Wednesday, December 19, 2012

shy's parade debut

I was way more nervous about how we were getting to the parade then the actual parade itself. I know if I am on the ground next to Shyloh, she is pretty comfortable and not spooky. But how we were all getting to the parade. . .

The plan was to drive Notch and Clutch with the hitch wagon and pony Shy off of them. The rest of the parade participants from Jaime's barn would also be riding their horses to the parade line up point. This was a 45 minute horse ride. Eek!

Could my out of shape chub of a horse keep up with two giant drafts? For 45 minutes? I had no clue. I have never pony'ed her before. I could only hope that she would just go with the flow and not decide to plant herself. Nervewracking!

The fact that we would be taking roads didn't bother me too much. Shy has never had a problem with traffic. . . the only thing she ever did when she saw cars or trucks was stop. She can't just stop while being tied to two moving drafts and a wagon! That wouldn't end well for her!
Put the bows in at the barn
Well, when we got to the barn, Jaime discovered Clutch had pulled a muscle or something in the mud and she did not want to hook him to the wagon. So Jaime's barn owner hooked her two Haflingers to the hitch wagon. And I sat in the back with Jaime and held on to Shy. 

Shy put up a pretty meek effort at not wanting to go forward. But Kyle got out a driving whip to tap her on and Shy caught on to the whole point of ponying real quick. After Kyle got back on the wagon, we had another horse stay on Shy to keep her moving. I took this crappy little video. Jaime took a bunch more from her phone and sent me them via text, but I couldn't get them off my phone. Sad face,
Besides the two Haflingers, there were six other people on horses in our entourage. We trotted pretty much the whole way there: over railroad tracks, past jerk drivers who wouldn't slow down, mailboxes, yard decorations, machinery in yards, and a ton of other potentially scary things. Shy did get wide eyed, but never spooked. She was awesome!!

When we finally got to the line up point, Shy promptly found some grass. 
Nom nom nom
I decorated her in bows, jingle bells, garland, battery powered lights, antlers, and red polo wraps. She was mighty cute! 
There are mini lights wrapped around her halter, but they are hard to see.
Shy could have cared less about the fire trucks honking and making their fire truck noises, air brakes, all kinds of lighted floats, tons of people, and cars.

Once the parade started, Shy was beyond amazing! She finally started blowing out (never once during this whole day did she make her "thinking noise"), but her head down, and walked the whole parade without a problem. The people didn't bother her, the candy being thrown didn't bother her, and the floats didn't bother her. Shy kept up with the wagon and all the horses. I was so proud of my little mare! She is a parade pony!

15 comments:

  1. Wow, congrats Allison!! Shy looks so relaxed in all those pictures :)

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  2. Wow! Excellent! And next year she might be pulling a little cart in the parade :)

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  3. Go Shy the parade pony! Well done you two :)

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  4. You look so pretty Shy, nothing embarrasing about your outfit. Well, maybe the antlers. Way to go surviving a parade, your Mom too. I imagine my Mom having a heart attack if we did that.

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  5. Yay for Shy! And you! It's interesting to me how different horses handle new sights and sounds. I think putting your horse in a parade is the ultimate test, and Shyloh passed with flying colors.

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  6. What great work you have done with her, congrats. She looks adorable for the parade!

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  7. I'm very impressed! What a good girl and she looks beautiful in her holiday finery.

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  8. Sweet!! I helps when there is also lots of other horse friends to help Shy along the way! But what a journey in general, great job you 2!!! Love the pics and lights!

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  9. What a great experience for everyone! You are so smart to introduce Shy to all kinds of things, like this! She will be 'bomb proof' when you do begin to drive.

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  10. Shy you are such a star - looking mighty pretty too!

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  11. Just look at your face! The pride and love you have for your pony just shines out! Adore this!

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  12. She is well on her way to being a bonafide bombproof horse!! You look so happy. Both of you look happy to be exactly where you are.

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