Merry Christmas from our house to yours !!

Going back in time I added this photo to a compilation of UK horses who won the Triple Crown. There was a space at the top of the piece of paper and I needed to fill it. I am standing on the July Course where the 2000 Guineas is run. I was working near there at the time riding and taking care of race horses. Here is the copleted compilation now for sale on ebay.

Me and Karrot he will be 33 this March.

Doug managed to capture a video of the resident Bobcat while he was out riding this morning.

Husband Doug and I and our neighbors went to see a football game at the Rosebowl in Pasadena. Cal versus UCLA, Cal won. It was the first time that I had experienced this. It was a long game we were sitting with brief breaks for 4 hours. They stopped the game every now and again for commercial breaks for live television, so that made it longer than it should have been !!

The first rain of the season here in So Cal a movie of my back yard.

 I am going through the old VHS tapes I have and putting them on DVD. Here is one of me filmed by my daughter Heather in 1995. I am riding in an English Pleasure Walk Trot class on my daughters Arabian gelding MM Trespass. I won the class and it took us both by surprise. We had bought "Pooka" several years before with 30 days training, from the woman who bred him. It took us about two years of training him ourselves every day to get to this point. What a journey it was.

 https://youtu.be/hwASrg3i89A

https://youtu.be/akgvHOkeLuc

 Here is a video of me and Morgan mare Coco on a trail ride. Husband Doug came along on the quad bike and then we swapped half way. We have one ride able horse at the moment, so we share. Coco is an amazing trail horse. I rode the whole way with loose reins. My left side and back did not feel too good after I held up my cell phone the whole way to take the video.

or if the link does not work go to youtube picturepedigree Coco's Ride

I had a great trail ride on Coco at the other side of the ranch, the one that did not get burned. Soon the winter rains will begin and it will be interesting to see what grows back. I have never experienced the recovery of a burned area before.

It finally happened. We had a wildfire out at where we keep the horses. We could not get in the way we usually do because that was where the worst of the fire was and the roads were closed.
 But years ago I had decided on a plan B for just such a situation. So Doug and I drove as far as we could and then set off on foot. We had to wade through the Arroyo and walked about a mile on trails, before we were met by fellow horse owners with a Quad and trailer and got a ride for the rest of the way. All was fine at the Ranch, our horses had been put in a pen away from the trees. It was spectacular watching the planes drop fire retardant right next to us.The fire is out now and the very high winds have stopped.

So I am now a new grand ma to baby girl Audrey. She is in New York state and I am in California. But there is Instagram, Skype and texting.  Today my son sent pictures of Audrey lying on the baby blanket that I took with me when I visited several months ago. It was knitted by hand by my mother for my babies over 40 years ago.

Me and my step sons girl friend. We went out to celebrate our birthdays which are close to each other. Step son and my husband and my step grand son were also in attendance. Just before we left to go out my son texted to say he and his wife were at the hospital. As we were at the restaurant my first grand child was born, a little girl.

My husband Doug heads out with Coco

Almost home

I decided it was time to try a new trail sequence with Coco. Doug rode and I went first with the Quad bike and harrow and then when he knew the way we switched. Doug's saddle slipped at one point and he had to dismount . Coco would not stand still for him to get back on. But all was OK in the end.

The first high winds of the season came and started a wild fire that was fairly close. It is almost out now. So many leaves were blown off my trees and plants. Doug and I did a lot of raking

our side yard

leaves everywhere

and cutting of small branches.

32 year old King Karrot

20 year old Coco

16 year old Pesky

Enjoying an afternoon after eating  lunch. Coco was also ridden on a trail ride and had a bath. The two boys were in the turnout while she was gone. Doug and I try to make their lives as happy as possible.

Me sitting on an old western saddle pad so that my skin does not stick to the vinyl seat which gets very hot in the sun

I have a certain pattern that I do around the outside and then up the middle Zamboni style

Looking towards the hills and Simi Valley where we live. That is the N to S Amtrak train  in the lower background

Today I raked the arena again out at where we keep our 3 horses. I am paid to do this twice a week with my Quad bike and harrow. Cynthia who pays me and uses the arena, had a water truck come in and spray water to compact the sand more and to stop it being dusty. Well it really changed the texture of the sand, and instead of being nice and smooth my harrow made it lumpy and only slightly uniformly smooth.  Hopefully it will have dried out for next time. The pictures were taken  on another day when the sand was dry. It does not rain here in So Cal USA in the summer.

