Brenda picked up Dancer and brought him over in the morning to get ready. We clipped, bathed and shined up all three horses. As much as I hate doing so, I even banded Rio's mane.
Rio was being a bit of a pain in the rear as she has been in heat the last couple of days. Once Dancer got on the scene, she got even worse...she really has a thing for him! Lots of calling, not standing still and general mare in heat behavior...big sigh! Of all days...
We loaded the horses and headed to the fairgrounds which are about 15 minutes away. We borrowed our friend, Karen's trailer as we had three horses to haul and Brenda's trailer is a 2 horse. We loaded Dancer by himself and Rio and Doc together. I drove Doc and Rio. Brenda drove Dancer. Along the way, my trailer was rockin' and rockin'. Rio was not happy to be separated from Dancer. I prayed that we would make it to the fairgrounds without any major mishaps. I was gripping the steering wheel so hard, I had to peel my hands off from time to time.
When I walked around back after parking, the back trailer door on Doc's side was slightly ajar and the bar that holds the door shut as bent outward. This was a new bar that Dave had replaced the other one with due to a similar situation. Wish I had taken a picture because it is quite a sight to see. Hard to believe a horse in a trailer could kick back that hard to bend that thick piece of metal. We managed to pound the metal back into place (with Brenda's handy hammer), and get the horses out.
We met some friends of ours there and chatted for awhile. We had parked in the back away from most of the other trailers. There were ALOT of other horses there. There was a big, mule drawn, covered wagon that came close by to us. Doc had never seen anything like this before and reacted accordingly. I especially felt bad for two ladies who had their horses tied to their trailer. Everytime a wagon drawn by horses or mules went by, their horses would rear and pull back. We saw this happen at least three times. We could not understand why the wagons wouldn't slow down when they could clearly see that their presence was freaking these horses out.
When the wagon was nearby, we took our horses around it both ways, to see how they would react. They were mostly calm (Doc somewhat less so). Rio tried turned butt and tried to kick the mule team at one point..ahh, a mare. No contact was made and we hightailed it out of there. She really does not like mules or donkeys.
Here we are ready to go out.... 
There were about 115 "team" of riders in the parade. A team can be a horse drawn carriage, a mini-horse pulled cart (or several of them) or several horse/riders, so it is hard to tell how many actual horses were in the parade. The organizers estimate over 550 horses were there. Our little team consisted of just us--3 horses/3 riders. We were number 107...yes, almost the LAST group. More on that....
We used to have a friend. This "friend" was part of the committee this year that picked the line-up for the parade. This "friend" knows that Dancer doesn't like mini-horses and carriages. This "friend" put us smack dab in the middle of mini-horse and carriage hell. Now, I don't know about you, but we believe that is pretty mean spirited. It was mean enough to put us in back of the parade but then this person purposely endangered us by putting us in a potentially dangerous situation.
It got worse as we found out that 108 was a pair of little horses and little carts. One of the little horses was a feisty stallion. Yes, a stallion following my mare who is in heat...nice. We went up to met them to see how our horses would react. Rio immediately pinned her ears as the little stallion went crazy. Uck.
Meantime, ambulances were on the grounds at least three times. While we were lining up, one was called to attend to a 12 year old that had been stepped on by a horse. Apparently, the child had a deep head laceration. The squad came barreling in and then a huge firetruck came in right after. At least they had the sense to turn their lights and sirens off once they were on the grounds. You could hear the poor child crying...this did not help calm our fears to say the least. The good news is the child is expected to be just fine. We don't know any more details or even how it happened, just that.
When we finally got lined up, we managed to change our spot in line and follow some mini horses. Behind us was a couple and their horses. They were very nice and very understanding. They stayed nice and far away from our rear ends. So all good at this time. As we got ready to leave the horse-drawn wagon two teams up starting playing their music. It started with that Rocky Top Tennessee song and went downhill from there...gotta love a parade. Here is my view from horseback....
Once the parade got started though, things started to look up. The weather had been a bit iffy but the sun shinned the whole route. We rode for 1 1/2 hours without incident. There were hundreds of people lined up on the streets. People that have houses along the route, have parties and set up tents. People clapped and waved at us. I had a permanent smile (no, it was not a grimace). That part was great fun and made the rest of the day fade. The three horses were just excellent. No shying or spooking at the crowds.
There were about 115 "team" of riders in the parade. A team can be a horse drawn carriage, a mini-horse pulled cart (or several of them) or several horse/riders, so it is hard to tell how many actual horses were in the parade. The organizers estimate over 550 horses were there. Our little team consisted of just us--3 horses/3 riders. We were number 107...yes, almost the LAST group. More on that....
We used to have a friend. This "friend" was part of the committee this year that picked the line-up for the parade. This "friend" knows that Dancer doesn't like mini-horses and carriages. This "friend" put us smack dab in the middle of mini-horse and carriage hell. Now, I don't know about you, but we believe that is pretty mean spirited. It was mean enough to put us in back of the parade but then this person purposely endangered us by putting us in a potentially dangerous situation.
It got worse as we found out that 108 was a pair of little horses and little carts. One of the little horses was a feisty stallion. Yes, a stallion following my mare who is in heat...nice. We went up to met them to see how our horses would react. Rio immediately pinned her ears as the little stallion went crazy. Uck.
Meantime, ambulances were on the grounds at least three times. While we were lining up, one was called to attend to a 12 year old that had been stepped on by a horse. Apparently, the child had a deep head laceration. The squad came barreling in and then a huge firetruck came in right after. At least they had the sense to turn their lights and sirens off once they were on the grounds. You could hear the poor child crying...this did not help calm our fears to say the least. The good news is the child is expected to be just fine. We don't know any more details or even how it happened, just that.
When we finally got lined up, we managed to change our spot in line and follow some mini horses. Behind us was a couple and their horses. They were very nice and very understanding. They stayed nice and far away from our rear ends. So all good at this time. As we got ready to leave the horse-drawn wagon two teams up starting playing their music. It started with that Rocky Top Tennessee song and went downhill from there...gotta love a parade. Here is my view from horseback....
Once the parade got started though, things started to look up. The weather had been a bit iffy but the sun shinned the whole route. We rode for 1 1/2 hours without incident. There were hundreds of people lined up on the streets. People that have houses along the route, have parties and set up tents. People clapped and waved at us. I had a permanent smile (no, it was not a grimace). That part was great fun and made the rest of the day fade. The three horses were just excellent. No shying or spooking at the crowds.
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