ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512260030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
Somewhere between the first and second verses of ``Joy to the World,'' the horses lost interest in caroling.
Maybe they thought the singing was off-key. Maybe they were embarrassed by the Santa hats that had been stuck on their heads. Maybe horses just don't appreciate Christmas music.
Whatever the reason, Shadow was trying to munch on the song sheets, Chloe was stamping her foot impatiently, and most of the other horses were staring off into space or snuffling quietly.
Fortunately, the horses weren't the ones singing.
The riders were. And even if they didn't always know all the words, and even if they were a bit off-key, they seemed to be enjoying themselves quite a bit.
"I want to teach them there's one more aspect to riding," said Hurley Ward, who organized Saturday's horseback caroling expedition through the Penn Forest subdivision in Southwest Roanoke County.
The 18 or so riders - mostly elementary and junior-high age kids - are riding students of Ward's. When they take lessons, she said, they learn to show horses and to put them through their paces. But horseback riding isn't just about competing, she said.
This was the first time they had gone horseback caroling. But the kids had so much fun, and the residents enjoyed the show so much, that they'll likely do it again next year, weather permitting.
"For kids, these horses are perfect," said Hollins College student Tracy Prillaman, who helps Ward care for the horses. She reached up to straighten a horse's Santa hat. "They're really forgiving."
Guess so. Maybe they didn't pay much attention to the caroling - even to ``Jingle Bells,'' with its verse about one-horse sleighs dashing through the snow - but neither did they complain about the Santa hats, or the reindeer antler caps, or the holly garland around their necks.
Although they may actually have had the last ... word.
As one of the riders so eloquently put it:
"Ew, deck the halls with road apples."
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. Andrew Secrist checks out theby CNBhorses while young equestrians sing Christmas carols to neighbors on
Meadowlark Road in Southwest Roanoke County on Saturday. 2. Erin
Saunders (atop Shadow) and Katie Lagueux took turns riding as they
spread holiday cheer. color.