His first all over bath came first. He did better than I feared. Felt good to give his tail and mane a good soaking in antifungal shampoo.
This morning after hitching we stopped at the vendor who was doing body painting. I had arranged with them the night before about painting stars on Rowdy. They made a large star stencil for him. My sister helped me, acting as header. Got the first star on him, then he had to back into a small box area to paint his other side. That went pretty well. I did not know what was used for the paint; it is human cosmetic color and surgical spray adhesive. Supposed to wash right off.
He was pretty good before the parade as long as I kept him moving. He was too keyed up to stand. We did lots or circles, which was good for him. They had us with the riding club but I refused that location. The biggies don't like the cart and some are scared of little horses. (The US Army had a caisson there and the officer was mounted separate from the caisson team; his horse thought Rowdy/cart were going to eat him). Ended up just going amongst some vehicles.
He did well as along as the parade kept moving, but when it stopped, he got upset so I had to do circles on the route. People always want to pet the horse, but he was too keyed to allow it.
I think he did pretty well for a first parade. Dog and horse and woman were very glad to get home and relax!
The caisson horses do not wear blinders and I asked the officer about that. He said military horses do not wear blinders; they are trained to do some thinking for themselves and need to see all around them, as though on a battlefield.
This morning after hitching we stopped at the vendor who was doing body painting. I had arranged with them the night before about painting stars on Rowdy. They made a large star stencil for him. My sister helped me, acting as header. Got the first star on him, then he had to back into a small box area to paint his other side. That went pretty well. I did not know what was used for the paint; it is human cosmetic color and surgical spray adhesive. Supposed to wash right off.
He was pretty good before the parade as long as I kept him moving. He was too keyed up to stand. We did lots or circles, which was good for him. They had us with the riding club but I refused that location. The biggies don't like the cart and some are scared of little horses. (The US Army had a caisson there and the officer was mounted separate from the caisson team; his horse thought Rowdy/cart were going to eat him). Ended up just going amongst some vehicles.
He did well as along as the parade kept moving, but when it stopped, he got upset so I had to do circles on the route. People always want to pet the horse, but he was too keyed to allow it.
I think he did pretty well for a first parade. Dog and horse and woman were very glad to get home and relax!
The caisson horses do not wear blinders and I asked the officer about that. He said military horses do not wear blinders; they are trained to do some thinking for themselves and need to see all around them, as though on a battlefield.
