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Horse Happenings on the Hill
Everything you ever wanted to know about horses and more.
May 1, 2011 article in the Rancho Palos Verdes Patch By Katharine Blossom Lowrie
Whether you wanted to find a pony camp for your child, learn how to bond with your horse or master dressage or show jumping, someone was either talking about it or demonstrating it at "Horse Happenings on the Hill" at Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills Estates on Sunday.
Even equine dental health was on the agenda. Holding out in a booth littered with skulls, jawbones and molars, Dr. Larry Kelly, an equine veterinarian, talked a lot about "different species' dentitions (teeth)" and explained things like how horses chew ("by dropping the lower jaw, then bringing it up and outward in a circular pattern"). "Horses in the wild did not eat processed feeds," Kelly said to those assembled. They lived shorter lives than horses today, he added, "natural selection (wolves and coyotes)" eliminating defective individuals. "Humans' part in natural selection," joked the Lomita vet, "seems to be choosing animals online."
The 30 or so booths formed a circle in a grassy area near the park's paddocks and show rings, and everything from Horse Rescue information to pointers on equine massage to barbecue as prepared by Kelly's Korner was available. Kelly's Korner in Rolling Hills Estates is a place where riders can tether their horses to a hitching post and get sandwiches for themselves and horse cookies for their mounts. On Sunday, Jim Kelly gladly sweltered in the 90 degree heat, flipping burgers and hot pastrami for more than 600 hungry people. The all-volunteer event, free to the public, was orchestrated by Kelly Yates, whose passion for horses began as a 4-year-old in rural Sacramento. Now a resident of Palos Verdes Estates, Yates didn't wholeheartedly re-enter the world of horses until her daughter, Lizzie, started riding and competing. "We joined a show barn [Maverick Farms] and I became a show mom and groom," said Yates, who taught pony camp, helped other horse owners take care of their horses, and started a clipping service. But it was seeing how horses changed people's lives that inspired her to bring the horse community together in one place. "I wanted to show what great opportunities exist on the Peninsula for anyone who has any level of interest in horses," said Yates, equally anxious to increase business for local farriers, vets, trainers, barns and other equestrian professionals. "Our community has something for every interest-English, Dressage, Western, Cutting, natural horsemanship, trail rides, Pony Club, Pony Camp, Drill Team," she said, her face shaded from the sun by a straw hat. Clearly please with the turnout, Yates-who seemed to be everywhere at once-was particularly grateful for all the professionals who volunteered their time.
There was plenty of action: dogs performing tricks in the circular area surrounded by booths; dressage and drill teams strutting their stuff in the rings, and a breed parade featuring an Arabian, a miniature horse, a warmblood, Shetland, Andalusian, Friesian, quarter horse and Christine Lukacova's dark Palomino. Lukacova, 11, later said she keeps her Palomino in her Palos Verdes "backyard." Attended by friend, Georgi Hamilton, 10, a Lunada Bay resident and, like Lukacova, a member of Portuguese Bend Pony Club, the girls were making the rounds, including buying stallipops (lollipops for horses) at the 4H booth. In the dressage ring, Megan Lisenbee of San Pedro and Kalie Caldwell of Palos Verdes Peninsula did a dressage dance atop Escolta and Evento, respectively. With songs from "Lion King" blaring from the sound system, the two young women, both members of the Portuguese Bend Pony Club, guided their magnificent, gray Andalusians in various maneuvers in perfect time to the music. "The horses have such a blast," Caldwell said at the conclusion of the event. "The minute you put on their tack, they're excited to go." Meanwhile, Savannah Rudek, 12, of Hermosa Beach, was preparing to demonstrate English riding and jumping under the guidance of her trainer, Lisa Baldwin. Decked out in helmet, jodhpurs and riding boots, her back ramrod straight, Baldwin executed a sitting trot, three-loop serpentines, flying lead changes and numerous jumps atop her red jumper, Chili-to the applause of those seated on the bleachers.
