Horses & Halloween

My wife Mary Beth is a crafty person. By that I mean, she has always been good at crafts. Her mother was good at crafts and Mary Beth grew up in Girl Scouts and has always enjoyed craft projects. She has shared this passion and skill with our children. For as long as I can remember, she has always allowed, actually encouraged the kids to do crafts. This always makes a huge mess, sometimes ruins household items in the process, usually doesn't get cleaned up or put away for weeks and for these reasons, drives me crazy. If it were up to me, the kids would never have done crafts. First, I'm not crafty. Second, I don't like the mess. And third, I don't like the clutter created by the finished product. So, thank God for my wife and shame on me!

This past weekend was a perfect example of how this wonderful tradition has positive outcomes and creates lasting memories. As everyone knows, Mary Beth and my daughter Elizabeth are avid horsewomen. They ride all the time and often go to shows and hunts. Saturday was the most recent hunt they participated in, but this one had a twist – it had a Halloween theme. Riders were encouraged to wear costumes and the horses were encouraged to wear costumes also. Now lots of companies make costumes for people, but none make them for horses.

No problem for my crafty wife and daughter. Last Thursday, they spent hours working on costumes for themselves and the horses. A pirate theme was agreed upon. Easy in our house as we are huge fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, so we have lots a pirate paraphernalia around the house. The hard part was altering this material for a horse. Gold coins, medallions and fake gem stones were sewn to horse blankets. Pirate hats and rasta-braids were customized so they could be attached to the horses heads. And the final touch, the horses were actually painted with white paint to represent their skeletal structure. They really went for it! And the judges rewarded their efforts with a first prize for best costumes – congratulations ladies!

Frost on the Pumpkin Hunt

Thank you to my wife for her passion for crafts and her perseverance in spite of my protestations over the years. Our children have clearly benefited from all of her efforts and will remember these experiences for a lifetime.