2023 Scone Horse Week Parade
"Kings & Queens" of the Stables
Mothers Day 2022 was the Scone Horse Week parade, part of the yearly Scone Horse Week Festival. I went for a look and was like when my carriage arrives, I want to be a part of it.
April 17, 23 I put in our application to be a part of the WARBURTON ESTATE AGENTS SCONE HORSE FESTIVAL PARADE to be held on
Saturday, 6th May 2023, was themed "Kings and Queens of the Stables."
I booked us in; this is the first outing I could have 3 of us dressed up for a drive. The team consisted of Barry, Blake, Myself, and our most experienced team of horses, our beautiful Percheron X's Gus and Jess.
Thursday, 4th May, we pulled the carriage out for a deep clean and ran into some trouble. We managed to run the 800kg carriage off the tracks in the custom-built trailer. 2 hours later, we had it pulled out with minimal damage, ready for its deep clean and patch to the new marks we had just inflicted.
Friday, 5th May. An Epic Day of prep work. Clean carriage loaded back onto the trailer, along with many ideas on changes to the trailer to prevent further falls.
Wash and Dry of Gus & Jess, along with some green grass in the sun while they dried, followed by rugs and dinner.
Harness, Top Hats and Tails Packed, snacks, water and other bits and pieces, packed into cars and cars hooked up to trailer & horse float, ready for an early departure in the morning.
Saturday 6th May. Today is Parade Day!! I was up super early, at 3 am, to do farm feed up before we left. It's a chilly 6 Degrees
5.30 am, we departed Roselee Friesians with the 2 x cars and trailers & arriving at White Park Scone a bit before 8.00 am. We were met on the grounds by my brother John, who is curious about my whole set-up.
We unload and settle horses with hay and water before pulling the carriage off the trailer. We groom & tack up horses, change them into Top Hats and Tails, then hook horses into the carriage before heading towards the marshalling area for 9.30 am Judging.
The parade starts at 10:45 am, so we have plenty of time to let the horses chill, catch up, take photos & warm up in the sun.
While Gus & Jess are experienced horses, they are still relatively new to me, and I have a limited knowledge base of what they have done & not done. I knew Gus would be fine. He is generally very unfused by anything. Jess, on the other hand, can need that reassurance. But waiting around for the parade to start, they were perfect, just standing and taking in the sights of cars, kids, miniature ponies, people, strollers, balloons and all sorts of chaos around them.
John decided to ride with us for the parade in his farm gear but is eager to ride again; I will look into a spare Top Hat and Tails.
Out during the parade, Gus, as usual, his calm, chill self; Jess was a wee bit looky & forward, but this is her usual self, but she remained present with me with some heaps of noise, semi trucks, loaded with all sorts of beautiful decorations balloons, flags & a marching band. Incredibly proud of my team and how they handled themselves.
We took the opportunity to take some photos and videos of us all dressed up at White Park, as John was happy to play photographer. We then unhooked the horses, got harness off them ( I should've packed a hose to wash them down), and settled them with some hay & water under the big shading trees at White Pack. We got out of our Top Hats and Tails, ordered a takeaway lunch from Phoenix Cafe & Take Away, and enjoyed catching up with John and his young boys; once we were all refreshed and caught up, we packed up, loaded carriage and horses (about 2.00 pm) and then made the trip home.
What a fantastic but exhausting day, we look forward to doing it again next year.
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