LONDON ON THE MOVE
Our Fab Four have done a fabulous job promoting the fjord horse at the London New Year's Day Parade as those of you who have visited & seen the photos can see. Their costumes on the theme 'London Moving' were a magnificent effort & were true 'variations' on the Theme'. We have had many messages of support and congratulations since they 'appeared' at the Parade. We hope you enjoy this, our video of The Day & the atmosphere of the occasion starting from the midnight celebrations during which Our Four were hopefully in bed.. Here are extracts from each of their experiences:
PETER & ELLIE WILLIAMSON
We rose at 5.30 on New Year's Day. Venturing out to the stables to see what mess the terrible twins had got into over night. The rugs would keep their bodies clean but legs & neck maybe not.. Surprisingly they were both clean.
We arrived at Stratton Street just after 9 to find a parking problem- so many boxes & trailers in a small space. After 45 minutes & a bit of shunting we managed to find somewhere to disembark, right outside café Nero.
The horses were unloaded & the boxes of tack which had to be passed through the cab of the lorry because we had to shut the loading ramp to tie the horses up roadside. If we tied them up on the other side their bums would have been in the windows of the Café & people could not get past on the pavement as the road was still open to pedestrians. Ellie and I got our costumes on & we were ready at 11.30am as requested. Ellie had designed & made the costumes for both ourselves & the horses. It took her about three weeks & it was all done with a poorly hand. She had an operation on her thumb & wrist in October.
We set off in the main parade at 12.15 from the Ritz Hotel. The crowds were 10 deep in places, many taking pictures on all sorts of devices. We rode on round Piccadilly Circus which was absolutely packed with people, as far as one could see there were faces of all denominations craning their necks trying to get a glimpse of what was going on; then on to James Street, lower Regent Street & Pall Mall all full of people watching the parade. We had time on occasions to stop & let some of the spectators meet the horses & stroke them.
Soon we were moving down Whitehall & stopping at the Cabinet office for a conference with the crowd outside.
The Parade came to a halt at this point so we took the opportunity to work the crowd, especially the children. One little girl was fascinated by Vietta's mane and kept running her hands through it. We introduced a lot of people to The Fjord Horse that day. Then we were off again past the Cenotaph which we duly saluted and into Parliament square under Big Ben. At this point the main parade turned left, the horses were let through the barriers to the right. We were immediately mobbed by spectators who wanted to have their pictures taken next to the horses. We moved off to Horse Guards Parade for more pictures by the official photographers, our families & the general public. We spent about three quarters of an hour walking round the parade quadrangle having pictures taken with different back grounds from in front of the main building, to posing in front of the statue of Lord Wolsley on his large plinth. We then made our way to the top of the Mall for our walk down the sacred mile on our horses.
The whole area was open to the general public so you had to be alert for people running over to the horses to pet them and have their photos taken next to them & loads were taken! We arrived in front of Buckingham Palace some forty minutes later and proceeded slowly, because of the crowds, towards the central gates of Buckingham Palace. We were constantly asked about the horses and 100's more photos were taken. Our groom Kelly made a path through the crowd some 10 deep to get us to the gates for yet more photos both official & general. After about five or ten minutes we moved off towards Green Park to Constitution Hill and along the sand track used by the Cavalry. Then we turned for home back up the lower part of Piccadilly, which was still closed to all general traffic, to Stratton Street. We were in the saddle for about four hours and arrived back at our box at 3.45
We were on our way home by 4.45, tired but with very many and happy memories of the day that had just passed.
JENNY TROTMAN & STACEY JURY
We were very lucky to be able to take both Holly & Dora to London for the parade this year, and our preparation began in November.
We found that the Underground Electric Railways of London were the first company to employ women. In March 1915, a temporary policy of 'women substitutes' was passed, & women were recruited to fill the jobs of men who had been called up to fight in the First World War. Our Golden stations were both open at this time & so our theme was born! It encompassed everything, London moving, our golden horses, the WW1 centenary & a cheeky nod to the suffragettes!
After an eternity of late nights & sore fingers from sewing the horse's tube sign exercise sheets, the big day finally arrived. We were up at 4am (there's no late night party when you take part in the parade!) were at the yard just after 5am, on the road by 6am & in London by 8am. You cannot imagine what it is like in Stratton Street, which is the base for All The Queens Horses, until you have actually seen it. It is nose to tail with lorries & trailers & is open to the public at the same time! We were parked outside the Mayfair Hotel (who kindly let us make use of their very posh toilets!) & had a large number of their visitors coming out in their slippers to have their photos taken with the horses whilst we were getting ready. At the same time, we also had the marching bands warming up in the next street so it was very loud!
At about midday we made our way along Stratton Street and on to Piccadilly for the start of the parade. In front of us we had the War Horse team and we were being followed by a dance troop from Texas. We had a short wait at this point whilst all the groups in front of us started the parade on then we were also on our way. All of the Fjords were very well behaved although on their toes at times. I know that I have my friend & helper Lynden Barrow to thank for keeping us calm at this point!
Along the route we made regular 'meet and greet' stops so that the horses could talk to the crowds across the barriers. One of the best moments had to be seeing the face of a young disabled boy light up when Dora sniffed him. At these stops we also spoke to the commentators about our horses & our costumes. One unsuspecting commentator had Dora leave him a nice steaming present which caused much merriment in the crowd!
The end of the parade seems to come round very quickly. My arms & cheeks ached from all the waving to the crowd. We were able to take the Horses to Horse Guards Parade where we had some lovely photos taken and met even more people.
We then headed off to Buckingham Palace. On the way we were ambling along The Mall chatting & greeting members of the public. I still can't believe that we rode our horses in London as if on a hack in The New Forest! As we got closer to Buckingham Palace we were surrounded by people. We did eventually get to the gates for a photo but it took quite a while because of all the people wanting either a photograph of us or with us.
From Buckingham Palace we headed up Constitution Hill, where we were able to have a lovely trot along the sand track which runs along the side of Green Park heading towards Hyde Park Corner. We then went around the edge of the park & back onto Pall Mall & Stratton Street where we started chatting about the parade eager not to forget any of it.
It was truly a wonderful day that we lucky enough to have been a part of.
Thank you to everybody that made it happen.
Lyn Moran