Rider Performance Award - 2018

2nd Level Rider Performance, 2018

USDF First Level Rider Performance Award - 2015

1st Level Rider Performance, 2015

USDF Training Level Rider Performance Award - 2013

Training Level Rider Performance, 2013

State Awards

CDS Ruby Rider Award - 2018
CDS Second Level Horse Performance Award - 2018

Ruby Rider Award, 2018

2020 Show Season

Show Rating
(***) CDS/USDF/USEF
(*) CDS
(s) Schooling
(c) Clinic
(r) Ride-a-Test Clinic
(Q) Must Qualify

2020 Pending …
3/7-8 El Sueno (***)
3/22 Fresno (***)
4/11-12 El Sueno (***)
4/26 TMC (*)
5/9-10 El Sueno (***)
5/31 TMC (*)
6/13-14 El Sueno (***)
6/28 TMC (*)
7/11-12 El Sueno (***)
7/26 TMC (*)
8/8-9 RAAC (Q)
8/30 TMC (*)
10/24-25 SCEC (***)

2020 Completed …
10/26-27/19 SCEC (***)

Qualifying Scores for 2020

Regional Adult Amateur Competition (RAAC)
3rd Level Qualifying
3 Scores/2 Judges:
Score 1: 60.405% Atkins
Score 2: 62.432% Atkins
Score 3:

CDS Championship
3rd Level Qualifying
5 Scores/4 Judges:
Score 1: 60.405% Atkins
Score 2: 62.432% Atkins
Score 3:
Score 4:
Score 5:

Working Towards:

CDS 3rd Level Horse Performance Award
3 Judges/3 Shows:
Score 1: 63.514% Lindholm
Score 2: 62.105% Lindholm
Score 3: 63.243% Wadeborn
Score 4: 60.405% Atkins
Score 5: 62.432% Atkins
Score 6:

CDS Sapphire Rider Award
Third Level: 63.514%
Third Level: 62.105%
Fourth Level:
Fourth Level:

USDF Bronze Medal
First Level - 70.179%
First Level - 72.600%
Second Level - 62.879%
Second Level - 61.970%
Third Level - 62.432%
Third Level -

Who's Who?

Dawn

Green as the Irish Hills

Arena Re-do

When You Don't Have Crossties

Black Friday Left Me in the Red!

2 Horses, 1 Month

Another Breeders' Cup

Dressage at SCEC - Part 1

California, You Either Love Her or Hate Her

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About Speedy G

About Izzy

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