At one of the booths, Carolyn "Callie" Bell of Callie Bell Performance Horses touted her Western lesson program, her clinics in Rolling Hills Estates, and her summer camp (including a "Tot's Camp" for kids as young as 3) at the Portuguese Bend Riding Club. Bell, a familiar sight at PBRC, is a favorite instructor among Peninsula and PV High students who participate in interscholastic Western events. But it was Bell's demonstration of how to use trail obstacles to facilitate communication between owners and their horses that people were watching on Sunday. "I believe that a single ground pole can tell me everything about a horse and rider's relationship," Bell said after guiding her horse over randomly distributed poles on the ground.
Lynda Palmer, looking elegant atop her hunter-jumper, Rayne, was one of many at Horse Happenings who grew up riding horses at the Portuguese Bend Riding Club. The Rancho Palos Verdes resident, a marketing consultant and professor at Pepperdine University, combined her professional career with her love of horses by forming Equus Marketing-a company specializing in the equestrian industry. She met Kelly Yates through their daughters at the Peter Weber Equestrian Center in Rolling Hills Estates, where Palmer now boards and trains with Anne Lindsay and Linda Cooper of Maverick Farms, both represented at Horse Happenings. Even after their daughters ceased riding, Yates and Cooper remained friends, Palmer said, the opportunity to publicize Yates' event a natural. The brilliance of Horse Happenings, she said, was gathering "all the great horse professionals on the hill in one place and letting people know how much they have to offer."
Jim Moore represented Cowboy Boot Camp, a good place to start if you are looking to buy a horse, seeking answers about feed or care, or hoping to befriend other horse owners. The group, which can be joined via subscription ($15.95 per month), provides a chat room, free manuals and discounts on products, CBC clinics, workshops and events, such as "Ride on Trails Where There Ain't No Trails." Mary Hirsch, representing the English riding program at Portuguese Bend Riding Club, was busily handing out flyers and discount coupons for those who booked lessons on the spot. "I'm also heading up the summer camp program at PBRC this year," said Hirsch, a regular on the show circuit. "I'm really excited about it." The camps (Weekdays from noon to 4 p.m. every other week) are limited to five students per/week "so as not to lose the educational aspect," Hirsch said. "I don't want it to be a day care, but a true learning experience for the campers [with] lots of one-on-one time with the horses in and out of the saddle."
Like so many at the event, Linda Cooper, an English trainer and resident of Rancho Palos Verdes, began riding at age four and has been a constant winner in equitation and medal classes as both a junior and adult rider. Combining her passion for horses with her knowledge of teaching, Cooper founded Maverick Farms Riding Academy in 1998, which she runs out of the Peter Weber Equestrian Center in Rolling Hills Estates. Thrilled to be a part of Horse Happenings, she said the event was proving to be "a great way to meet potential students and build our horse community."
Club is Home for Horses and Riders
Behind the gates on Narcissa Drive, the PBRC offers lush landscape and a sense of Rancho Palos Verdes history.
March 1, 2011 article in the Rancho Palos Verdes Patch by Katharine Blossom Lowrie
In the Italian styled courtyard of The Portuguese Bend Riding Club, surrounded by tile-roofed buildings and blue-trimmed barns, a gilt-edged Della Robbia mosaic graces a tower. The Madonna and Child sculpture, along with a marble fountainhead and sarcophagus (converted from coffin to planter), were imported from Italy by Frank A. Vanderlip Sr., who envisioned the hillside above Point Vicente as an Italian village when he and a consortium of Eastern investors purchased 16,000 acres of the Rancho de los Palos Verdes for $1.5 million in 1913.
The Portuguese Bend Riding Club, which began as a dairy, blends the perfection of nature with a quiet sense of Rancho Palos Verdes history. Originally called "The Farmstead", the riding/boarding/training facility rests on an idyllic ten acres populated with peacocks, Aleppo pines and magnificent Brazilian pepper trees, many of which go back to 1916, when Vanderlip, built his first residence - the "Old Ranch Cottage" - in Portuguese Bend.
