Hallelujah Fest

Our horses are not on our property. We have them stabled at a place about 10 minutes away from us. It's a nice place with lots of land, numerous pastures, and stalls for 16 horses (and they are building more). The owner is a Christian man who is very giving.

Every year in the fall, he has this enormous Hallelujah Festival for his church. It's held the last Saturday of October. Since our horses moved there last November, we have heard about this fun annual event. Mr. Barn Owner asked my girls to work at this year's festival, leading horseback rides. Of course, they jumped at the chance.

They have special horses brought in for this event. These are horses that are considered essentially "bomb-proof," meaning they don't ever get spooked, are laid back and easy going, and won't run away, go fast, or get excited. Perfect!

The day started before 9 a.m. I needed a large Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte for this - NOT decaf.

The girls got the horses saddled and started warming them up promptly at 9 a.m. People started to arrive shortly after. Horseback rides were the biggest draw.

Beautiful daughter #1

There were also four-wheeler rides - they had four four-wheelers, driven by adults, and following trails in the enormous side pasture where the geldings usually spend their days, and back into the woods. There was a Jeep, specially modified and with a "Granny Clampet" seat up in the back for more folks. This went into another section of the woods and, as evidenced from the tires, through lots of mud. There were volleyball games, a dunking booth, a space walk, and a hay ride. There were also gospel bands performing throughout the day. Lunch was hot dogs and hamburgers. Supper was pork steaks and rib eyes with choices of baked white or sweet potatoes and corn on the cob. They had a dessert-judging contest. Everyone attending got their name in the bucket for door prizes - two souped up bicycles, two beautiful rocking chairs perfect for front porch rocking, a gas grill, sets of cast iron cookware, iPods, and more.

Beautiful daughter #2

I couldn't stay for the entire day. The girls and I were there until about 4 p.m. when the horseback riding ended. I had a Pampered Chef cooking show to do. My in-laws brought the girls back so they could enjoy themselves and everyone ate rib eyes. Steve even went by after work to eat. The day ended with an enormous bonfire.



The only money collected on this day was for the dunking booth. They collected over $500 and it will go to the church's youth group. Many of the youth were from a neighboring city (where the church is located) and had never EVER been out in the country or ridden a horse. These children had a ball!

Beautiful daughter #2 giving a city kid a ride

What a wonderful day! I can see why everyone at the barn kept telling us about the Hallelujah Fest! We can't wait for it to come again next year! And next year, I'll make sure NOT to schedule a Pampered Chef party on the same day!