Red dun large pony,meadowbrook style cart with brown metal and brass,russet harness. Thinking some gold mane ribbons in her long,thick mane,maybe some sleigh bells?
I also have a green crochet fly bonnet. I had considered the green cooler along with a Santa hat but I think she would be swallowed in that cooler.
I can’t go too crazy, I’ll be working all week and will need to leave early to get there. So no long preparations or shopping will happen.
And,what should we wear? Old style clothes,Christmas stuff? I was kind of thinking old style with sleigh bells and lap blankets,maybe pretend we are in a cold climate on a sleigh ride?
Love your ideas. Maybe some gold glitter hoof polish and gold sparkle spray across the hips. Wrap alternate spokes with green and gold garland.
Have fun in your parade!
They make battery operated Christmas lights that you could bling all over the horse and the cart.
I used those battery powered lights on my wagon and the ponies, but our parade was during the day, and even though it was cloudy and a bit dim, the lights didn’t show up much. The effect is spectacular in the dark, though.
I’m doing a parade on Saturday with my standard donkey and cart. I’m putting a small clusters of poinsettias on the saddle, it won’t interfere with the reins. I’m running garland along the side and back of the seat. A wreath will be smack dab in the middle if the seat back. 
In the basket I’m plunking either a silver or green basket with a couple mid-size teddy bears. I have a some red bows that might be used but won’t know until I see everything else on it. I’m wearing warm clothes of a conservative color and using a lap rug of Christmas colors that I bought at the Dollar store. I have bells, sadly not the true beautiful sounding sleigh bells, but they’ll add a little atmosphere while on parade.
Lots of poinsettia silk flowers and real (if you can strip it off a convenient pine or cypress tree) greenery zip tied onto the harness, shafts, and cart body. Lots of red ribbons all over as well. Don’t goop up the pony with glitter or ribbons - it tends to look cartoonish and silly. I tried it one year and it looked tacky as hell. Never did it again. Just get the pony sparkling clean, and let the harness decorations act as a very tasteful and elegant trim. A set of bells will look nice, but don’t chime very loudly at a walk. Just saying.
I aways wore a white or cream fur coat with a fur headband, red knit gloves with fake fur white trim, and a green laprobe. It looked very festive and wintery. If the weather was warm, I’d dress in a red jacket with a red hat decorated in Christmas greenery. The red knit gloves with a sewn on fake fur trim completed the outfit beautifully.
My carriage was always either a 4 wheel antique trap, or a wicker governess cart, so invariably I always “packed” the back of the vehicle with boxes wrapped as presents, and had a white teddy bear with a big red bow as my “passenger” (tied onto the seat).
My turnout always got rave reviews, and photos of it invariably ended up on the event’s homepage the following year. Here are a few photos from past years, with a pair, and singles. One is a photo taken at one very snowy parade. I was very glad to be wearing a warm fur that day as it was below freezing! The other parades were warmer days that let me wear a rather festive red jacket with my decorated red driving hat. You can see how lots of red and green really look great on a carriage for Christmas. I always clipped the pony/ ponies to present a good appearance. One year I didn’t clip and instead did the mane and hoof glitter on a very shaggy pony - all the silly goop, including white leg wraps. It looked sparkly and “my little pony” goofy …and was the one and only time I did it. 
[QUOTE=Cindyg;8419081]
They make battery operated Christmas lights that you could bling all over the horse and the cart.[/QUOTE]
Love this idea,and the garlands on the shafts!
Everyone has great ideas. I need to stop at Walmart or the Dollar store and pick up some decorations.
[QUOTE=gothedistance;8419202]
Don’t goop up the pony with glitter or ribbons - it tends to look cartoonish and silly. I tried it one year and it looked tacky as hell. [/QUOTE]
See, I think that all depends on your intended audience. I intend to go all “My Little Pony” glittery next week 'cause the kids love it. Our parades here are not what I would call sophisticated, I guess. They’re mostly aimed at little kids, and tacky wins the day!!
I got these lights and these bells from Amazon.
I attached the bells to the saddle with those plastic ziplock fasteners. They make a lovely jingle bell sound and were a lot less expensive than any I had seen locally. I had ordered 3 sets of the lights and ended up with 6 because the first delivery went missing but then finally arrived after they replaced them. So I used 3 sets on the wagon and 1 set each ON each pony!
The parade we’re doing next week is in the evening, so I expect the lights to look fantastic.
Funny, I was just looking at those same bells but in brass/brown.
Anne,thanks for those links. I think I’ll get the lights,too. I’m thinking 3 for my Meadowbrook cart would be about right. One each shaft,one on the body of the cart. Trying to decide between yellow or colored lights.
Please post pictures of your outfit!
Good points on pony turnout- know the audience. I’m in the camp of “less is more”, a few power impact decorations on the cart/carrige with red bows and you are good to go. Like AFS mentioned, if it’s a kid centered parade then a My Little Pony type decorations would be adored by the crowd.
I am all about safety. Don’t use anything in the parade that you haven’t tried at home- like bells. Proof your horse on bells of any kind at home. Careful of things that dangle off your horse unless you’ve tried it at home.
