Park Street Wagon Rides a Success!!

This year's wagon rides were great.  It's always a lot of work getting ready for these.  The horses need shoes, and wagon needs to be decorated, the harnesses need to be cleaned, and let's not forget about making sure the horses are in good shape to perform the work.  Each year this is a lot of work, but each year thus far, the results have been great.

I am very lucky to have an up and coming future teamster as my apprentice for these.  His name is Jacob Riddle, and he helps harness the girls, load the girls, hitch the girls, and then is my header at the actual rides.  He then helps me get them home and put away as well.  When available, he also goes on my practice runs, and this is where I let him drive and learn to really handle the horses.  This is his 3rd year helping me, and he really has come into his own.  I'm lucky to have his help.

This year there were only two wagons for 2 of the 3 nights.  My red wagon, and another wagon pulled by a good team of Mules.  Both of us really have our stuff down, and our horses are very well behaved, so it makes for a very smooth night.  Last Saturday was the last night of rides, and both of us teamsters let the organizers know that we'd keep giving rides till there were no more people.  This was a very busy, and very rewarding night.  We ended up doing 8 laps.  The girls were ready for a break after that many rides!

 The last ride was a cute couple that wanted to do something nice together.  The people selling tickets nearly gave them their money back and sent them away because they felt bad for us giving a ride to just a couple, but I told them I'd be delighted to drive them up and down the road.  As it was the last ride of the year, and all was calm on the road, I handed the lines over to Jacob, who did the honors of driving the girls on our final ride.  He did great, and had a lot of fun doing it.

The final night was also fun because I had some friends come out.  Justin and Cindy Ferguson brought their daughters out.  They wanted to make sure they got to ride with me, so they came early.  The girls got to see the horses and I think they really had a good time.  One of the best parts of doing wagon rides, is watching kids smile and enjoy the horses.  Justin and Cindy are great, and a big thank you to them for providing the pictures below.

Cindy Ferguson and her girls meeting Pam after she was unloaded

The Ferguson's and Pam.  HAPPY GIRLS ALL AROUND!

Once all hitched up, Katie wanted to sit on Pam.  Hames make great handles!

That is one happy girl!

Here's a shot of the wagon, ready to go.