Reddy/Dee Indian Wedding ....

Oh my goodness….. so many things happening here at Dragonfire Dancing Horses! I almost don’t have time to think let alone catch up on my blogging. :o) I know I said I would get on here and talk about our last Dancing Horse outing – the wedding. Where should I begin?!
We arrived at the Arboretum an hour early so we had plenty of time to get ready. Both girls had other plans so I brought along my new friends, Deb and Jessica. They’ve both been taking riding lessons from me and wanted to come along and help and I graciously accepted their offer. I couldn’t have done it without them. Deb commemorated the event with the camera and took many beautiful shots. You can see them if you go to our facebook page and go into the photo gallery and find the “Indian Wedding.”

Jessica helped me get Gato dressed up in his new red and gold baraat costume. He looked beautiful. He looked so grande with his new red plume and shiny new costume. I was so proud of him as he stood quietly with his ears up taking picture after picture after picture. I would have to say there were more cameras at this event than I’ve ever seen before. Paparazzi EVERYWHERE! All the wedding guests came up one by one to get their picture taken with the baraat horse and to pet him. He only snorted on one poor lady. I was mortified. She was in her nice wedding outfit. She laughed and said …. “That’s ok …. I have horses, too. I’m used to it!” Phew!!

The excitement didn’t begin until Kevin (groom) actually came out. I found out that he was actually ALLERGIC to horses. He never mentioned that the last time we got together for the rehearsal. Apparently he had a bad reaction to touching Gato the last time he rode him. His sister told us about it but said he had taken a lot of benedryl and antihistamines that morning to try to counter an allergy attack. What a great guy to go through all this for his new bride. I also found out that he was not only allergic to horses but was TERRIFIED of them as well. I was so impressed that he agreed to go through with all this for his new bride and family in order to not disturb the tradition. He whispered to me as he went to get on that he was going to try not to actually ‘touch’ Gato at all if it was possible. I just laughed. I could tell he was nervous. I tried to reassure him that everything will be ok ….. but part of me was kind of nervous too since there were SO MANY people there and I’ve never done this before.

Well, he got kind of stuck as he went to get on Gato. His sari/gown/costume or whatever you call it wouldn’t go AROUND to saddle. Uh oh ….. Luckily Gato stood very quietly while we all tried to jimmy rig his outfit so he could sit on top of him. We had another round of pictures with about 100 cameras firing off. Then the little ring bearer came out and they threw him up in front of Kevin. I looked at him and said “Sweetie, you hold on TIGHT to this saddle horn right here, ok?!” He just blankly stared at me. Deb asked his mom if he was going to be ok. His mom said this is day three of this wedding and this kid is so tired he has no idea what’s going on around him. He’s shot. Well, he looked like it. He was a zombie. At least he was too tired to be afraid. :o)

Then they said – “OK! We’re ready!!” ….and the music started. I started slowly leading Gato and maneuvering him behind this little mini van they had with music blaring out the back end. The big crowd of people gathered behind us. This is something I learned was a bad thing. The next time (if there ever is a next time) we will know to have the crowd go IN FRONT of us not behind us. That was making Gato incredibly nervous. At first he was actually having a lot of fun. He loves loud music and instantly started dancing. The Indian music sounded a bit like Spanish music. It had the same beat ….. so he started prancing on the line right away. Unfortunately, Kevin didn’t realize Gato was actually dancing and he got nervous. Gato’s dancing is sort of bouncy. Then when the wedding party started dancing and throwing their hands in the air and yelling ….. that’s when Gato lost it and spun around to see what was behind him. I was holding him as tight as I could but I couldn’t stop him from spinning around me. The little ring bearer was still a zombie …. No reaction. Kevin was like me ….. scared but still smiling. Both of us knew the show must go on so neither of us could show that we were in the least bit upset. Through his smile he asked me ….. um … are we ok? Through my smile I told him back ….. Yep, we’re doing ok. Everything is ok. Then the bride’s mom came up and suggested that maybe the wedding party go IN FRONT of Gato instead of behind. PHEW! I’m so glad she said that. They all filed around us and went in front and Gato instantly calmed down. We decided to continue on a little ways further down. We never did make it all the way around to the alter like we were originally supposed to. Kevin and the little ring bearer ended up getting off before we hit the gravel part. Kevin continued on foot dancing with his friends and Gato and I continued on behind everyone dancing in hand. The whole thing lasted about 15 minutes ….. it was so very fun. :o) I hope we get invited to do it again for another wedding. I think Gato enjoyed himself even though he got spooked momentarily by the crowd that one time. :o)