Parade of horses

Parade of horses
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

We spent part of the long weekend at my parents' farm (after a cancelled visit for Mother's Day as half the clan in our house was sick). The big draw of the long weekend, at least for Faith and Grampa, was a Parade of Horses at a local historical site. Faith was very excited to help out at the event, at which my dad was the MC.

The basic premise is that owners of different horse breeds show off their horses to the "city folk". My dad brought Suzie, his Morgan horse. She is a gorgeous chestnut color, and is a born model. Think of her as Tyra Banks once the camera turns on.

The day started out with Faith waking up at 7:00 am to ask if she could go out to the barn. After that, we saw her for breakfast and that's about it. She took off at 9:30 with Grampa and Sydney, and we didn't arrive at the event until 1:00 in the afternoon. Faith was happily hanging out with the horses and didn't have too much time for us.

Blake's contribution to the event was getting an older woman (at least 8) to give him a ride in her mini-horse cart, and then racing around the empty event ring, handily beating the miniature horse that was taking a walk through the ring at the same time...likely wondering why this little kid was getting in the way of her relaxing stroll.

When it came time for her to go into the ring with Sydney, she wasn't even nervous! Faith, our quiet, retiring child, was extremely excited to ride Suzie in the show ring (led by her idol, Sydney), in front of a huge crowd. I thought Grampa, as one of the MCs of the event, might shed a tear (as he has been known to do more often in his old age), but he was a trooper too. I swear, Faith has some sort of transformation around horses. She's a different kid!

When it was time to leave, we had to track her down. When we did, she asked if she could go home with Grampa, because he was staying longer. Later on, we went out for supper with Aunt Margaret and the Great-Grands. But she was impatient to get home and go on a trail ride with Sydney (her idol). So, basically, we spent the weekend minus one child. But, it was great to see her so confident and having such a good time.

Although I'm seeing the money that's going to start flowing out of our bank account in the future. No one ever said you get rich having horses as a hobby!