This has been a big year for style - "Hollywood Doll" style. We introduced our new costumes at the Hollywood Christmas Parade and learned a lot about "glamour on a budget" in the process. Did you know that a white fitted shirt with French cuffs and a pink felt cowgirl hat could be the beginning of an outfit that caught the attention of the Rose Bowl Committee? (We have been invited to submit our application to participate as one of the equestrian groups in the most famous of all parades next year.)

Our parade chairperson, Erin Bush and her sister, Cathie Filian, who has her own crafts show called Creative Juice on the DIY network, dutifully designed and sewed the "bling" on the cuffs, collars and hat brims of these inexpensive shirts and hats, and then made saddle covers with more "bling blings"… and finally, and most impressively, they made gold glitter bridles and reins for all of our horses. We "dolls" complimented the look by glittering our horses' hooves and slipping on pink suede gloves (also amazingly inexpensive) for ourselves. Erin insisted we all search our closets for a pair of dark denim jeans and dark boots, so the look was pulled together without anyone having to invest in two expensive items. All of this was done at the total cost of about $35 per rider. That's what you can do on a budget with talent and skill and and donated time from Erin and Cathie.

A little tip for parade riders: It gets cold out there waiting for your turn. I packed a poncho, which was a life saver. Invest in a wool one for optimum warmth that will slip over your hat and costume without rearranging anything and you can easily fold it up and zip it back into your saddle bag when your time to ride is called. In fact the idea occurred to us that we could find some fabulous pink wool fabric and make our own ponchos, and on those years when it is just too cold to tolerate mere shirt sleeves, we would have a stylish addition to our costumes. We're hoping Erin and Cathie will come up with some decorative touch like the perfect gold fringe to make a poncho that is "Hollywood Doll" special.

Meanwhile we all went out and bought pink corduroy fur-lined jean jackets (a rage this year at the Gap and other stores) on sale after Christmas so we are all suited up for this year's cold weather events. And speaking of weather, what does a "Doll" wear when she rides in the rain?

One rainy Monday, Presidents' Day, five of us decided we were not going to let the clouds stop us from having a holiday ride to one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, Viva Fresh in Burbank. It's a ten mile round-trip adventure through Griffith Park and we had a plan. The plan was to get there and share a pitcher of Margaritas and then ride home. We had no plan for the possibility of rain. And of course the storm hit us (a deluge with hail) about a mile from the restaurant. We were soaked to the skin and here's a tip: when you know it is going to rain, don't wear jeans… a pair of micro fiber Neoprene fishing pants would have been perfect. We had to peel off our wet jeans in the private room the waiter gave us (the kitchen was closed so we had the place to ourselves, and they do know us there) and we hung our jeans over empty chairs while we dined and toasted in our undies. Hint number two: Always wear cute undies when you ride because you just never know. One among us has the new nickname "Commando" because she didn't abide by this rule… at all! And she had to sip her drink in her soggy jeans.

Anyway I must digress to say cheers to the waiter who never bat an eyelash; obviously he has seen it all. He brought us extra cotton napkins to drape over our cold legs that were shivering under the tablecloth. The hard part was pulling those ice cold, heavy, soaked jeans back onto our dry limbs. Neoprene (available at sporting goods stores) would have dried out after the first pitcher of margaritas. Also, why not just pack an extra pair of riding tights in your saddle bag… and extra underwear. And for that soaked saddle, search for a company called Quality Horse Products (Miss "Commando" found these, après le deluge…), and buy yourself a five dollar plastic "rain cover" for your saddle that fits over the saddle horn and has elastic straps to hold the four corners in place.

But the thing we really learned during this adventure was simple and easily obtained: the long black western duster coat. (Check out Chicks Saddlery) It is water proof and designed to break below your butt and hang around the saddle. And everybody looks cool in these coats. I used to think they were pretentious and only worn by actors who "wannabe" cowboys, but guess what, they are indispensable. Miss "Commando" already owns one and the rest of us will have ours by next rainy season.

