This message is from: "Jeanne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I LOVE doing parades... (so does Sandy North! (J/K) but she IS my official parade photographer) ;-)
Where we live, Berthoud, CO, they have two parades each year, one in the summer and one at Christmas. I love doing both. We die of heat in the summer parade, and freeze our you-know-what's off in the Christmas one. My Hanne is the official parade horse. Check out this website: www.nightwindstack.com their front page shows my kids and I riding in this parade this past summer. I usually drive Hanne. I have been directly in front of the fire trucks, marching bands, a HUGE team of very "spiky" draft horses... where one of them breathed down my neck the entire parade... and I was on my carriage! I've had kids directly underneath Hanne's feet chasing those tootsie roll candies. And every time... thank goodness for my Hanne... she stands so patiently and quiet. This year, the parade was held up for 20 minutes, while they pulled a 3 year old from underneath the tractor that had run him over, in front of us. (not joking!) We did ride this year, but still... we were 'locked in' the crowd, just standing ever so patiently, waiting for the parade to start back up. Out of our three fjords, Hanne is our only "parade" horse. Tirra and Haylee have both been deemed "non-parade" ponies. While the crowd likes seeing them act like fools, we've decided against the wow-factor, and only Hanne gets to go now. In my opinion, not every fjord is parade worthy. While Berthoud parades are fun to do, they are VERY unsafe. They have NO crowd control, let entries throw candy, have no sense of what's safe around horses... AND! My all time favorite... they ALWAYS schedule the parade to go down our main street just as a TRAIN comes directly through town, and they have to stop the parade to let it pass !!! (another reason Beth and Sandy love parades!) (is that NUTS?!) Jeanne Poirier - Buurrrthoud, CO, -5F yesterday AM, 20F today, downright balmy The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