The "headache stuff"
But the lush landscape, as inspiring as it is, requires constant maintenance and tree trimming - just a small part of the "headache stuff" owner of the riding club, Lisa Wolf, has to deal with. "When the tree trimmers come in, the horses get scared and we have to move them," said Wolf, who purchased the facility 33 years ago with her parents, Lloyd and Lucy Wolf of Pacific Palisades. "It's always something. Water pipes break, electricity goes out, the tractor needs repair; it's just endless." Wolf's role as "overseer" sometimes puts her "in a position of always seeing what's wrong and not what's right," she said. "But I'm the one who has to have the big picture. ’Ķ I'm the one who has to see that things get fixed." Living in one of two residences at the club since 1987, Wolf would not change a thing.
"The best thing about living up here, it's so peaceful," she said, looking around the courtyard, where horses gaze contentedly out of their stalls, ivy climbs the white, stucco walls and sea breezes caress the air. "Where else can you have this?" In the process of training Roxy, a new, young hunter/jumper for the spring show circuit, the formerly horse-crazy teen, who "never got over it," said riding, training and showing horses is her life. "It's what I've always done," she said. Still, it is a Herculean task, looking after 50 plus horses, including "the pensioners and retirees" Wolf refuses to send out to foreign pastures. "They live out their lives here," she said.
Then there are the school horses (for students) and the thoroughbreds and quarter horses boarded by clients at costs ranging from $270/month for training to $485/month for box stalls.
"I have good people here"
To keep horses bathed, shod, groomed, fed, wormed, exercised and trained, Wolf depends on three groomers, several stable hands, a raft of contract workers (from farriers to a horse masseuse) and a devoted band of seven instructor/trainers. "It all goes back to I have good people here," Wolf said, giving special credit to Laura Feldman, PBRC's very hands-on manager, and head trainer, John Vogel. "They are good, really good. I just can't say enough; they really look out for me." Looking out for the boss was particularly important when Wolf, 59, broke her hip in a fall from her hunter/jumper a year and a half ago. "I was basically on my couch for months," she said. Yet she plans to compete in the spring. Admittedly not quite up to par physically, Wolf conceded that jumping in competition is "a huge undertaking," considering her injuries, including four concussions in four years. "I'm just glad that I still love doing this," she said.
A passion for horses and overcoming obstacles, whether physical or mental, is a given for equestrians like Wolf and Mary Hirsch, 32, hired this year as an English instructor/trainer, a job she "fought, fought, fought for," she said. Willowy, with flowing blonde hair and a determination to act as a role model/mentor to her young students, Hirsch, 32, one of four English instructors at the club, said her most important duty is to set "the best example I can ’Ķ both in the saddle and on the ground. That duty never sleeps." Like many at the barn, Hirsch, a resident of Rolling Hills Estates, first came to PBRC at age 12, as a self-described "barn rat." "I would do anything, as long as I could be on these grounds and feel a part of it," she said. "The smell of manure to me is like the most expensive perfume there is. I just always lived horses." But ten years ago, after a terrible fall from her hunter/jumper left her with three cracked ribs, a punctured lung and a "horrible concussion," Hirsch abandoned the sport for eight years. Then, two years ago, eager to ride again, she purchased two "investment horses", German Warmbloods in the $50,000 to $100,000 bracket. "I went into business in the worst economy," Hirsch said, who hoped to sell the horses on the circuit, competing against celebrity offspring like Destry Spielberg and Hannah Selleck. Not only did the horses fail to sell, one of her jumpers wrenched his back and Hirsch "went through from $50,000 to $75,000" in seven weeks, her cash eaten up by everything from entry fees to stall and condo rentals.
The "relaxed, mellow environment" needed to heal
"I came home with two horses that were body sore; I was emotionally sore, and my pockets were sore," she said. The Portuguese Bend Riding Club offered the sort of "relaxed, mellow environment" she and her horses needed to heal. It also offered a job: teaching English horsemanship to beginners. Worried adolescents might prove tiresome, Hirsch found just the opposite. "These are the people who are the most passionate about riding," she said. "You see their eyes light up. ’Ķ I also get to teach them how to avoid the bad habits I picked up at that age."