Finally, for our big fund raiser this year, the "Saddle-Up" for St. Jude, which we hosted in Griffith Park (a ten mile ride with pledges per mile ridden), our smart shopper Erin found black polo shirts on sale and had them embroidered with our pink logo, so the Dolls were easy to sight during the event, with our matching pink felt cowgirl hats. And we raised over six thousand dollars for St. Jude Hospital. I think style had something to do with it. My husband, David Sheffield, parked his beautifully restored vintage trailer at Martinez Arena to use as our headquarters and Lori Anne Cooper's company, Ivy Hill - A Cinram Company, donated a beautiful banner for us to hang at "headquarters." Our most favorite neighborhood restaurant, Birds on Franklin, donated our lunches and Pepsi came through with the drinks. All in all it was a fabulous Saturday morning in Hollywood.

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I promised in my last column to give you the recipe for the perfect picnic when you might not be able to get off your horse (or at least you might have to hold his reins with one hand while you balance on the edge of a rock overlooking the San Fernando Valley).

We like raisin bread or pecan bread grilled with three different gourmet cheeses (definitely try vintage Irish cheddar for one) and a slice of your favorite deli meat in the middle, with a little mustard or humus for a condiment. After grilling with a couple of pats of butter in a skillet on both sides until the cheeses are melted (use a spatula and press the sandwich hard on each side) and the bread is browned, pull the sandwich apart just long enough to squeeze in some arugula for a wild flavor that you will thank us for when you are out in the brush (it tastes like the woods). Don't use mayonnaise because you never know how long that sandwich is going to have to wait for the perfect stopping point on your ride. Finally, wrap the sandwich in foil and pop it in your saddle bag with a wet wipe for afterwards. (We keep a box of individually wrapped wet wipes in our tack, but the mini size plastic bottles of hand sanitizers are nice for out on trail as well)

The beauty of this sandwich is that it doesn't spoil or drip and it tastes just as good cold as it does hot. Add a mini bottle of Veuve Clicquot (half bottles are available at most liquor stores) for special occasions. The half bottles fit in your cantle bag (over your saddle horn) or even in a cargo pant leg or a barn jacket pocket, and somehow drinking from the bottle isn't as unseemly when the bottle is so cute. And if you really, really must, take two! We usually do!

Tomorrow is my birthday (I am two years old as a reborn cowgirl) and I am going out on Bugsy with Millicent and Diablo to survey the green hills of Hollywood from the "suicide trail" (probably named by the hikers, not the equestrians). Then we will stop by our favorite area on the path to the Hollywood Sign full of wild anise bushes and gather a few sprigs of that wild herb for aroma therapy for our saddles. The horses love it and the ride home is perfumed with their licorice flavored breath. Ah, paradise. For us it is Griffith Park, home of many fragrant and beautiful wild things.

Yesterday for Easter six of us rode up to Mount Hollywood and had a picnic/poetry reading featuring Wallace Stevens' spiritual and questioning poem, Sunday Morning. On the way up, one of the ranch guides, little Mary Beth, insisted on jumping on and off of her horse, (ah, youth), picking little wild flowers, some tiny yellow daisies, some real baby lavender, and arranging them in my yellow straw cowgirl hat, so I had a real "Easter Bonnet" by the time we arrived. (I was the featured performer) All the picnic tables were taken, so I immediately voiced my regret that we had not packed a blanket (and made a mental note to never leave the ranch again without one; so easy to fold length wise and strap each end onto the back of your saddle).

But one of our guests, Betsy, pointed to the grassy ground beneath our feet and said, "That's what jeans are for…" So we sat on the ground on the edge of the mountain, overlooking the yellow flowered hills below. The sun shone on our heads and the clean air filled our lungs as we indulged on blood oranges, muffins, chocolate Easter eggs, and Mimosas in paper Easter cups. (Try premixing your mimosas in a plastic, tightly sealed, pitcher so you don't have to deal with glass.) We road home sated and happy, thinking about the last lines of the poem that seemed to be written for the day:

     "Deer walk upon our mountains, and the quail
     Whistle about us their spontaneous cries;
     Sweet berries ripen in the wilderness;
     And, in the isolation of the sky,
     At evening, casual flocks of pigeons make
     Ambiguous undulations as they sink,
     Downward to darkness, on extended wings."
             -from Sunday Morning by Wallace Stevens

This is Cynthia Ward Walker, the bon vivant cowgirl, signing off until next time with more ways to work your style into your ride. And remember my motto: Just because I do it, doesn't mean you should. (Your mother knows what I'm talking about.) If you have style ideas you want to share, please send them to our email which can be found on our contact page. Meanwhile, happy trails as you ride through the City of Angels and beyond.

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