Chilli's Mum
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- Nov 7, 2007
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Last night Chilli and I went in our local Christmas Parade. I was very nervous as this was the first real test of all the training we have done and I hoped everything would go well.
I left work early (thanks boss!) and Chilli had a quick bath as she was, predictably filthy when I got home. Then I plaited ribbons into her mane and dressed her roller up with tinsel and bells and completed her ensemble with a santa hat. She was very good apart from trying to eat the tinsel. Then we walked down into town, nearly caused two traffic accidents as passing motorists craned their necks to catch a glimpse of her as they drove past!
I relented and let her graze a little on the oval while we waited for the start and she was quickly surrounded by children who were desperate for a pat. Then we were on! I followed santa who was in a vintage car. The parade included the country fire service vehicles and police cars with their sirens and lights going, some farm implements and hot rods and a big group of primary school children with banners and balloons.
Chilli made a little friend who insisted on walking with us. The little girl admitted to me that she was too scared to go up to santa so I suggested that she tell Chilli what she wanted for Christmas and Chilli would pass on the message to Santa. She thought about this and then very seriously addressed Chilli and told her what she wanted.
The parade went well and Chilli was great except for a minor heartattack when she spotted the giant jumping castle. Afterwards she was inundated by children wanting to have their photo taken with her - it makes you feel pretty good to know that my little princess will feature in a lot of people's photo album's!
Overall I was very pleased with her as she has probably never seen so many people at once before and it was very noisy. Hopefully next year we will be able to do the parade in harness!
I left work early (thanks boss!) and Chilli had a quick bath as she was, predictably filthy when I got home. Then I plaited ribbons into her mane and dressed her roller up with tinsel and bells and completed her ensemble with a santa hat. She was very good apart from trying to eat the tinsel. Then we walked down into town, nearly caused two traffic accidents as passing motorists craned their necks to catch a glimpse of her as they drove past!
I relented and let her graze a little on the oval while we waited for the start and she was quickly surrounded by children who were desperate for a pat. Then we were on! I followed santa who was in a vintage car. The parade included the country fire service vehicles and police cars with their sirens and lights going, some farm implements and hot rods and a big group of primary school children with banners and balloons.
Chilli made a little friend who insisted on walking with us. The little girl admitted to me that she was too scared to go up to santa so I suggested that she tell Chilli what she wanted for Christmas and Chilli would pass on the message to Santa. She thought about this and then very seriously addressed Chilli and told her what she wanted.
The parade went well and Chilli was great except for a minor heartattack when she spotted the giant jumping castle. Afterwards she was inundated by children wanting to have their photo taken with her - it makes you feel pretty good to know that my little princess will feature in a lot of people's photo album's!
Overall I was very pleased with her as she has probably never seen so many people at once before and it was very noisy. Hopefully next year we will be able to do the parade in harness!
