On Horses and Parades…

In a world ruled by competition, few folks haul to parades anymore.

No matter where my horse is eventually headed, I consider parades a gold mine of good training. For an all-around saddle horse, I make a point of hauling in to whatever local festivities I can find.

If my horse can hold it together among the marching bands, bagpipes, floats, decorated bicycles, painted curbs, manhole covers, stray balloons, hot-rod cars and creepy mascots, he’ll find the average horse show a walk in the park!

 

There’s a lot we can do to make parade day enjoyable, even for an inexperienced horse. First, we want to make sure that he’s broke. Does he understand the word ‘whoa’? Has he learned that waiting might be the most important speed? Is he to the stage that I’m not worried about him, ever?

 

Perhaps he could use a little desensitization? Here’s where the fun begins and my imagination can run riot, so long as I remember to keep my horse safe. Earning trust means never, ever setting him up to fail.

 

Carrying a slicker, dragging a tire on the rope, perhaps walking over plywood or through puddles… At our house, standing at the hitching rail also means playing a weird soundtrack Mike found of Oktoberfest, along with our other ol’ standby, ‘Military Pipes and Drums at the Royal Tattoo’ (thank you, Grandad). By the time we’ve reached maximum volume without wigging out, we’re pretty much ready to order a round of tankards and dance the fling.

 

The Power of Mentorship.

Most important of all, I make sure that my prospective parade horse is accompanied by a bonafide mentor. This is a horse that I know and trust to take pride in the job. Positive mentorship, alone, does much to give the green fellow a positive first day out. Before too long, it’s a matter of wavin’, hootin’ and hollerin’, as the horses play to the crowd!

 

Before we start…

Pick a low-key parade to make your horse’s debut. The oldtimers have certainly earned their right to be in the Stampede and the Roundup. Our greenhorns? Not so much. Most small towns have one-day festivals each summer, providing a more horse-friendly environment. These parade organizers will be happy to have you. Best of all, the gathering areas are usually held on some sort of greenspace where we can warm-up our horses.

 

Next, see to your insurance. Our liability coverage is for $2,000,000 and care is ensured that our planned activity is included in the policy. Many organizers today require pre-registration and proof of insurance on paper before or shortly after we arrive. Be a good visitor and have these things ready to show.

 

Once I’ve decided on a good small parade to start, I’ll begin a bit of specialized training. I start lining up a suitable mentor for my horse. This horse will be a higher mileage animal that I’ve seen in action; he’ll be ridden by someone I know and trust.

 

I’ll begin to slip some desensitizing into my regular rides. Walking over tarps and plywood, getting used to flapping flags, umbrellas and raincoats. Invite some neighbourhood kids over with their bicycles… I’ve decided that nothing, I mean nothing, takes the edge off sensitive horses like a pack of kids.

 

One of the best tools available is youtube when it comes to audio experience. Don’t laugh – even the top mounted police forces use soundtracks of gunfire, sirens, crowd noises, bands and galloping horses to train. The horses listen to these sounds in their regular environment at an increasing volume until they doze at the hitching rail, unfazed. Then, they are worked while the soundtrack continues.

 

Through it all, I work my horses on relaxation cues, such as learning to walk on a loose rein… or bending and flexing exercises… or learning to stretch.  Their nose bands are either loosened or removed entirely, encouraging the horses to yawn and chew to shed stress.

 

Getting a looky ranch horse parade-ready recently, we found some balloons and streamers at the local convenience store, along with yellow ‘crime scene’ tape. These were tied near where he eats and within minutes, he’d grown to trust them while he ate. A quick haul to a nearby heritage site meant that both this horse and his mentor were able to observe draft horses pulling wagons loaded with people. This, only after we’d got both the manager’s and teamster’s permission, of course. An enjoyable day was had… and pretty soon, our green horse felt ready.

 

On the day…

Go with your horse saddled. If the haul is under one hour, it does a nervous horse a world of good to have the saddle put on at home. His back will be warm when he arrives at the controlled chaos that is the staging area of any parade. I’ve made good use of aromatics such as Rescue Remedy, CALM or Pax. I do not believe in drugging horses to handle stressful situations after seeing far too many such animals go on ‘bad trips’. While parades don’t post or enforce drugging rules, such practices are reprehensible and have no place in responsible horsemanship.

 

Pack all your gear, including your own clothing. So often people forget their bridle, or an emergency hole punch. Take a bag of hay for your horses and some water if you’ll be gone for a good part of the day. A thermos of coffee, a cold drink, along with a sandwich, are lifesavers at the end of it all. It’s nice to sit on the grass and enjoy a snack with your partner before loading up to head home. Just in case, throw your schooling cavesson and lunge line in, as well. You probably won’t need it but… you never know.

 

Enter a horse-related division. This is not the place to advertise your business in the commercial section with the floats. One day, it will be possible to carry a banner, your horses the only ones, sandwiched between a noisy float and the demolition derby cars. But not today. That means you’ll be looking to enter the ‘best-dressed cowgirl’ or ‘best-turned-out horse’ sections.

 

You’ll be wearing good, safe gear and clean, but workmanlike, clothing. You’ll want your horse wearing his accustomed bridle and bit. You’ll want to be decked-out in safety, allowing you to ride effectively and dismount unassisted, if necessary.

