A Special Day

Yesterday July 16th Bill and I travelled to the small town of Dominion in Cape Breton to see our oldest son Robert in the RCMP Musical Ride . This was a very special moment for us for several reasons, first that it was our first time seeing Rob take part in the Ride as well as our first time seeing him ride a horse . Secondly my parents were there to see him as well , they were thrilled to be there and they even announced their presence which was really special for them . My youngest sister and her husband were also there and my other sister was there with her granddaughter so lots to cheer him on .  Now I should mention that yesterday was anything BUT ideal conditions for this event , it was pouring rain and a strong wind off the ocean ,it was an outdoor event in a baseball field that was just a few feet from the Atlantic Ocean and you could see the breakers were reallllllllly high with the wind we were experiencing . So I guess you would think we came prepared for such weather ,well think again , when we left home it was dark and threatening but the forecast was for cloudy skies with sunny periods and a temperature of 26 C. I did wear a sweater and took a jacket but no rain gear ,wrong decision ,I had to wear a sweater that Bill had in the car as well as my own and the jacket and still I was cold , it was only 12 but with the wind it felt even colder !  Our drive to Cape Breton did involve some rain but nothing real heavy and it looked like it was clearing in the direction we were heading but upon arrival in Dominion the rain started in earnest and unfortunately did not stop all the way through the performance but they did not cancel as several thousand people had turned out and were braving the elements to see the show and as the saying goes "The show must go on"  We did find limited shelter under a canopy that was over a stage for the musical performance that preceded the show but I have to tell you the truth I was soaked to the bone and frozen ,yes frozen in July , I was trembling with the cold as my pants and jacket had absorbed all the water they could but you know it really didn't matter I still enjoyed every minute . Ok you are probably saying by now ,  enough already we want pictures . I did take pictures but it wasn't easy with hands so cold they didn't want to push that button so forgive me for the quality and quantity of the pictures .

Now isn't that a sight to see , just so impressive ,I believe there are 26 horses in the Ride ,I'm not 100% sure but I think Rob is the fifth horse from the right and the horse has a white star on his forehead , he is a very large horse and just handsome as you will see in a picture I will share just a little later .

They are into a routine here and I want you to observe the crowd in the background with their umbrellas and raincoats sitting along the sides of the field , at least they came prepared  ;-0You may not be able to tell it is raining in this picture but I can assure you it is raining very hard with sideways rain !

You can see here that the field is starting to get chopped up pretty bad from the horses and they have some difficulty in this area and two horses slip but thankfully don't fall .

I'd like to introduce you to my handsome son Rob and his horse Steele , Steele is over 17hands high and the second tallest horse in the Ride , his brother Sam is just slightly taller . This picture was taken before the performance when they were preparing the horses for the show .

This is my favorite picture , this is after the show , we took my parents back to the stables so they could see Rob and as you can see we are all pretty happy . My Dad is 91 and has been around horses his entire life , raising and racing Standard Bred horses and my Mom has tagged along to the races as well so seeing the Musical Ride with their grandson taking part was realllly special for them . I was just so proud of Rob , he worked so hard for this and did so well , he has been experiencing some back problems lately so I was rather concerned for him but he did fine .The final picture I want to show is of Rob with Bill a very proud father .

I hope you enjoyed seeing some photos of the ride , the next show we will attend will be an inside performance with  the possiblity of taking some better pictures :-)