Hirsch even took one of them, Jamee Cremeans, 12, horse shopping. Although Jamee was too shy to talk on the phone, her mother, Julie Cremeans, a Torrance resident, spoke about Hirsch's finding them the perfect chestnut gelding, Gait Expectations, which they adopted on the spot in Santa Barbara. "He follows Jamee around like he's attached," said Cremeans, who had especially high praise for Hirsch. "Mary is very patient, very centered on Jamee ... educating her about horsemanship" and helping to bring her out of her shell.
Another instructor, Carolyn "Callie" Bell, has been in the horse business since she was eight, training and selling ponies in Long Beach. "Horse traders got that negative name for a reason," said Bell, 43, who spent 11 years at Palos Verdes Stables before coming to PBRC in 2010 to oversee a new Western program. She equated horse sellers with used car salesmen. "You have to be really careful who you buy from," she said. Still, matching the right horse with the right person is difficult. "I always tell people, I don't have a crystal ball," she said.
What Bell does have, in spades, is teaching ability, especially when it comes to prize students like Sarah Powley, 17, of Rancho Palos Verdes, Kaitlin Huben, 17, and her sister, Mariana, 14, of Palos Verdes Estates. The Huben sisters swept the awards in the Western divisions of the Orange County Interscholastic Equestrian League (OCIEL), Huben for the fourth year in a row. All three girls are members of the Palos Verdes High School Sea King Equestrian Team. Kaitlin is the captain. Powley and Kaitlin are also seniors. "It was my last show before college," said Kaitlin, who plans to major in engineering. Of the places she's applied, only one, Santa Clara University, offers engineering and an equestrian team. Poised and confident atop Honor, the American Quarter Horse she borrowed for the OCIEL show from Celina Tu, a Peninsula High graduate, Kaitlin said she has always wanted a horse of her own, as has sister Mariana.
"Either get a horse or go to college"
"Our parents were very up front with us," said Kaitlin, whose long, auburn hair exactly matched Honor's coat. "They said, ’ÄòEither get a horse or go to college.'" Both girls chose college. Still, all the girls appear to treasure the horses they ride at PBRC, like T-Bone, one of three quarter horses Bell boards at the barn. Kaitlin calls T-Bone "the sweetest horse I've ever ridden. If he were a dog, he'd be a total lap dog."
Powley on Samba (an American Saddlebred owned by Jenny Corona, another of Bell's clients) said she has come "full circle" at the club. "I was here for a year or two when I first started riding," said Powley, who for several years went to another barn, where there was less emphasis on showing. Then she started "hanging out" at PBRC over the summer. "I have a couple of really great friends riding here" said the blonde senior, who switched back to the club, "because Callie started putting me on horses." Now she wouldn't go anywhere else. Powley adores the Portuguese Bend environment, she said, and the calm, preciseness of Bell's instruction.
During a lesson in a tree-shaded area near one of the three open arenas, Kaitlin and Powley practiced one of the Western "Trail" events common at shows like OCIEL. It entailed guiding their horses over logs scattered about in what appeared a haphazard fashion. "They have to execute the pattern as accurately as possible," said Mariana, watching from the sidelines as her sister and Powley performed the maneuver. "Every time a horse knocks a pole, a point is knocked off." "We go for style points, how free and effortless the horse looks," Bell added. "It takes months and months of training for a horse to say, ’ÄòNow I get this.'"
A special magic
It doesn't take long to "get" that the Portuguese Bend Riding Club is home to horses, as well as to those who ride and instruct here. The spectacular trails that lead through Palos Verdes Nature Preserve, the peace and quiet that reigns in the air - all lend a special magic to the place. "People who come here for the first time always comment on that," Bell said. "It is so spread out here, so beautiful ... it doesn't even feel like you're at work." But work it is, and pleasing students, clients and horses, not to mention Wolf and Feldman, is a balancing act.
Wolf and Feldman make it easy, the instructors say. Wolf ensures compatibility by insisting that each instructor stay with his or her base, Hirsch said. "That way, no ones steals clients from other instructors," she said.
Bell calls Feldman "one of the most amazing managers I've ever had at a barn. If you need something done for your horse at midnight, Laura's going to get up and do it for you." "A happy horse equals a happy owner," Hirsch said. "A happy owner equals a happy horse." It falls to all at PBRC "to make sure both are fulfilled with the least amount of friction possible."