 

Elaborate costumes, silver bits and my sidesaddle turnout are all earned. These things are considered only on my most trustworthy horses, ones who will not let me down. Before that, it is functional gear for the horse and safe head and footwear for myself, with no exceptions.

 

Arrive in time to have a good hour to warm up your horse before the parade begins. I’ll ask the handler on our mentor horse to pony out my green one. My horse will be bridled and saddled. The mentor horse will calmly get to work, ignoring all scary obstacles and finding some room to settle in to a good working trot. This gives my horse a feel for things, an understanding of the weird customs of this new land.

 

We’ll keep him moving. The aim is to have him eventually quite thankful for the chance to stand. We steer clear of all people preparing for the parade because it is not appreciated to have active horses around while you’re hooking up a fresh team. It is also wise to avoid upset horses or emotionally-charged situations.

 

Keep an eye out for horses and groups that look like they’ve done this before… these are sources of good energy. We’ll keep our horses working and standing near these ones to feed off their confidence.

 

I’ll check my cinch, take my reins back from the pony horse and mount up. I’ll stay nearby the pony horse and just kind of float along. Our horses will be kept walking until it’s time to line up for judging. This is not the place for the argument over stepping on the manhole cover or going alone up over a curb. I want a safe, happy horse who goes through the day learning that he can do this! I don’t ask him to stop and stand until I know for certain that he’ll relish the break.

 

After the parade, my goal is to simply end the day on a good note. I always keep to a walk going back to my trailer. I don’t allow a green horse to hurry or trot. When I step off, I’ll loosen my cinch a hole, tie him safely, then unsaddle. Often I’ll give my horse’s back a spray of apple cider vinegar if we’ve spent a fair bit of mounted time, standing around. This, alone, does a lot to relief any cramping or soreness. If there’s room, we’ll even take a few minutes to graze in hand, off on our own. This is cause for quiet celebration!

 

Sometimes, however, this doesn’t happen. Sometimes we’ll have a truly disappointing day.

 

What to do when you have trouble.

Sometimes, no matter how well we’ve prepared, no matter how well we thought we knew our horse, no matter how beautiful the day, things don’t go according to plan. Sometimes we’ll get the feeling that if we go ahead with this madness, we stand a good chance of getting hurt.

 

If your horse is so upset with the proceedings that he no longer understands you or is on the verge of losing control, don’t fight him. Find a safe place to dismount, put his halter back on and put him in the trailer. You can leave good ventilation for him because when the others leave him, including his mentor, he is going to get very heated up.

 

If he is absolutely good about standing tied, then you can tie him beside the trailer. I don’t recommend it in the event that he somehow breaks a tie rope or gets loose. Remember, you now have the safety of the other parade goers to keep uppermost.

 

It’s OK. Have a coffee. Wish everyone an enjoyable parade and either watch the spectacle or, if there is a safe and enclosed space to do so, put your lunge line and cavesson on your still-saddled horse and send him to work.  If we have had to miss the parade because our horse has come off the rails, we’ll be working mighty hard while we’re left behind at the trailers. We’ll be working both ways until our horse begs to rest. Then, we’ll work some more. He will not get a chance to just chill and relax until he is sweating, puffing and listening again.

 

If all goes well, I’ll remount when the parade goers are done. We’ll ride around quietly as everyone is finishing up and putting their flags away. We’ll do our best to end on a victory. Scarlett was right all along… tomorrow is another day.

 

Afterward…

I like to make my horse as comfortable as possible after he’s carried me proudly through the parade route. He’s unsaddled, groomed, maybe allowed to graze or enjoy a hay bag and water, then loaded up for the haul home. I spend a lot of time hauling my green horses to town so that they can grow accustomed to standing on busy streets while I park my truck and trailer to get groceries or do in-town chores. I’ll even meet friends at a restaurant after the festivities, just so my horse can learn to relax amid the bustle of town.

 

Now, if I’ve had a little excitement, I’ll evaluate the things that caused us grief. In our recent outing with the above-mentioned ranch horse, there was a whip-cracking act in the line-up behind us. To our horses, even the old mentor, this was cause to get them riled. I know that when I get home, I’ll be looking up whip-crackers on youtube for some impromptu hitching rail entertainment. My goal now is to train for the next time.

 

The only other thing that merited a second glance from the green horse was a creepy mascot that kept circling around . I couldn’t blame the horses because I didn’t trust this thing, either.  After all our concerts on desensitizing, the marching bands were no problem.

 

Parading our horses has benefits.

Positives include enlarging our comfort zones and building the trust. Teaching our horses to go to parades is just another tool in our trusty tool box. We always have fun when giving back to our communities. I, for one, love using my best tack without the competitive pressure. Besides, there’s something about going to a parade that makes a mere horse show seem like child’s play.

 

There is nothing but good that comes from increasing a horse’s tolerance to stress. I urge you to give this a try.

 

Tell us about the humorous situations that have come from your days parading. Tell us about the scary things that you and your horse have learned to handle. As always, thanks for reading and if you’ve enjoyed the Keystone blog, please subscribe using the red button on the home page. Cheers for now, Lee.

 

Photo used in above graphic is by Mary Clarke.