Had an amazing weekend. In Greenville, TX, there is a historic street called Park Street. Every year almost all on the street decorates their houses up for the holidays, and they offer wagon rides. I did this last year one night with Lily. It's a really sweet gig for me. They are insured for all the events, and they take the money for the rides, and load/unload the wagon. I get to do the fun part, and just drive.
This year I was invited to give rides both nights, both weekends (fri/sat last weekend, and this next fri/sat). I have been very excited about this, and after the girls did so well in the parade, I was even more excited about it. I was asked to haul as many people as possible, so I had decided to use the hay wagon that I hauled for the parade. I figured I could get 12-14 people each load on that.
Friday night rolled around and we got hitched up and ready to go. I had my helper, Jacob, with me, and I was also babysitting my son and his cousin. Things got off without a problem. I had two happy kiddo's happily bundled in the hay behind me, Jacob sitting beside me watching the horses, and me behind the lines. The girls were stepping well, and not scared of any of the lights/carols/blow up displays/music. They really didn't care about anything. It was great. They were easy to drive, and even broke into a trot occasionally. I tell you, there is no prettier sight (my wife excluded), than a pair of Belgians trotting in step. Simply gorgeous!! The ride is about 1.25 miles long in all, and it takes about 30 minutes to get through it.
On the 4th lap, I started noticing Rachael. She was wearing out. When walking, Pam has a tendency to let Rachael step out and take the weight of the wagon. When trotting, Pam takes the lead and pulls most of it. I now have chains on the tree, so that once they reach the end of the chain, the single horse is pulling the entire wagon. I could see Rachael perspiring pretty good, and by the end of the 4th lap, she was breathing heavy. I gave them a 15 minute break when I got back, and it looked like I had one more ride to go to finish off the night.
That last ride was Rachael's last. She still gave me all she could (like any good horse), but during the second half, her back feet began to occasionally slip, and she started to wander just a tad from side to side. We finished that ride, and then got the girls home quickly to an extra large portion of feed (1 big scoop sweet feed, 1 big scoop whole oats, 1 handful of horse minerals, and 1/4 bale of hay per horse).
The next day, I thought and thought. Rachael went about 1 ride too many, and I intended not to let that happen again. Instead of the 14 people I thought I would be hauling on the hay wagon, it was more like 10 due to how the hay was configured. My red wagon easily hauls 8 people, and so I determined that it would be better on the horses, to haul my red wagon, rather than the big ol' hay wagon. This meant a lot of stress on saturday. I had to get my wagon there, move the garlands/lights/other Christmas decorations from the hay wagon to my red wagon, and be ready to haul people. Jacob and I made it happen, and the result was wonderful. The girls did another 5 rides and neither were wore out at the end. It was much easier on the horses, and we didn't experience a surge in people waiting from the decision. I was very happy about this. Once again, the girls were a dream to ride, and we got to enchant many a young person with the beauty and majesty a draft horse gives.
I have no pictures, but hopefully I'll get some soon. It's hard getting a good picture at night.
So ... as always, if you don't learn anything from your experiences, you're not doing it right. Here's my lessons from this weekend:
1) As a teamster, I am responsible for the welfare of my horses. Other people will want more and more and more from you, but it is up to you, to lay down the line as to what your horses can, and cannot do. Sometimes it means telling people no, or going against their wishes, but you can't sway from the well being of your horses!
2) Rachael is 16 years old. Friday night really showed me that Rachael is older than Pam. Rachael still has MANY good years ahead of her, but that night did remind me that she is getting up there, and that I need to particularly pay attention to her. She's the kind of horse that would follow me till she collapsed, so it is up to me to make sure I stop her when she needs it.
3) Different types of wagons serve different purposes. A big heavy hay wagon, is great for a parade, or a single hay ride with a big load of people. It is not good for a full night of ride after ride after ride. This basically equates to 3 hours of straight walking, pulling the wagon. For this, you want as light a wagon as possible, so that the horses are pulling people weight, not wagon weight. (If that makes sense).
Not a bad weekend. The girls ended up pulling the wagon for 6.25 miles in a 3 hour span of time each night. I can't ask for more.
Also ... I'm VERY glad that they both have shoes! I could not do this without each horse having iron on their feet.
This next friday and saturday I'll be doing the same thing. Looking forward to it. So much fun!!
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