For information regarding English or Western instruction or boarding, call (310) 377-3507.
Pets get help as flames approach RPV: Unsung heroes
August 29, 2009 article in the Daily Breeze by Donna Littlejohn, Staff Writer
As the wildfire in Rancho Palos Verdes began to grow Thursday night, San Pedro Realtor Rebecca Chamblis fired up her computer. A veteran of the Hurricane Katrina animal rescue effort a few years ago, her goal was to make sure the Peninsula's dogs, cats and horses would have adequate shelter.
"I got online, I go onto Twitter, Facebook and my e-mail, and I just started contacting people," Chamblis said Friday. Meanwhile, San Pedro horse trainer Callie Bell hitched up her trailer and fought bumper-to-bumper traffic as she headed out to Portuguese Bend Riding Club.
"It was packed solid with onlookers," she said of Palos Verdes Drive West, describing the scene as a "tailgate atmosphere" with people sitting in chairs taking pictures from the side of the road. When Bell arrived, she loaded up eight horses - "I took them two by two," she said - into her trailer for delivery to Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills Estates, the designated overnight shelter for the Peninsula's many horses. She had room for two more and soon found takers in the immediate neighborhood where many own and board horses.
Chamblis and Bell don't know each other. But they are among a cadre of devoted animal lovers in the South Bay who, on their own initiative, sprang into quick action Thursday on behalf of the area's four-legged critters. Chamblis wanted to make sure overnight shelters for residents were also accepting pets, so she called Terranea Resort with the first query. Yes, came the answer.
Shortly after that, Chamblis put the word out on Twitter, sending a message to Fox 11 News, which then announced it on the air. Throughout the night, Chamblis posted online information for people with pets who needed shelter or other help, telling readers to e-mail her directly with needs. "I think Twitter is the best source of information," she said. "It was really kind of fascinating to have the news on while I was Twittering them and then hearing them announce it. Everybody did a fantastic job."
Terranea hosted 20 families overnight, including 14 dogs and a cat. "Terranea was fantastic to open their doors to people and their pets," Chamblis wrote in an e-mail to the Daily Breeze on Friday morning. Fifteen horses stayed overnight in the stalls at Ernie Howlett, where workers were busy Friday morning setting up for the upcoming Portuguese Bend Horse Show.
"Some people chose to keep their horses (at Portuguese Bend), but I thought it's better to be safe than sorry," Bell said. Chamblis, who also credited the American Kennel Club with providing quick help in the form of food and crate offers, said animal disaster rescue has come a long way since Katrina. "Since Katrina it's changed," she said, recalling the New Orleans hurricane that left so many dogs and cats stranded to drown. Many residents also put themselves in peril when they refused to leave their pets behind when shelters said they could not accept animals. "Some of the Red Cross shelters now will coordinate to set up a separate pet shelter, which we were prepared to do today, but it wasn't needed," Chamblis said.
With the help of the AKC, Chamblis said crates and water pails were provided for some people Thursday night, but she added "the need has been low, which indicates people were prepared and had safe places to go."
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles also responded to the Rancho Palos Verdes fire, working with the Los Angeles County Fire Department to remove horses from residences in Rolling Hills Estates.
On Friday, Redondo Shores Veterinary Center in Redondo Beach announced the clinic was available to treat animals that may have been affected by the brush fire, including the heavy smoke that continued to plague the area.
It's part of a new movement under the Southern California Veterinarian Medical Association to establish a network of vet clinics to help out in natural disasters. "It was a quiet day, I didn't know what to expect," said veterinarian Dirk Yelinek, who said no animals were brought in for fire-related issues. "I checked with two other veterinarians in the area and everybody seems to be fine. This was a good wake-up call, it was a good way to show us what we need to do."
Someday, Chamblis said she'd like to see a local animal disaster relief organization established in the South Bay. But until then, there are numerous volunteers who seem to be prepared, ready and willing to pitch in on their own. "There are so many 'animal' people and that's the first place our minds go when there's a natural disaster," she said. "A lot of people just jump in."
Daily Breeze Staff Writer Doug Morino contributed to this article.
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