Millarville Races 2011! The ladies sidesaddle race

Friday July 1st was Canada Day here and I trucked down to a little hamlet called Millarville. They've been having horse races there for 106 years and this year they decided to include a ladies sidesaddle race to celebrate the tradition & history of the races.

We had an absolute blast! Everyone got dressed right up (I spent HOURS ironing my darned linen habit...but it was worth it!) and we paraded around the grounds until it was time for us to go.

All of us ladies dressed up for a group photo.

There was a lot of people and the weather was perfect. After singing of the national anthem and a musical ride, it was our turn.

And we're off to do our "post parade" past the crowd.

This pony is an absolute star! Love him!

The official race was originally meant to be a gaited horse race but seeing that only one person brought a gaited horse, they changed it to a 350 yard trot race. Some of the ladies were on younger/newer horses and they weren't too sure about going full out. We did our parade past the grandstand and then it was back to the start line. Well off we went but Brigit would NOT trot!! I tried absolutely everything to get her to trot, to no avail. We cantered sideways with our head tucked to our chest and did everything BUT trot. We ended up 3rd though and we even got a little trophy!

On our way back to the start line. Eddie & Brigit make such a cute pair and he sure doesn't have any trouble keeping up with Brigit's long legs!

Back to the start line to get ready to go.

And we're off!

I have to say the best part was after the "official" race, one of the other gals and I decided to stage a second "unofficial" race. We turned around and let our horses fly, galloping full tilt back past the grandstand with the crowd cheering! We definitely caught everyone by surprise! It was so much fun. I think Brigit thoroughly enjoyed herself too. (I'm also happy to say my new, slightly smaller, hat didn't blow off!)

I laughed when my friend's mother commented on the video of us galloping, she said "You two girls just can't go out in public, can you?! The challenge was to be ladylike for less than an hour and next thing we know...." (meant in a joking manner of course).

I'm working on getting the video of us galloping so I can share it on my blog., I just don't have it.... yet! I'm hoping I can get some more pictures too!