This will be my donkey’s first parade to be driven in so we’ll see how it goes. The parade is a All Horse Christmas Parade. Only horse carriages/cart or ridden horses are allowed so that makes it nice. I wanted to get a wireless speaker and use an Ipod or something to play a few repeating Christmas songs on the parade route but since this is the donkeys first year I’m keeping it simple.
[QUOTE=Doctracy;8419277]
Anne,thanks for those links. I think I’ll get the lights,too. I’m thinking 3 for my Meadowbrook cart would be about right. One each shaft,one on the body of the cart. Trying to decide between yellow or colored lights.
Please post pictures of your outfit![/QUOTE]
Do you mean MY outfit, that is, the elf costume? Or the wagon’s outfit?
Here’s a pic of us making our way to the parade staging area: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100495829002008&set=pcb.10100495829456098&type=3&theater
And here’s a pic of the front of the wagon in the barn as I was in the middle of decorating it: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1044004338964987&set=a.945035365528552.1073741825.100000662933316&type=3&theater
The elf outfit is a very crudely made thing out of green and red felt, held together by a belt that’s actually an old red lead rope with the snap gone.
We have some adjustments to make on those shafts. I got the wagon for the two ponies to pull as a team and hadn’t really used the shafts until this past week.
I really second the idea of “PRACTICE THIS AHEAD OF TIME” to insusre your equine will accept these changes in harness and equipment.
Get your bells out and LEAD THEM while starting the bells ringing!! I have seen horses go crazy when the bells started chiming. You do NOT want bells firmly attached to horse if he freaks out and runs.
The Parade line-up area is not where you train horse with new things. Way too dangerous for everyone.
Ideas to enhance your animal and vehicle all sound like they would be fun to see as a parade watcher. I rode in a drill team that did Parades almost weekly. Glitter hooves were required attire! Lots of sparkle with sequins on our costumes, which audiences likes, so glitzing your horse is going to be popular. Classic look as GTD describes is also quite lovely to see. Just try everything AHEAD, to get animal accepting, know the timing to prepare so you are on time.
Do not add new ideas at the last moment. Can be the straw that breaks horse acceptance level!!
Remember you will be in a new and exciting setting to the horse when getting ready. Not like doing stuff at home, so he might be unlike his normal self. Accept that, be prepared to leave off bells or fluttering ribbons he is jumping from. People will still love seeing you. Enjoy yourself but STAY SAFE FIRST!!
Being well prepared, working animal with decoration ahead of time, should make your Parade experiences a lot of fun.
[QUOTE=Miss Anne Thrope;8419401]
Do you mean MY outfit, that is, the elf costume? Or the wagon’s outfit?
Here’s a pic of us making our way to the parade staging area: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100495829002008&set=pcb.10100495829456098&type=3&theater
And here’s a pic of the front of the wagon in the barn as I was in the middle of decorating it: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1044004338964987&set=a.945035365528552.1073741825.100000662933316&type=3&theater
The elf outfit is a very crudely made thing out of green and red felt, held together by a belt that’s actually an old red lead rope with the snap gone.
We have some adjustments to make on those shafts. I got the wagon for the two ponies to pull as a team and hadn’t really used the shafts until this past week.[/QUOTE]
First link didn’t work. Will you try it again?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GHRvxuOoqs&feature=youtu.be
This is the Fort Worth Parade of Lights from last week. We are in about 18:45. It’s a fun, fantastic parade! We won the Equestrian division AND the Cowtown award this year!
We use garland, tinsel, bells, decorations and have to be all lit up. We have two more parades this coming Saturday, too.
[QUOTE=Cindyg;8419937]
First link didn’t work. Will you try it again?[/QUOTE]
Hmmm, it works for me. The first link is to my husband’s Facebook page, and the second link is to mine. That’s the only difference, but they’re both public, so I’m not sure how to fix it.
Field of Dreams … that parade looks amazing. Our parade is tiny in comparison. We have one next Saturday that’ll be a bit bigger, but not much. Love the lights on the wheels!! Are those separate battery-operated strings for each wheel? I’m going to have to stock up on those for next year!
[QUOTE=Miss Anne Thrope;8420708]
Hmmm, it works for me. The first link is to my husband’s Facebook page, and the second link is to mine. That’s the only difference, but they’re both public, so I’m not sure how to fix it.
Field of Dreams … that parade looks amazing. Our parade is tiny in comparison. We have one next Saturday that’ll be a bit bigger, but not much. Love the lights on the wheels!! Are those separate battery-operated strings for each wheel? I’m going to have to stock up on those for next year![/QUOTE]
It’s a super big parade! Over 100 entries, and all have to be lighted. I think this is the fifth year we’ve done it.
What we did was buy some of those tinsel wreaths and put a battery light pack woven in it. Then zip tie the wreath to the spokes. SO much easier than weaving lights IN the spokes!! And taking them off was really a chore.
Close up pic of me and my boy.
[QUOTE=Field of Dreams Mini Horses;8421741]
What we did was buy some of those tinsel wreaths and put a battery light pack woven in it. Then zip tie the wreath to the spokes. SO much easier than weaving lights IN the spokes!! And taking them off was really a chore. [/QUOTE]
Brilliant!! I need to tuck away these ideas for next year.
Wow!!
