There is a big barn in San Martin where horse manure has begun to smell like roses.
"Oh, I've dreamed of being in the Rose Parade since I was a little kid," says Tracy Hinsen, a Giddy-Up Gal.
But as Hinsen and her friends now know well, it doesn't come easily. Horses have always been a part of the Rose Parade and the parade, a showcase for them. Ever hear of the Giddy-Up Gals?
"I got my first horse and was riding around and wanted to do something with other people in kind of like a team," says Chelsea Pro, a Giddy-Up Gal.
So this is it. You might compare the Giddy-Up Gals' act to synchronized swimming, but with horses, but no pool.
"It's a similar concept, it's to music, but we do it really, really fast," says Abby Norris, a Giddy-Up Gal.
The Giddy-Up Girls take this very seriously, hence the practice for this week, which began last spring. They want to get every element exactly right and that includes the parade wave.
There was lots of waving, lots of kissing.
Last year, when the group performed in the Rose Parade, you can notice they always use the same arms to wave. What is the reason for that?
"They normally set up the major TV news stations' stand and you wave with the opposite hand, so that way they don't get a shot of armpit," says Hinsen.
That might fall into the category of too much information. After all, if they had wanted to see armpits instead of roses on New Year's Day, the parade might have a different name.
