If you haven’t seen the Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride it should go on your To Do list one day! We fell into last minute tickets the day before and it was paired with a polo match and parachute jumpers right in Saanichton at the Victoria Polo Club- basically in our backyard since we live in Brentwood. It was a marvelous day and a performance to remember. I had never ever seen a polo match except on TV so it was a learning experience and quite fascinating to see these players multi-task on those horses and hit that teensy weensy ball. I still don’t quite have the whole game figured out and because I don’t ride I can’t even imagine how tricky it must be to quickly guide the horse in the desired direction, stay focused on the game and then connect your mallet with the ball. It certainly looks easier than it must actually be.
After the game we were treated to the appearance of 4 parachute jumpers from a plane right above us and their target was bang on in the field. We often see them from our deck but miss the visual of them landing. This is a sport that I haven’t even considered trying- how about you? Have you taken the plunge? I’m not sure that I could, but a friend said she was excited yet terrified for her 40th birthday to try this but upon free falling and then inflating the chute she was disappointed that the euphoric feeling ended all so soon! She said she’d definitely do it again, hmmm maybe I should consider it.
Next we enjoyed two incredible bands, the Victoria Cadets Marching Band and the RCMP Pipe Band which is bag pipes! They were both a real treat to listen to. It brought back fond memories of my high school band days when I marched in the parade and had to play a memorized song on my clarinet while marching in uniform! I loved the sense of accomplishment- keeping pace with my entire row, not messing up my part and making it all the way to the parliament buildings with out tripping or bumping into the fellow marcher in front of me nor dropping my instrument! Seems like yesterday-where does the time go?
Lastly, we were completely mesmerized by the exquisite display of impeccably uniformed RCMP riding gorgeous shiny black horses. The synchronization of the numerous horse and rider was perfection. I couldn’t take my eyes away. The brilliance of the red uniforms and the black horses against the green field was spectacular for photographing. I took some shots, actually a lot of shots so I could share and I even included some that my sister took with her telephoto lens- I need to ask Santa for one of those with all the photos I take these days- hint, hint honey! Have you seen this incredible performance?- if so where were you?
The Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride is scheduled to be at the PNE in Vancouver this weekend and the following weekend. If you have the opportunity be sure to go- you’ll be glad you saw it. They only tour between May and September. If you do, be sure to try to get either a really high seat so you almost have a birds eye view to see the configurations that they make, or a front row seat so that at the end of the show you can pat the horses and chat with the rider- this was awesome! Check out this link for more info.
