Help Me Figure out how to Ride my Horse Down the Aisle

[One_Two_Three]

Hey All! I’m getting Married in October, yay! At the farm where I keep my OTTB Maxwell.

It’s of course, every horse girl’s dream to ride their horse down the aisle. But dreaming and doing are two totally different things, that’s for sure! Maxwell is trusty and steady, and I assume once he was used to having a big fluffy piece of taffeta he would safely carry me down the aisle.

But I’m reaching out to the COTH world…has anyone else done this? Did it work? I’m thinking an alternative would be to just walk by my horse’s side if he absolutely won’t have me on his back with the dress on.

I imagine the process would be similar to that of desensitizing for anything else in his life…thoughts?

[HPFarmette]

Congrats. Sorry to say that I have not seen this go well. Attended one (outdoor) wedding where the bride tried this. And have seen unfortunate incidents on YouTube…Maybe your horse is more mellow…and you will desensitive effectively, but remember that not only your dress will be a “novel stimulus” that day…lots of other things too.
If it were up to me, I would try to have a reliable horse handling friend bring Maxwell to the ceremony to “stand up” for you, but then back to his stall. I think you might enjoy your wedding day more that way…just my humble opinion.

[RiderInTheRain]

I got married in a friend’s barn and even though my husband rides too and my friend has VERY calm and well broke horses (they are used in a therapeutic riding program) we left horses out of the ceremony entirely, although we did take some really nice pictures with a few of the horses before the ceremony in our wedding attire.

It was funny because all of my non-horsey friends/family wanted to hatch some crazy scheme to haul my childhood horse (now belongs to a dear friend in my home state while I live many states away for grad school) over for me to ride or to participate in the ceremony. This horse is also super calm (and has also been used in a therapeutic riding program) but I knew that if a horse was involved I would be distracted by him/her and making sure he was comfortable with the whole situation, so we decided against it which ALL of my horsey friends thought was smart, haha. We did have my dog in the ceremony and that worked out really well because one of my best friends who the dog knew and loved was essentially his “keeper” throughout and when he got too hot and needed to go take a break in the shade with some water and cool down she was able to quietly grab him and take him for that while we continued with the vows. So if you do involve the horse, I think having a horse knowledgable friend prepared to step in and take over is definitely the way to go!

[Gloria]

Are you sure you want to risk steaming poop on your wedding aisle? Just saying… And think about the hall of ladies in their high heels and dresses…

[Maythehorsebewithme]

Did this for a friend:

She wanted pictures of herself in her wedding dress on her horse. The morning of her wedding day, I and another friend trailered the horse to her home, in northern suburban NJ (Fairlawn, in case that means anything to any readers.) Parked on the street, and walked him down a narrow alley (past an air conditioner) to her tiny backyard. Horse was wonderful, but when we tacked him up you could see he thought he was at a show. “Where’s the jumps? Awfully small ring!”

Threw a clean sheet over him. Awaited the bride, who appeared in a big, big white dress glittering with sequins and pearls, huge sleeves, veil, the whole princess shebang. I thought we were dead. Blessed horse did not blink. She got on him (with help), we took pics with the groom and the whole wedding party. His only bad move was his attempt to eat the bouquet (understandable.) Then friend and I loaded him up, took him home, and went to the wedding (a bit late.)

Let me say this: We were young and stupid. In retrospect, very stupid. And the horse was a saint. A saint! I don’t know if I would try this again.

[Guilherme]

Many years ago a friend got married at our place and it was an “equine wedding.” It worked but one reason was that bride and groom wore western riding outfits. If riding togs are worn the risk of problems goes WAY down. The bridal party was also in western outfits of different types.

This type of activity requires a LOT of room and careful pre-planning. It can be done but there are challenges involved.

Good luck in the program.

G.

[IPEsq]

A friend of mine did this on her former campaigner show horse. He did fine because he was used to going places with tents and commotion. She spent a good amount of time desensitizing him to the dress components beforehand.

[One_Two_Three]

This is why I keep dancing back and forth on that thin line between “great idea, hard to execute” and “terrible idea, nooooo”. My Matron of Honor is my barn owner/trainer, so she will be escorting me down the aisle either leading me on his back, or walking side by side with me. He’s a very level headed horse, but yes, you’re ALL right in saying it doesn’t really matter because the situation is a strange one even for a level headed horse who typically doesn’t mind things.

Perhaps I start practicing now and see where we get with it, and make the ultimate decision when we get closer to the date.

