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Princess Leia, a two-and-half-year-old, 1,400-pound
Clydesdale, has dreams of someday being a pacer and racing in the Little
Brown Jug. She is learning to pull wagons by starting out on something
smaller like a racing sulky. Riding in the sulky behind Leia is her
trainer, Clem Lee, who has been working with her for the last seven months.
According to Greg Nobis of Del City Stables, when
Leia was purchased, she was an unruly, 1-year-old wild herd bound filly,
but thanks to Sheri Thompson, barn foreman and animal care specialist, she
has become a gentle giant.
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Horsing around in city
streets is usually prohibited, unless it involves participants in the
annual All Horse Parade. The 33rd installment of the parade will march
through Delaware starting at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9.
According to event
organizers, the parade is one of the largest east of the Mississippi River,
and it serves as a lead-in to the upcoming Delaware County Fair, which will
take place Sept. 15-22.
“Tom Homan, Delaware
city manager, told us that we host the largest event in Delaware,” said
Diane Winters, a coordinator of the parade.
Winters said when the
parade began in 1986, there were 50 to 60 horses entered into the parade,
but in recent years, the number now “floats between 300 to 500 horses.” She
said the total number of horses each year is dependent on the weather and
the day.
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Winters said she was
once told by Bill Lowe, former Delaware County Fair manager, the group is
the luckiest committee ever by having their own window in the weather to
put on the event. She said there hadn’t been any rainouts in 37 years.
The highly charged
horse parade is a three-mile route beginning at the county fairgrounds main
gate on Pennsylvania Avenue, east to North Sandusky Street, south to West
Winter Street, west to North Liberty Street, north to Lincoln Avenue, west
to Euclid Avenue and north to the fairgrounds.
According to Winters,
the parade showcases 350 to 500 horses each year, pulling in 50,000 to
90,000 spectators from all around the world like Canada and Australia.
Winters said Debbie
and Gary King have announced the parade for over 20 years. She said with
Gary’s recent passing, he will be honored in this year’s parade.
“When you look out at
the streets, they’re standing six to eight people deep,” said Bill Fisher,
who has been raising horses all his life and helping with the All Horse
Parade for about 14 years. “It’s a good way to get the fair kicked off.”
Fisher raises draft
horses and usually enters them and a wagon into the parade.
According to Fisher,
people will set up tents in front of their homes, put out lawn chairs and
invite family and friends to watch the parade with them. He said some make a
game out of it by marking numbers in chalk on the road and betting on which
numbers the horses might drop some road apples on.
“It’s the best put
together parade anywhere,” he said.
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