DNC 2008

Sorry for the lapse in updates for the last week or so. School is obnoxious and work has been crazy. I finally have time to update the blog, at 2:30am.

The Democratic National Convention is in town and because of that not only I, but also Cody, have been working all weekend. That is me to the left and Eric, my co-worker's husband, on the right. Cody took the picture from his wife's carriage.

Eric was my "rider" tonight. Basically he was there to run interference. His job was to keep people out of the horse's face, as crowd control, and as muscle should anything "crazy" start going down.
And what could go down? Well, so far a pipe bomb and a few riots. And to think it doesn't "officially" start until tomorrow. Our owner is unimpressed so far and has opted out of coming down to work tomorrow. This unusual circumstance does allow for a little time for Cody and I to see each other awake and allowed for a few photos to be taken.

This weekend I was driving Dolly, a big Clydesdale-Belgian cross mare. She is just shy of 18 hands high and is a lovely flaxen sorrel with full stockings and blaze face. She is "particular" but is a "been-there-done-that" kind of horse. She prefers to drive herself and for the driver to sit back and enjoy the ride. She is most "particular" at harnessing time requiring a gentle hand when setting the saddle and britchen, otherwise she gets grumpy. We got along OK once I figured out how to leave her alone. Oh, and horse cookies help too!

Moonlight, the white Percheron mare, and Mike (seen in previous entries) were out also as they are the most quiet and steady of our horses. Isn't this a great shot of Moonlight?

Cody took some great shots of the D&F Clock tower that stands on the corner of 16th and Arapahoe. The sunset really made it look lovely this evening. And he also got a nice picture of one of the Police riot vans that was cruising around the area. The cops in riot gear were hanging out the perimeter of this vehicle and looked like they were having a fairly good time. There are also patrols of police in packs of 12 walking perimeters around each block. There are more motorcycle and bicycle cops and then the 50 mounted patrol. In other words, there is a LOT of police supervision!


Things got a little hairy yesterday when someone was found with a pipe bomb which was quickly destroyed in a contained manner. A few riots broke out at the Convention Center earlier today but luckily we were out well after that mess. I am glad we will get to miss tomorrow's chaos. It was nice having little action tonight but unfortunately business was as slow.


I will be glad to bypass work and visit with Annie tomorrow. Morgan and I are going to have a nice time with that. Maybe I can get some pictures of Annie in her new harness tomorrow. I hope to work her on ground driving over the next month or two and maybe I can even hitch her up to a training cart sometime. We'll see what pans out!