For all you MK types...

GRUMPY PIRATE · Post by **GRUMPY PIRATE** » Thu May 01, 2008 12:20 pm

Secret underground Monorail?

Shorty82 · Post by **Shorty82** » Thu May 01, 2008 7:17 pm

Whazzup wrote:I'm sorry - I just had to laugh at the image of them loading those big draft horses onto one of the passenger boats to bring them over to Magic Kingdom from Fort Wilderness. :D:
How DO they get them over there - trailer them, ride them, or lead them? Just wondering.

Horse trailer from the Tri-Circle D Ranch to the area behind the Car Barn. It actually is a good distance from the ranch to where they bring them into the park, to far and with the traffic dangerous to ride or lead them. By the time the horses got to the park they'd be tired from the trip over. They bring them in Park 3, which is north of the Grand Floridian. There's a long road (at least when you walk it like I have) that goes from there to the area behind Main Street.

The horses are only out in the morning. The parade scares them so they have to be loaded up and back at the ranch before then.

I've seen the trailer so I know that's how they get them there and I've heard about the parade thing and it fits with the fact the horses are never around from shortly before the parade for the rest of the day.

Whazzup · Post by **Whazzup** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:57 pm

Thanks Shorty - that's very interesting.
We were there last October for MNSSHP and before the parade one of the CMs mentioned that the black horse that the Headless Horseman rides wasn't going to be in the parade that night. He wasn't sure why but said something about them training a new parade horse. With all the crowds at night, flashing lights, screaming, etc., it's amazing they allow a horse to do that parade at all, especially since the headless rider can't really see where he's going.

Zazu · Post by **Zazu** » Fri May 02, 2008 11:22 pm

Whazzup wrote:We were there last October for MNSSHP and before the parade one of the CMs mentioned that the black horse that the Headless Horseman rides wasn't going to be in the parade that night. He wasn't sure why....

Oy, is that headless horseman ever a pain!

Some of those horses are so used to following the trolley tracks they have trouble making the turn into Liberty Square. One night the horse simply jumped over the guests at that point, ran through the crowd, jumped the guests again to get back onto Main Street, and ran right back to the barn! Nobody was hurt, but some guests got the scare of their life. I sure never want to see a flying Belgian from below!

Another night that same year, a horse threw a shoe as he passed the castle. How that 18 pound shoe landed in a crowd without anyone getting hurt I still don't know, but I'm glad.

Most often the big wussies just get tired about half way through and go back to walking. Imagine how frustrating it must be to be quite literally holding your head in your hand while some nag decides not to be so scary?

Ah, NSS PAC... I don't miss it at all.

felinefan · Post by **felinefan** » Sat May 03, 2008 1:07 am

Just curious, but where does Disney get their horses? I was thinking that if you need a horse that doesn't scare easily from noise, flashbulbs, etc., a retired but still useful police horse might be the ticket. Though if you need a specific breed, that may or may not be a problem; most police horses I've seen are quarterhorse/thoroughbred crosses. I used to work for a lady and her daughter who was in the Foothill division of LAPD's Mounted Unit, so I know that police horses do go up for sale occaisonally.

hobie16 · Post by **hobie16** » Sat May 03, 2008 10:47 am

Blücher!!!

GRUMPY PIRATE · Post by **GRUMPY PIRATE** » Sat May 03, 2008 11:41 am

hobie16 wrote:Blücher!!!

Reehh heh heh heh heh!!!

Syndrome · Post by **Syndrome** » Sat May 03, 2008 11:54 am

felinefan wrote:Just curious, but where does Disney get their horses? I was thinking that if you need a horse that doesn't scare easily from noise, flashbulbs, etc., a retired but still useful police horse might be the ticket. Though if you need a specific breed, that may or may not be a problem; most police horses I've seen are quarterhorse/thoroughbred crosses. I used to work for a lady and her daughter who was in the Foothill division of LAPD's Mounted Unit, so I know that police horses do go up for sale occaisonally.

I did an article on the horses at WDW last year and it was fascinating! I'll get Mr. Syndrome to scan it and post it later. They get them from various sources and only keep them for a certain length of time before adopting them out. They have a very limited work schedule too; a pretty cushy life for the time they're at WDW.

We had a behind the scenes look at the Disneyland horses last week, and it's similar there. They get many from the Amish and only keep them five years; most end up adopted by CMs, or so we were told. They had some miniature donkeys too so I'm hoping to do an article on those for Miniature Donkey Talk (don't laugh, it's a real magazine that I've written for before!).

Syndrome · Post by **Syndrome** » Sat May 03, 2008 11:56 am

Duh! He just pointed out to me that it's already scanned and on my freelance writing website:

http://www.barbnefer.com/wdwsent.pdf

felinefan · Post by **felinefan** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:46 am

Thanks for the article. Hard on the neck, though. If I remember right, Knott's gets their stagecoach horses from private parties; they are trained at the park, work until they are about 17 years old (get them at between 4-7 years, if I remember right0, then adopt them out. or send them to retirement farms. The teams are changed every 2 hours, and in the peak season they may have 50+ horses across the street from Knott's (across La Palma Ave.) and in use.

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