WRANGLING ON THE RANGE #85
THE COCHRANE PARADE
It is the first Monday of September and Canada's "Labor Day"
holiday; it is also the Cochrane annual week-end Rodeo and the Monday
Parade.
True to form for this year, Saturday and Sunday was rainy, and
it looked like the Monday Parade was a big question mark if it would take
place. But come Monday the sun came out and the parade was a go. I had
prayed to the Lord and asked that He give us a dry sunny Monday, and
He indeed did so. From Monday morning till about 2 pm it was dry and
sunny. The Parade was larger than ever - more horses than ever before.
Goldie loaded up in her new trailer there and back just fine. The
"Benderup" trailer gets noticed as it is so different than North American
horse trailers.
Goldie in the prade did her side step and the walk backwards (we
go backwards for about 100 feet or so). She gets lots of clapping from
the people out to see the parade.
The horse group in front of us did some nice weaving in-and-out
patterns among themselves - it sure adds something nice to a parade
when some of the groups of horses do such routines, instead of just
walking in a straight line. And of course there was the usual very varied
outfits of the people on their horses. The theme this year for the parade
was "Pioneer Women" and so many old costumes of pioneer women were every-
where in the parade - the women were able to dig into the past and come
up with some pretty great dresses or work-clothes that pioneer women wore
back in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
From the Griffin Ranch there was Diane, Tanya, and myself, with two
children on ponies being led by their Mom and Dad; insurance policy dictates
no one can ride alone under the age of 18.
Many in the crowd watching knew us and called out as we rode by. Lots of
waving and photo taking. More and more people come to this Cochrane Parade
each year, it's getting quite the good reputation. Many floats etc. from the
city of Calgary come to be part of the Cochrane Parade.
It's wonderful to know that God ofen gives us our requests, even to a
sunny number of hours for a super parade day.
Yes Goldie was terrific today - just in great form, but she was happy
to be back at the Ranch and out with her buddies on the range once more.
Horses need to do things, but they also need to be able to relax with
other horses and just be horses, grazing and relaxing with their kind. It's
a balance - all work and no play makes your horse wish you would go away.
Some work, some play, makes your horse want you to stay.
I was reading in a horse magazine a short article about the wonder of
a horse allowing us to trailer them. They are a herd animal, created to be in
the open, designed to not be confined, as they are prey animals - other
creatures want to eat them. So they have eyes and ears that are designed to
detect animals that want to catch them and eat them; hence "confinement" is
kinda against their nature. They then have to have great trust in us to allow
us to put them in a confined small space like a horse trailer.
Ah the wonder of a creature like the horse, that mankind can use for
so many things. God gave us the horse, and along with the dog, and are truly a
person's friend. The dog and the horse - wonderful blessings to the human
family. And once more for the summer of 2010 we had the blessing of children
coming to the summer camp at the Griffin Ranch, to enjoy the horse and pony.
..........
To be continued
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