I had a great time last Saturday night! I got to give wagon rides at Park Street in Greenville, TX. Park Street is a pretty old neighborhood. They have a historical committee, and each year the entire street decorates their houses, some even play music. On Friday and Saturday nights, they arrange for wagon rides to take place up and down the road. I got to go Saturday night and use Lily, my wagon, and my new harness to give people rides up and down this street. I had the wagon all decorated with garland, a wreath on front, and LED lights all around (I used LEDs because they use so much LESS battery than their normal counterparts and they do not generate heat).
When I got there, there were 2 other wagons set up and ready to go. One had a team of mules, and the other had a team of horses. Their wagons were much bigger than mine, but my horse was much bigger than theirs. J I got Lily all harnessed up and hooked up to the wagon. She had this really calm disposition. Usually before a parade she is itching to get moving. That night, she seemed to be content with doing what I wanted.
The night started off with a parade. It was short, and I hauled a few of the locals as well as my wife, and Riley. After the parade, the rides began. The way the rides were handled was great for me. The Park St. people handled selling tickets, and loaded and unloaded people from the wagons. I just sat there, and then the person in charge would give me the tickets for the people, just so I could keep track of how many people I transported. This went awesome. It was great to just be able to focus on the horse and not have to worry about the other stuff.
The rides were great. The street was lit up nicely, carols could be heard and Lily did just fine walking on her own. She has a strong tendency to want to stay with other horses, and so sometimes as we’d pass the other wagons she’d try to stop, or want to turn and follow them, but it wasn’t anything a strong hand on the reign couldn’t correct.
The event lasted 3 hours, and I ended up taking 4 groups up and down the street. When we reached the last hour, the mules were completely worn out and had to be retired. The other wagon had it’s battery die, and it got a flat. They kept filling it with air but it kept leaking. They continued giving rides though. (BTW. Those horses were gorgeous. They were full sisters, and you would’ve thought they were identical twins. Same size, exact same blaze, same colors. They were great.) Lily didn’t even break a sweat till the last ride. The last ride of the night, they piled 11 people onto my wagon. Lily did great, and when we stopped I noticed that she had actually began to perspire from that ride.
I have to say that this experience was AWESOME! It was great to get to be out and giving rides. I had some great conversations and met some wonderful people. The last group were some dancers that were performing where the wagon rides started. That group sang Christmas carols the entire ride. It was wonderful and really brought the Christmas spirit to me.
Lily got an A on this excursion. There was only one time where she got a bit spooked. While I was waiting for riders, the dancing group began a tap dancing number. Lily was not happy about tap dancing and she wanted to get moving. She’s pretty funny though, anytime she gets like that, I can just wrap my arms around her head, and she’ll calm right down. Needless to say, she had no problem getting moving that time. She also did great at following voice commands. There were a few people that were pretty impressed by how well she was doing with it. She did all I asked of her, and kept things safe for all riders. You can’t ask for more than that.
What a wonderful time. I hope to find more opportunities to do that kind of stuff. Giving rides is a very enjoyable and rewarding thing.
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