Lily, The Lovely Bright Molly: Bowdoinham Christmas Festival Pony Parade

Pam young, Meagan Floyd, Cierra Baxter, Mary Ann Wilson,
Cindy Ross, Amy Beem, Brooke Clancy, Mary-Jo Foley and
our gracious host Susie Reinheimer

Today was the Bowdoinham Christmas Festival Pony Parade. An event that I look forward to doing every year if I can. This year I recruited some of my friends from Upper Pond Stable to come ride in the parade, Mary-Jo, Brooke, Cierra and Meagan. The weather forecast for the morning of the parade was not very good, calling for snow or freezing rain. As luck would have it, the forecast was wrong and though the morning was a bit cloudy, there was no precipitation and it turned out to be a lovely sunny day. To get all of my friends to the parade, I made two trips with my trailer. We were all gathering at Susie's house and this year we would have the biggest turnout we've ever had. There were 19 riders this year. I brought Buckshot and Marie over to Susie's around 9:00 am and left them tied to her trailer with full hay bags. Then I went to Upper Pond Stable to pick up Scarlett and Tinkerbell. Cierra's mom Pam was coming to the parade to help us get the horses ready and to help pass out gifts. So, Cierra rode over to the Susie's house with me and Pam took every one else in her van. We unloaded Tink and Scarlett and brought Marie and Buckshot over to my trailer so they would all be together. Tink is very attached to Marie so we tied them on the same side of the trailer together and put Buckshot and Scarlett on the other side. And then the decorating began. Cierra's grandmother had made her the most wonderful costume! There were bells and bows and tinsel and garland everywhere! With so many horses, the mule and even one mini donkey, all the equines were a little excited. Mary-Jo's Arthur pulled off her trailer but he ran right to Marie and was easily caught. It seems all the horses love Marie. There was one rider bucked off due to what we figure was separation anxiety on the equnes part but neither horse or rider came to any harm. Tinkerbell was quite excited also but Cierra handled her very well and there was no problem.

The ride though town went without incident. We rode to the town office and Library first. Buckshot was being very good for Brooke but it was very funny that he was quite scared of the mini donkey! Apparently he does not understand what his daddy is. Marie was quite fascinated with the donkey. From there we went down to the Town Land restaurant where the owner judged our costumes, the winner to be revealed at the gather at Susie's house after the parade. Then we rode down to the General Store and our last stop was the Bowdoinham Elementary school. From there we rode back to Susie's house. After we took care of the horses and mule, we went into Susie house for drinks and deserts. I had hung a small mesh hay net with a full bale of hay in it between Marie and Tink. Tink had never eaten from a small mesh net before and was a bit confused. When we were in relaxing, Pam happened to look out and notice that Tink was just standing there watching Marie eat. We were laughing at Tink not knowing what to do with the hay net. When we went later to get ready to leave, we found that Marie had hooked her bridle into the net and pulled it the net off the hook by Tink. So, the problem was that poor Tink could not reach the bag! Susie was having a party later that evening that we were coming back for. So, when we were ready to go, we loaded Scarlett and Tink in my trailer and Susie let me put Marie and Shots in stalls in her barn. I would bring them home after the party saving me one trip. I dropped Scarlett and Tink at Upper Pond and then went home and quickly baked a cranberry, walnut pie for the party later.

Fred and I went back to Susie' around 6:30 pm. I'd brought Marie and Shot's supper and fed them quickly then we went in. The party was wonderful. It was a pot luck supper and there were a lot of people there so a lot of great food. Just a wonderful evening that ended with a fun game of Jeopardy with all us forming 3 teams, the Quarter Horse, the Shires and the Morgans. The Morgans who trailed throughout the game won in the end by getting the final question correct. A fun day and wonderful evening with equines and friends.