Walnut-Hill

Presentation for awards in the white-fenced ring. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

“What we have here is a very hoity-toity event,” I said to myself as I walked into the Walnut-Hill grounds.
Walnut-Hill is an annual competition of horse-and-carriage and the driving thereof.
It’s a chance for the participants to display the huge amounts of money they have invested in horse-and-carriage, the means of transport before the automobile.
I attended with friend Karin Morgan (“CAR-in”), with whom I attended college in the ‘60s.
Karin is a horse-person, and I always wanted to take my wife to Walnut-Hill. But my wife died April 17, so we never got to go.
It was supposed to be an offset to all my railfanning.
I went with Karin. Horses are involved, so Karin was somewhat interested, perhaps more so than my wife would have been.
For me it was a chance to try my new camera-body, and cull material for this blog.


They better hope the wind don’t blow! (Photo by BobbaLew.)

Walnut-Hill seemed comprised of two competition areas, that is, aside from the food-tent and concessions, which occupied a large third area.
There was a large white-fenced ring where horse-and-carriage could go round-and-round — so-called “work the ring.”

Photo by BobbaLew.

Working the fence-rail in the ring.

Photo by BobbaLew.

The railroad is blocked, and it ain’t rail.

Another segment seemed full of distractions to spook a horse, a covered-bridge, a water-crossing, a faux railroad-crossing, etc.
As a railfan I inspected the railroad-crossing.
They weren’t rails, although they appeared to be four-feet 8&1/2 inches apart, standard railroad gauge.
They appeared to be upturned 2x4s painted silver.
There were lowered crossing-gates, but not from any railroad I’ve ever seen.
The gates were too short, and had too much red on them.
The railroad itself was blocked by saw-horses painted WHF-RR.
Could the 20th-Century Limited pass those saw-horses?
White folding chairs were set up on low embankments overlooking the competition areas. It was hardly the grandstands at a major sports-venue.
Soothing conventional music wafted placidly over the public-address system. It was hardly Rock or Heavy-Metal. “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” “In Your Easter Bonnet,” and “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey.”
I think I even heard “How Great Thou Art” as I was walking out.
Carriages paraded serenely around the ring at “slow trot,” “working trot,” and “strong trot.”
No “hot-to-trot.”
In all cases trotting but at a faster pace.

Photo by BobbaLew.

A hat fit for Queen Elizabeth II.

Once in a while a horse might break into a canter. This was abominable, and deducted points.
Judging was on appearance and how well the horses obeyed.
The people riding were extremely well turned out in dapper period clothes. Top hats were apparent, as well as florid hats fit for Queen Elizabeth II.
As I set about to depart, the “Unicorn” class began.
I wondered if I’d see unicorns, or horses with fancy cone hats.
“Unicorns” were teams of three horses pulling a carriage, one horse ahead of two.
So for some reason such an arrangement was called “unicorn.”
There were only two unicorn teams.
As the unicorns assembled, one lead horse got “hot” = excited, and started pulling to the left.
Altogether I was there about two and a half hours, longer than I expected.
Was it worth going to?
I guess so, although I almost bailed because of sadness over my wife dying.
I was afraid I’d have a difficult time dealing with the reality of it all, but that didn’t happen.
Karin stayed there longer than I.
I wonder if she saw the carriages drawn by four horses, the most regal horse-and-carriage presentation.
Most of what I saw were carriages drawn by two horses, or worse yet two ponies.


A carriage drawn by two Norwegian “Fjord” horses. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

• A “canter” is the pace between a trot and a gallup; almost a gallup.
• A Norwegian Fjord horse has a stand-up mane with a dark center, and looks like a mohawk haircut. Some horses had braided manes.