The Rose Parade Equestrians will be having an open house in Los Angeles, Calif. Horse2Heart will be attending the Rose Parade EquestFest Parade Horse demonstrations. It will be held Tues December 29 at 11AM in the Los Angles Equestrian Center Equidome.
Parade horses need to be extremely calm by nature and trained to remain that way. Trainers will be putting the parade horses through their paces and the public is invited to watch this rare sight. Riding in the parade tests the limits of a horse’s ability to stay focused on its rider. Sometimes rose parade riders have had to ‘exit stage left’ with the help of officials when the horse they are mounted on gets overwhelmed by crowd noise and massive moving mountains of flowers.  Sometimes Veterinarians can give the horse a “margarita” to mellow it out and keep them on the parade route.
The EquestFest Show at the LAEC Equidome will feature demonstrations by various groups; trick ropers, Calvary, drill teams, stagecoaches, mid-evil sports and more extreme riding. We usually spot movie stars and celebrities enjoying the shows too. There will be 20 equestrians units in the 2009 Rose Parade.