Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Everyone Loves A Parade

While Steven has ridden in a few parades, it was to be a new experience for Sage. The first opportunity was missed, the Brewster in Bloom parade....for forgotton reasons....although I am quite sure Steven will recall....but then he's not doing the blog then, is he???

That was in May. I had read on my favorite horsie bulletin board ( fondly named "Code Yellow" by my children.... code words for "Don't disturb Mother when she is reading that site or you will be grounded")...years ago. I read that horses were being sought for a parade in Middleboro MA for Memorial Day....I mentioned it to Steven..."Yes!" before I finished explaining we would have to email for details...

With that complete....realizing I was having company for that weekend, a HS friend from NH, Liz and her friend, Kay. We decided to incorporate the parade into weekend activities for the amusement of my guests....I invited Liz to ride Dazzle in the parade.

Dazzle and Caly are rock solid in parades having done several in the past, and Dazz is just rock solid at anything...including Rock Solid at refusing to move on occasion....Sage was the unknown...the 'wild' card.....

We trailered up to Middleboro in 2 vehicles as Liz and Kay were headed back to NH afterwards. Totally uneventful. We tacked up alongside the only locals who were gutsy enough to participate. A Tennessee Walker, a Quarter Horse and a Paso Fino....Who did manage to break free during the tacking up process and was a rather easy catch...just pranced around a bit with those typical sticcatto steps as Pasos do...the fairies of the equine world...

Off we go to join up with the parade, the 3 locals leading the way thru side streets and the 3 Cape Codder implants taking up the rear: each carring a flag...and Sage had the BIG one!

I don't think I have any photos of the parade, but I did find it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_yk1TGSQRM

The horses are near the very end....See? Calm as can be! The parade committee had decided to divert us off the route before the ceremonial shooting began.....boo hiss...we were actually looking forward to that! But Sage had one more adventure ahead of her....

Safely back at the trailer, horses eating grass and untacked we waited for Kay who had driven Liz's car to parts unknown to view the parade to return with the car...and we waited and waited and waited....Finally, Steven's figitiness got the best of him....he put Sage's bridle back on, jumped on bareback and retraced the route...backwards.

Off thru Middleboro he goes, to the delight of onlookers...a busckskin horse with a freezebrand and a guy astride bareback with eyes bright with the excitement of another adventure is certainly NOT something you'd see in downtown Middleboro....they got LOTS of applause....and finally found Kay too, just where we saw her on our way thru the parade the first time.

I guess she is a bit gullible as she told Steven she had learned that the parade was coming back! and she was waiting!!! Ha ha ha, Kay extends a hand to Steven to get on Sage....what??? Um, don't you have a car to bring back? I think she was disappointed that Prince Charming was not there to rescue her...( Kay was now part hombre as she had taken a short trail ride with Liz and I the day before: on Dazzle)

Back at the trailer, around the corner comes Steven on Sage.....with Liz's car not far behind...

How's that for a round up?

Monday, July 5, 2010

If Ya Got It....Show It Off....Sage goes to Equine Affaire

Oh! The preparation!!!! Equine Affaire Springfield MA November 2009: not quite 6 months under saddle.....Well then: there's a leap of faith!

EA is a heavily attended equine event where people oooh and ahhhh over everything equine...and they shop....they shop like a fashion junkie in NYC....Everything equine is well represented at EA....and I freely admit: I go every year, a true addict.......but have never brought a horse with me.

Everything but the kitchen sink: Into the trailer!!! Honestly, she was FAR more packed than we were.....right down to the kick chains that Steven fashioned for her from a set of hobbles. She had taken to POUNDING the daylights out of her stall walls in previous months....Didn't want her to give Mustangs a bad name and all....Just simple hobbles, fleece lined of course for the Princess....with short pieces of chains...which she promply destroyed during her visit to EA.....but the walls were intact, which is all that really matters after all. They remain, to this day, on the floor of the tackroom floor of the trailer.

Getting Sage settled with the other Mustangs was completely and totally uneventful. You'd think she was a world traveller...she handled it that well! Among other Mustang owners was a young lady and her mom, previous adopters of Sage.....with their mustang. Linda, and her daughter: Monique: who is here: riding the mare she adopted and never got to ride:



Monique had a large photo album with various photos of her Mustangs she'd adopted, including Sage, and dozens of photos of special moments she'd shared with her current Mustang...who's name escapes me. Her with her Mustang:




After The Pfizer Fantasia on Thursday night....a big musical, and quite the dramatic presentation of the horse....The Mustang enthusiasts ( lunatics )assembled in the coliseum, with their sleepy Mustangs for an impromptu riding session....right around midnight. We all rode, even those without a horse with us, and rode each others horses....We Mustang people are so diverse!





Even yours truly got in on the action,.....this guy was SO Cool!!!



We left the Coliseum, Lord knows what time....'bout when when they started the tractor to drag the ring for the next day's activities.....Got the kids settled in the barn and headed off to bed ourselves. Our fearless leader, Kim, had everyone's contact info and was the go~to person if there was any trouble overnight....The reason we got some good rest!
Our fearless leader Kim riding Johwye....I got to ride him too in a most bizzarre bareback saddle: What a gentleman:



Demo tomorrow with more than a dozen Mustangs participating....let's hope Sage's training holds up to some wild applause!!!

The Aftermath

Apparently, in the days after Sage's shopping trip to Jewelry by SR http://jewelrybysr.com/StoreFront.bok there were customers who asked what I am sure was a question posed with hesitation lest they be viewed as a total wierdo.....Did I see a horse leaving or entering your store .....? The answer revealed just who was the real whackjob.....Thankfully she didn't leave any evidence of her presence....she's been known to get an bit, er, um, runny with exercise.

Some examples of Steven's new equine jewelry fetish...








There's more stuff.....and it's in a brocure entitled: GET NAILED....but I am challenged and don't know how to get it from htere to here......

She's a Shopper...and Steven is a Whackjob....

Steven's always finding the most obscure and bizzarre things to try with Sage. Good thing she has that Mustang " Can Do" attitude...a lesser mare would have most likey murdered him by now.

Steven is a jeweler, who's latest venture is equine jewelry. He's dragged his employees into it. I have not personally witnessed any kicking or screaming, which tells me that they know what I know: If you can't beat them, join them. Apparently they are real troopers....last time I was in the store they were working on various equine related pieces. That being said, we have now established that they: Alison and Beth, have resigned themselves to the fact that Steven is an equine addict....of the highest order.

Steven also has no bounds.....just like the venture into my breezeway mentioned earlier....the more insane and twisted the idea may be, the more appealing it becomes to him. So one day, I am dutifully at work...and I know that Steven is on the loose, invariably it will have something to do with Sage. My cellphone alerts me that I have a message.....never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see this picture message...



Alison, who was diligently working at the time, took hold of her senses and fled the store.....There is to be NO GOOD to come of a horse in a jewelry store, with all that glass.....

What happened next, is not to be believed! She checked out all the carats and went out the front door. Yes, it was that uneventful.....Who woulda thunk it....ever.