Lara Masters - 'It' Girl on Wheels ?...I?m Lara Masters and I?m a TV presenter and wheelchair-user currently working with Esther Rantzen on 'That?s Esther? (ITV). I also act and write and I?ll be posting a fortnightly diary here, reporting my shenanigans. I?m your ?it? girl on wheels but I?m less posh and wear more clothes.?

I recently went for an interview with the producers of BBC?s ?Summer Holiday 2001?, and they asked me what my ideal holiday would be. I muttered something about horse riding in the Camargue, firmly envisaging that if I was extremely lucky and heard from them again at all, they?d pack me off for a weekend in Bournemouth. So I was astounded when the Beeb called me to ask if I?d like to go horse riding on a ranch in Arizona! ?Hmmm,? I said, ?I?ll just check my diary!!!?

It was a ten hour flight to Phoenix then a four hour drive to Stagecoach Trails Guest Ranch. It was dark when my partner and I arrived and we were exhausted, so we went straight to bed.

The morning light revealed that we were right in the middle of the desert, which was surprisingly green and filled with cacti and Joshua trees. There was nothing else as far as the eye could see, except the distant mountain ranges, (the nearest town was an hour drive away.) It was absolutely stunning, an assault on the senses; the scenic beauty, the heat of the sun, the taste and smell of the gritty desert air, the silence shrouding us like a blanket. This was a world away from the noisy, cold, damp and fume-filled London streets.

After a breakfast of delicious homemade raspberry pancakes, I discovered something more wondrous even than the view or the local delicacies? the ranch was completely wheelchair accessible!

The Beeb had said it would be, but if I had a pound every time I heard that and it turned out to be complete fabrication, I?d be rich and soon stop grumbling about the price of taxis that wheelchair users are forced to use due to inaccessible public transport. Grrrrrr! (I?ll try and keep these anger venting moments to a minimum, but they will pop up now and again.)

To my amazement, there was not a single step anywhere in the ranch and accessible loos everywhere. There is a God!

The owners, Carrie and Dan Rynder, were inspired to make the ranch truly barrier free by their 24 year old daughter, Amy, who has severe CP and uses an electric wheelchair.

When we started filming, I was a bit nervous about riding, (not that I admitted that, after all, it was my idea in the first place.) I hadn?t been up on a horse for a couple of years and learning I was to ride a mare named ?Bucky? didn?t fill me with confidence. (Thankfully, the name was a reference to Bucky?s colour, buckskin, rather than her actions.)

I needn?t have worried, Bucky was gentle and sure-footed and the horse wranglers had experience of working with disabled riders. By the end of the trip I was out twice a day for an hour each time, riding in the desert on a horse with a name.

The shoot went smoothly and the director, SJ, was great to work with, despite making me line-dance, (not even being in a wheelchair could get me out of that one). We flew in a helicopter over the Grand Canyon, filming the landscape change from arid, barren desert to snow covered fir trees over the space of a few miles, it was indescribable. You can see what I mean when the programme airs, (I?ll let you know when they have a date for it).

We filmed the whole family because they all live and work on the ranch, even the grandparents. I know it sounds freaky; a family living and working together harmoniously? How can that happen? (Except on Walton?s Mountain.) But everybody has a role and they make it work.

I grew very attached to them all and we hung out every evening playing games. Pictionary was hysterical, (it?s like charades but you have to draw instead of mime.) One guest had to depict ?Sweden? (except being American, he didn?t know what Sweden looked like or where it was), so he drew two people having sex in a TV screen which we were supposed to guess was a ?Swedish movie?! (No-one got it).

I cried when we were leaving. Then when the dogs and even the cat tried to get into our car, I was inconsolable.

Before heading home, my partner and I passed through Las Vegas. Massive theme hotels line ?The Strip? (Las Vegas Boulevard), one of them had a roller coaster outside and another a mini Eiffel tower! We stayed in a gigantic glass pyramid with huge sphinxes, hieroglyphics and replicas of Egyptian artifacts inside. The word ?surreal? springs to mind.

I was impressed by the accessibility in Vegas; there isn?t a pavement without a drop-kerb or a ?restroom? without a wheelchair accessible cubicle and Braille was a feature. It seems when it comes to gambling away money; everybody?s welcome! God bless America!

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