Me and Morgan Horse Coco out trail riding. Husband Doug took a movie when I asked him to do stills. So I had to figure out how to get a still shot. I was shouting at him the whole time to tell him that Coco's bridle was not on properly. Her ear was out of the part that fits over her ear and around behind her head. The bridle kept slipping back. I needed him to hold her and put her ear back in which he did. He was riding the Quad bike and he rode on the way out and I rode back . We have only one ride able horse at the moment. A beautiful day as always in Southern California.

A visit to a B29 at the Van Nuys airport. This was Doug's idea. But I spotted the plane flying over us out at the horses, otherwise we would not have know about it. There are only two left that can still fly. Hot 94 F and humid and we had to wait an hour to get to see the inside. We are having a quite humid summer this year. Maybe because we had a very wet winter for So Cal.

A hot humid outing to the Orcutt Ranch today looking to see the mature Pomegranate Trees. We never did find them.

Out at the Ranch today. Karrot wears his new fly mask, Coco gets ready for a ride and Pesky is in the turn out.

I had a pretty good ride on Coco today. I was worried because it was hot on the 80's with fairly high humidity. That horses will overheat  if the  the temperature and the humidity add up to more than 150 or more. I knew that the humidity would not be above 40 or 50 per cent. I could only see the temperature

Taken from Coco's back

on my cell phone. I was borderline over heating, because I wore long pants and a shirt to stop my shoulders from getting sunburned. Thankfully when we went down the hill and into the valley that runs by the Arroyo a cool  breeze came up.

Here are some pictures taken from one of the VHS movies from the 1990's of me in the show ring riding M M Trespass a purebred Arabian gelding and this was his very first show. We were attempting to do a Horsemanship class. He saw a shade umbrella in the bleachers. Long story short I asked the judge to excuse me from the class. He got a lot better later in his show career, but it took a while..

I am busy at the moment with transferring all the VHS tapes I have to DVD and or memory stick. It is all absorbing. Memories from my life in the 1990's. I was in my early 40's then and the videos are of me and a horse called MM Trespass. He is 31 years old now. a pure bred Arabian grand son of the great Muscat,

and on the bottom line are Shiko Ibn Sheik, Fadjur and Exceljor all icons of the Arabian breed. My daughter and I bought Trespass as a youngster with 30 days training. We trained him to be a show horse and what a journey it was.

Today we went to see where the movie Once Upon a Time In Hollywood was filmed

At Corrieganville Park just a short distance from home. It takes about 8 minutes to drive there. We took my step son Jonathan and his girl friend Dasha, who is from Russia with us. First we had lunch at the Santa Susana Cafe. We met another couple at Corrieganville who thought that there would be actual buildings standing. Everything was removed and the original condition of the park was restored. Click the pictures to make them bigger. Dasha was exited to be walking where Brad Pitt had walked.

I rode Coco after not riding for at least 6 months. Doug has ridden her and done a good job !!

Cowboy Dave our ranch manager

Me and Coco

Full view just as we arrived back at the ranch.

I can move on now with my plan to make a compilation of Canadian Triple Crown Winners. A pedigree customer, who lives in Canada found a photo for me of the one missing horse from the 12 winners, Uttermost who won in 1945.

I am exited to have the idea to offer my custom pedigrees on Etsy fo $125 Why did I not think of this before . Here is the link   .https://www.etsy.com/listing/713677700/custom-horse-pedigree?ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1

I just sold the photo bio of Canadian Triple Crown winner, the phenomenal mare Dance Smartly to someone in Canada. I also have others like this, such as Kittens Joy, Danzig, Point Given, Unusual Heat, and many others. Look on ebay under horse picture pedigree.

Amother hot day in th 90's so I will wait until I am up early tomorrow morning

to plant these. Petunias do very well here, they love heat. I just have to water them fairly often.

It was overcast and humid today, a perfect day for riding. My husband Doug enjoys riding mare Coco who belongs to his daughter, but we take care of her, as well as our other two horses who can not be ridden. She is ridden twice a week and I go with him on my Quad bike. We are so lucky to be able to ride right from the horse pens for quite some distance with no roads or  usually no other horse spooking obstacles. It is a 700 acre private ranch.  Today we did meet two pickup trucks on the dirt roads. They are checking the main water line that runs through the ranch. They are always super courteous and stop and wait. The other day we saw a deer jumping around in the bushes. Coco is a super trail horse and never spooks,

a true Morgan horse.