GALION–Three local girls are hoping it doesn’t rain on their parade.
Adalie Flick of Galion, Ivy Schifer of Sycamore, and Megan Young of Bucyrus are “saddling up” for the Pegasus Parade in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday. They’re riding horseback in the annual event, a mainstay of the Kentucky Derby Festival.
“I’m very excited but I’m also very nervous about taking my horse in a parade,” said Adalie, 14, who will ride her American Quarter Horse Toby. “But I feel like we have a pretty good bond. We have a pretty good connection. We work well together.”
Joining her are two other equestrians who also board their horses and train at S & B Performance Horses west of Galion. Ivy, 15, will ride Katie, while 11-year-old Megan will sit in Tilly’s saddle during the two-hour march down Broadway Street that starts at 3 p.m.
“I am excited for the chance to travel out of state with my horse,” said Ivy, a sophomore at Wynford High School and the daughter of Tim and Charma Schifer. “It’s also exciting to get such a performance opportunity that is just for fun.”
The girls were invited by their trainer, Samantha Lambert, owner, and manager of S & B, to ride in the parade with her and three other members of an equestrian drill team from Sydney, Ohio. They have been busy practicing, even cantering their horses while standing up and carrying American flags.
“They spend the most time at the barn and I believe them to be responsible enough to handle a bigger trip like this,” said Lambert, who is trailering the four horses to Kentucky for the group.
“I am pumped to be in such a big parade,” said Megan, the daughter of Jared and Brooke Young and a sixth-grader at Wynford Elementary. “I think it’s a great opportunity and am honored that my trainer asked me to ride in the parade with her equestrian team.”
“Loving Louisville” is the theme of this year’s parade, considered to be one of the Kentucky Derby Festival’s largest events. Pegasus is a tradition dating to 1956, filled with marching bands, colorful floats, and equestrian units along its 17-block long route.
It will be Adalie’s first trip to Louisville, so she plans to hit the trails near Taylorsville Lake on Saturday. The eighth-grader, the daughter of Erik and Emily Flick, has been riding for five years and has been a regular competitor at the Crawford County Fair.
She has had lessons on her bay-colored horse for three years now and loves spending time at the stables on Snyder Road, even if she’s not riding. “It’s definitely my main sport, just spending time with him out at the barn.
It’s so peaceful and calm out there.”
The team is wearing matching black riding pants, boots, and hats for Pegasus, led by a 35-foot-tall helium balloon of the mythical, winged horse. If the weather is chilly, they selected zebra print tops. Otherwise, they’re going for tank tops with silver sequins.
Either way, the weekend is sure to be memorable for the young riders and their trainer. And legendary, too, just like the Derby itself.
