Having long admired the American Saddlebred being shown in parade gear, I wondered what all went into the process of preparation for this beautiful class. I am also lucky enough to live fairly close to a World’s Champion Parade Horse, Paddyngton’s Mark of Distinction, or Marcus to his friends. Holly Armstrong, Marcus’ owner, trainer and exhibitor graciously agreed to let me watch her transform him and ask a lot of questions along the way.
First, a little background on Paddyngton’s Mark of Distinction and Holly Armstrong. Marcus was bred to be a very competitive Saddlebred, being by CH El Cortez, the colorful son of Chubasco and 5 gaited WGC Belle Elegant. Holly has owned Marcus for 8 of his 11 years, and he has also shown in the Park division in addition to Parading. He is a 3 time World’s Champion Parade Horse, and a 4 time World’s Champion in Saddle Type Western Equipment. (Make that 5 time WC in Saddle Type Western Equipment....Marcus won again in 2018) In 2014, Marcus was the model for Breyer's 25th Anniversary edition of its Breyerfest horse. Marcus was in Lexington Kentucky at the Kentucky Horse Park as an Ambassador for the American Saddlebred Horse at Breyerfest. Holly, of Howell, Michigan, has taken Marcus to parades, shows, expositions and generally made him available whenever the public has asked. She has been showing parade horses for over 20 years, but they weren’t always American Saddlebreds. Of course, everyone is in agreement that Saddlebreds are ideally suited to the parade division.
Although I’ve seen Marcus show in Parade classes before, I’ve never seen him up close and personal. My first impression was that he was a very large, imposing, handsome fellow. According to Holly, nearly 17 hands of imposing! And that’s probably a good thing, as a horse of smaller stature could easily be overwhelmed by 160 pounds of silver studded bling. Paddyngton’s Mark of Distinction carries off the role of Parade horse with great finesse. Here is how the transformation takes place.
Paddyngton's Mark of Distinction lives at
Meadow Reflections Farm in Howell, Michigan.
This week, he was at the ASHAM Horse Show in Lansing, Michigan.
Three feet started, one to go.
Holly uses silver metallic duct tape to start the process on Marcus' feet.
The tape is applied in pieces, but goes all the way around to cover his feet.
Holly makes the mane ribbons in advance. They have flowers and ribbon bows and their colors match or complement Holly's outfits. They can be re-used and are stored in see-thru plastic totes.
Marcus' mane gets sectioned off into four equal parts,
with a small rubber band placed at the top of each section.
A short length of sparkly silver pipe cleaner bent in a "V" shape is inserted from underneath the mane right above where the rubber band was placed, then goes up and around the top of the ribbon. This holds it securely, blends right it, and makes for easy removal.
Today, Marcus is wearing four ribbons in his mane, but he can also have three or five ribbons.
This custom made saddle rack on wheels carries and stores all of the parade gear.
First comes the black and white corona pad, followed by the breast collar. A serape is then placed across the corona pad, making sure it hangs evenly on each side. The parade saddle comes next, and is hoisted on by a person on either side coming from the back. This covers up the serape straps and just lets the silver portion show underneath the saddle.
This is a saddle made by Ted Flowers, a well known parade saddle maker. Great details went into the tooling on the leather fenders and seat, and every inch of the silver has some type of marking. The silver horse head motif is repeated throughout this saddle. Holly says it is very comfortable.
The saddle horn and fork have a lot of detail.
You can also see the reflection of the cameraman in the fork.
Every inch of the cantle has a design on it.
The girth is attached, and the breast collar is fastened to the girth.
Notice the swivels at the ends of the fenders.
The stirrups, or tapaderos, definitely have a left and a right!
The tapaderos are attached using the swivels, and this allows for more comfortable
leg positioning for the rider.
Marcus relaxes while a tapadero is attached on each side.
Even the tapaderos have a faint design etched in them.
It's back to the hooves, and now it's time to add some real sparkle.
Spray adhesive is used over top of the metallic duct tape.
A craft ketchup bottle with an enlarged hole helps direct the silver glitter onto the hoof.
Did you know the glitter comes in all sorts of colors. Marcus had purple feet one time,
but he prefers silver.
It takes a while to cover each area and apply the glitter.
