Video: "Share the Road, Horses Paved the Way" parade in Massachusetts today!!

[michaleenflynn]

Awesome event to spotlight road rights for folks who partner with horses for work or pleasure! Hope they make it a yearly event

Video:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201725665359910&set=vb.95711030880&type=2&theater

Photo set:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151666764400881.1073741914.95711030880&type=1

Event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/178847462294151/

Description:

Share the Road Horses Paved the Way Annual Ride/Walk/Driver thru Palmer, Massachusetts in solidarity with horse people everywhere around the globe that depend on and have partnerships with horses in work or pleasure!

Blue Star Equiculture

SHARE THE ROAD! OCT. 26TH DAWN TO DUSK…

Where? At the Burgundy Brook Cafe on the Burgundy Brook Farm, home of Blue Star Equiculture. 3090 Palmer St. Palmer, Ma. 01069

Dawn-There will be native american ceremony for blessing of the horses at dawn, all are welcome to come and share their support in this way. This is a wonderful opportunity to share prayers with our native friends in peace and solidarity with our noble friends of the Horse Nation.

10am- We plan to leave Burgundy Brook Farm and go thru roads in Palmer , thru center of town and loop back to farm.

4pm -Burgundy Brook Cafe will be hosting a buffet especially designed to satisfy with a wonderful homecooked spread!

4pm-6pm Socialize! Make lasting friendships and make plans to see each other again next year!

NO CHARGE…

JOIN US IN GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT!

BRING YOUR HORSES OR JUST YOUR SUPPORT!

BLUE STAR EQUICULTURE BRINGS HORSES THROUGH PALMER ON HISTORIC RIDE/DRIVE

PALMER, MA (October 9, 2013) – Horses will once again tread the historic roads of Palmer on Saturday, October 26.

Blue Star Equiculture is holding its first “Share the Road – Horses paved the way” ride / drive / walk. Horses pulling wagons and carriages or being ridden will wind their way through Palmer on roads once traveled by George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and the Marquis de Lafayette.

The horses will leave Blue Star Equiculture at Burgundy Brook Farm at 10 am, and follow a 5-mile route through Palmer that will follow Main St. through the center of town before returning to the farm.

Blue Star Equiculture’s executive director Pamela Rickenbach says that this event is a long time coming. The draft horse sanctuary on Route 181 has been in Palmer for nearly five years, but the organization is only now finally holding this type of event.

“At BSE, we spend a lot of time thinking and educating people about the horse’s historical role in our society, and encourage the community to bring horses back into all of our lives,” says Rickenbach. “Our first ‘Share the Road’ Drive/Ride/Walk is a concrete manifestation of Blue Star Equiculture’s ‘big idea’ – the idea that horses belong alongside people wherever they are.”

BSE 's “Share the Road” program envisions improving access and safety of horses on roads, which will benefit recreational riders and drivers, commercial carriage drivers, farmers who must use the roads to access their fields with their horses, and the public at large.

For the October 26 event, Blue Star is working closely with Palmer’s Department of Public Safety and Police Chief Robert Frydryk.

Several draft horses from Blue Star’s resident herd of 32 will participate in the drive/ride. The public is also invited to bring their horses in a show of solidarity among horse people for their right to ride or drive on public roads. Horse trailer parking is available at Blue Star Equiculture.

Others who wish to walk alongside or ride in the wagons and carriages are welcome as well.

Prior to the ride, members of the First Nations, who first walked the paths through the area, will hold a prayer ceremony at dawn at the farm. After the ride, all are welcomed back at the farm for food and friendship. Barbecue/Meal (tba) will be available from Burgundy Brook Restaurant.

Troy Phillips of the Nipmuck Nation and Jimmy Dick of the Cree Nation will lead the riderless horses for beloved friends who have crossed over, Caton Zephier and Sally Sorel. Family and friends are encouraged to attend and honor them in this way.

“Both Cha and Sally envisioned creating a sacred ride for horses, humans and Mother Earth,” says Rickenbach. “This ride will forever be in their names, while honoring all horses and humans who have lost their lives in tragic traffic and farm accidents.”

"This is a special day to slow down, share the road, and enjoy the land and town Blue Star Equiculture calls home. Our ancestors traveled these roads and paths this way, with horses alongside them. The horses are still here, and they need us.

We love connecting with the community through the horses, by bringing the horses right to the community." They are after all the best Ambassadors for their work, their history and their kind.

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[Mike_Matson]

Great to see! Thanks for sharing!

[michaleenflynn]

[QUOTE=Mike Matson;7235491]
Great to see! Thanks for sharing! :)[/QUOTE]

My pleasure, Mike!

[Bluey]

Looks like an informative event and one that will be fun for the participants also.

Do you expect some animal rights fanatics to come heckle and have plans how to handle them?

I was reading about one of Temple Grandin talks, this one in Australia, where the question of animal rights fanatics and their protests and their constant propaganda in the media came up.
She said the best is to ignore them best you can.
Extremists have their minds made up and closed.
No one is going to gain anything and will lose time trying to talk any sense into them.
Better spend that time telling the general public our story as good animal caretakers.
The general public are the ones that need to hear it.

Her point, when confronted with all those animal rights extremist myths and propaganda the media is full of, most of the general public will at least know some of what the real story is behind our uses of animals.
This way they will be able to dismiss extremists, with their agenda to eliminate all our uses of animals with the abuse and mismanagement out of context propaganda, missing the bigger picture of all we do so well with animals.

Knowledge is power.
Get that knowledge out there is what Temple Grandin seemed to say.
I agree, keep telling your story best you know, that event a good place to do so.

[TheBarnRules]

I wish I could have seen it in person - what an amazing sight it must have been!

[MistyBlue]

Hey, there’s Alan on Satch!

Great photos!

[Bluey]

Wonderful pictures all those!

Thanks for posting this.

[quietann]

I was at the MSPCA beach ride, but this would have been a great alternative.

[michaleenflynn]

[QUOTE=quietann;7236663]
I was at the MSPCA beach ride, but this would have been a great alternative.[/QUOTE]

How was the beach ride?

Maybe next year they will be on different days, and you can do both

[foundationmare]

very, very cool

This was a great idea and what a cool variety of horses, equipment and riders! I would love to see this happening in many locations. I don’t think non-horsey people get just how many of us are in their midst, and that we’re passionate about our animals and their place in the world.

[michaleenflynn]

[QUOTE=foundationmare;7236939]
This was a great idea and what a cool variety of horses, equipment and riders! I would love to see this happening in many locations. I don’t think non-horsey people get just how many of us are in their midst, and that we’re passionate about our animals and their place in the world.[/QUOTE]

ICAM

What a great idea to expand it - maybe folks here could pass on the idea to their local horse councils, etc.