RSS
Home
Riding in a parade
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Riding a horse in a parade may seem like a lot of fun, but there are risks as well. Your horse should be traffic safe, not afraid of loud noises, and able to stand waiting for an hour or two before riding. Most parades consist of a long wait before a lot of excitement. In addition to getting your horse bathed, brushed and prettied up before a parade you may also need to lunge your horse to burn off some energy.
When decorating your horse for a parade ribbons in the mane and tail are a good way to add some color. There are many color and sparkle adding products sold specifically for horses, but glitter glue works too. It will wash out after the parade is over and is very inexpensive. Be sure that any other decorations do not get out of hand. Bunting and garland can look cute in the winter but can also slip and scare a horse. It might be best to groom your horse to a shine, and a bit of color with ribbons, then worry about getting yourself all decked out.
There are often fire engines and police cars in parades that sit very quietly until the parade starts which might startle your horse. Interestingly horses are rarely afraid of clowns that might be walking around. Marching bands are not something your horse sees everyday, but they tend to make noise off and on and wander about. That will give your horse a chance to observe them before the big moment. Floats are colorful and have a lot of waving fringe at times, but horses seem to either not notice at all or watch for a bit and decide they aren't dangerous. If you are very concerned you might set flags and things around the edge of the pasture to see how your horse reacts. Remember that a large flag is much more frightening than a lot of small ones or fringe.
Once you are at the parade and waiting to line up and begin, if there is room to do so safely, hand walk your horse around things that might frighten it. Stay in control of your horse and be aware that your horse may go flying backwards away from these things. Don't endanger other people. You don't need to make your horse touch these things, simply to be able to walk fifteen feet away from it without a panic attack.
Bring water and some hay for your horse and some snacks for yourself. If you want to wear a white shirt in the parade, put it on last thing before mounting up.
When there is a mix of seasoned horses and new horses, pair them up - new with experienced - to give the new horses confidence. If it is a huge parade and you will be three or four horses wide, put the newer horses in the middle. Once the parade is on it's way, be sure that you maintain a safe distance from the horse in front of you. Horses are still horses and don't want a strange horse nuzzling their tail.
A good rule of thumb is to leave stallions at home. However I used that rule once only to find out that one of the trusty steeds I had been in many parades with, was a stallion. A variation of that rule is that if no one can tell it is a stallion, it can be in the parade. Some stallions stand quietly and behave better than some geldings. Others want to prance and show off, call to mares and over make a scene. They should definitely stay at home. To be honest any horse making that much of a scene should probably stay home.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