For whomever said “do you really want a steaming pile of horse poop on your aisle…”:
The wedding is at a horse farm. poop happens. people will know the wedding is at a horse farm. if they still choose to wear heels to the wedding, that’s not my problem. The reception will be elsewhere, in air conditioning, for the comfort of all. And. C’mon. If my horse pooped down the aisle as we arrived, we would certainly clean it up before walking down the aisle to leave at the end… not trample through it?

Anyhow…good insight so far, I do see and know of some of the dangers and will have to take it into more serious consideration.

[SugarCubes]

A good friend successfully pulled this off…her wedding was at her house, so another friend and I hauled her mare over that morning. The mare was an absolute saint who didn’t put a hoof wrong the entire day. She spent the entire reception grazing in the back yard.

I’ve seen many more instances where things DON’T go according to plan, however, and don’t know if I’d personally ever attempt this!

ETA: Given the fact you’re getting married where your horse already lives, I think it’s less of a risk since he’ll be familiar with his surroundings. If it’s what you’ve always dreamed of, I totally think you could make it work, especially since you have several months of “practice”! Good luck and congrats!!

[RockinHorse]

@SugarCubes

ETA: Given the fact you’re getting married where your horse already lives, I think it’s less of a risk since he’ll be familiar with his surroundings. If it’s what you’ve always dreamed of, I totally think you could make it work, especially since you have several months of “practice”! Good luck and congrats!!

I dunno, in my experience a lot of horses are more undone when their familiar environment is changed quite a bit than they are at a new place

[Foxtrot_s]

I know someone who did it - she looked gorgeous, with a daisy chain circle in her hair. It was held outside in a nicely mowed field so the odd poop would not have mattered a bit…so yes, go for it, after desensitising. Plan B, if you can’t hold it outside, would be to move inside (in the barn?) and have the horse on a lead until you go inside and then take pictures later.

She rode side-saddle!

[sorrelfilly721]

I did it. The horse was quiet, but I drugged him anyway because I knew I would be nervous and didn’t want him jumping on the guests. I had my vet give me an appropriate dose (I told her what I wanted to do) and I made the aisle extra wide. I used a saddleseat flat saddle covered with a black towel (horse was black) and I sat sidesaddle. I had my dad lead me down the aisle with a silver halter. At the alter, he handed the lead to my “horse attendant” and he helped me down. She led the horse off to stand behind the bridesmaids. It worked out beautifully.

[cnigh]

I was married at the barn where I boarded.

My mare was amazing. But I didn’t ride her down the aisle. I just had her ready for photo’s. I love that she was apart of my day.

[222orchids]

The part I envision that seems potentially the most awkward would be the dismount. On my best day I sometimes land in a heap when getting off the horse. All dolled up in a ball gown (don’t even tell me you’d try this in a mermaid-style gown), you could get something caught and rip the dress, or slide off very ungracefully. Or get your dress stained and that would show in the rest of your pictures. This sounds fraught with bad outcome and a lot of potential for regret. Have a lovely wedding. Then when you get back from the honeymoon, put the dress back on and take some photos on the horse, when you have nothing to lose.

[Wayne]

Go to Goodwill or Salvation Army and buy a cheap prom dress or old wedding gown to wear as you get him desensitized to it.

[SonnysMom]

As a kid I rode my very high strung flighty Arabian former endurance horse in my poofy 80’s prom dress in a costume class. I was too young to realize how stupid that really was. It all worked out.

Somebody I know from Facebook had horses in her wedding. The wedding was at her home farm. If you scroll down to Denn Piper there are some pictures for the wedding. Hopefully mods won’t mind posting the ad since the horse is available through Turning for Home not an actual sale ad.
http://www.mauimeadowfarm.com/available-ottbs.html

[red_mares]

I have been around ASBs way too long, because my first thought was that this was going to be how to get a balky horse ridden down the aisle of the barn.:lol: Wedding did not cross my mind.

[TMares]

Posing for photos with her AFTER the wedding would be fun- do the normal photos, then Get the reception going, then do some photos with the horses. My Opine

[JustTheTicket]

Are you going to spend the whole ceremony sitting on the horse or will you walk down on him and then get off? Depending on your dress, getting off might turn into a huge, time consuming, ungraceful ordeal. I think pictures with the horse would be cute, but keep him out of the actual ceremony. It’s just safer that way.

[Fairview_Horse_Cente]

My friend was married on her farm. She rode the horse down the driveway to the lawn, with her father leading. He helped her off at the beginning of the aisle, and walked her to the front. I had helped her mount (sitting aside, in a regular saddle) from a truck tailgate at the end of her driveway, out of sight of the guests. It worked perfectly, and was lovely.