Once the basic glitter is on, Holly applies more adhesive spray and uses a few sprinkles of a larger size glitter. It catches the light and adds even more sparkle.
The finished feet.
Marcus wears a tail brace to make that perfect parade tail.
The hip drops are added next and this attaches to the saddle on one end,
and on the other end, a crupper goes under his tail.
Longer tail ribbons are attached with more pipe cleaners at the top of his tail
and further down his tail to hold the ribbons securely.
Marcus' bridle has a Mexican charro bit and face chains with more etched details decorating the silver medallions. The reins are made of silver chains on the part closest to the bit.
Here is another view of his bridle and his almost completed tail.
Holly and Marcus always share a quiet moment before the bridle goes on.
Some last minute adjustments on the curb strap.
The entire process took about an hour and 15 minutes.
Holly has 22 parade outfits, some being vintage and others are newly made. This is a new suit, which Holly embellished with silver and gold patches down her pant legs and on the sleeves of her jacket. A sparkly belt and black hat completed the outfit. According to Holly, they don't make rhinestones the way they used to, and the old suits were made to last.
Ready to go present the American flag at the beginning of the
evening session of the ASHAM horse show in Lansing Michigan.
Practicing in the warm up ring.
Here is a good look at the whole outfit.
Another pass around the warm up ring.
Marcus parked out and relaxed for a moment.
Something caught his eye, and he turned his head to look right at the crowd.
Paddynton's Mark of Distinction knows how to show off.
Here he is presenting the flag during the National Anthem.
Marcus is all business.
A few minutes later, Marcus and Holly re-entered the ring
for the parade class.
Going the second way of the ring.
Marcus was called into the line up at the parade trot.
The judge was checking out Marcus.
Making a victory pass comes pretty naturally.
Marcus showing off his consistent performance.
Finally on his way out of the ring and loving the applause.
I don't have any pictures of the reverse process of removing all of Marcus' gear, but it went pretty quickly. The first step was to remove his bridle, so he could stand quietly in his halter. Then the tail ribbons, and not a single hair was lost when the pipe cleaners were untwisted, releasing the ribbons. Next to the mane, the small rubber bands were stretched and broken and the ribbons slid right out and were tucked away in their plastic tote. Off with the tapaderos and back into their flannel storage bags, then the breast color, hip drops and tail brace. Next was the saddle, serape, then the corona pad. Last came those fabulous sparkly feet. Scissors were used to cut through the duct tape at the back of Marcus' hoof, and the tape peeled off in 5 seconds per foot. There wasn't a sign of glitter anywhere. All in all, he was back to square one in under 20 minutes.
This was certainly a fun post to write, and I definitely learned a lot, and came to appreciate just how much works goes into the transformation of a parade horse. I hope the next time anyone has the opportunity to watch a parade class, they will do so, and please give a big round of applause for the efforts of the horse and rider. Saddlebreds thrive at the applause, and the entire team that helped ready the horse deserves recognition. A big THANK YOU to Holly Armstrong and Paddyngton's Mark of Distinction for letting me tag along, sharing her methods with me, and allowing me to watch two seasoned pros show me how it's done!
Here is a look at Paddyngton's Mark of Distinction
as the 2014 Breyer model for Breyerfest.
Marcus made up in the American Saddlebred mold.
Marcus is even featured on the cover of Linda Dalziel's coloring book!
Marcus meeting one of his fans at
Breyerfest in Lexington Kentucky.
Holly Armstrong has over 20 parade suits. Here are some of them.
And be sure to check out Marcus' matching color schemes.
Purple and silver with matching hooves for Marcus.
Purple and gold
A full view of the purple outfit
Pale pink
Black and pink
Same suit, different day.
Orange and silver
Tangerine with teal knee patches. Check out Marcus' matching ribbons.
Holly says royal blue is her favorite.
Here's another. Notice the matching corona pad.
And yet another royal blue.
Red, white and blue for the 4th of July!
Nothing like a canter in parade tack!
Green and gold
Pale blue
Black with blue
Black with red floral
White and green
Yellow
Black in Silver,showing in Western Equipment.
Notice the lack of ribbons, breast collar, hip drops and serape.
And finally, black with multi colored floral.
This post would have been done earlier, but somehow, for the first time in five years of blogging, I inadvertently deleted the whole thing!. Had to start from scratch again.
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