This is a long post, I apologize, but it”s very recent so there is a lot of detail.
The Ride on Center for Kids, Sound Check- March 18, 2026
I was asked by an equestrian center in Georgetown to play at their annual gala; a huge barn dance attended by 1,000-1,100 guests. They use horses as therapy for special needs children, also veterans. The plan was that I was to be their “Wow” moment, helping to move the event from the pre-party segment. cocktails and mingling etc… and lead the mass of guests into the actual evening area for dancing, dinner and entertainment. And then I’d play another song or two, and then march out the other end toward where the flag bearing horses stood. It all sounded very serious, It’ i’s their biggest fund raiser of the year with some big names in music, lots of happy people happy to donate and keep this machine running for another year. It also sounded like loads of fun, they were so excited about it.
So my first thought was “Yeah, I’d love to!” My next thought was “I don’t think they’ve thought this through… horses and bagpipes?” I have had an experience with a team of Clydesdales pulling an old west style funeral hearse with the casket from the funeral home into the cemetery which would be close to a 10 minute stroll and I was to lead them in the procession.
My next thought then was the same as now… “Are the horses going to freak out?” but I was assured that they had been exposed to pipes before and they would be fine. I can just say that it did not go at all well, and even the sight of me while NOT playing made them nervous and wild. I can tell the entire story at some future point but for now, back to this story.
So I asked the same questions to the people at ROCK, and they were appreciative of my concern, but said that the horses were extremely desensitized to loud noises, crowds, and handled the unexpected well. I don’t remember the horse’s name- “Addicus” I think, but they say that he used to pull the cannons at the A&M parades. Also, they planned to blast some bagpipe music for the week prior to further desensitize him and the others. Still, I had seen what could happen, and it worried me more now because there were going to be riders on these horses… maybe kids… so I offered to go there with pipes and play for as long as it took to judge the horse’s reactions. They were even more excited now!
I drove there the next week at noon-ish, and met Suzy. They were still so happy! I was introduced to the staff and they showed me around. There were horses horses horses, it was like ‘Horses R Us.’ They brought the two main horses out-the flag bearer’s horses- and stationed them at one end of the arena, me in the center, and I played for maybe 5-7 minutes. They watched the horses, and I watched them watch the horses. What I didn’t realize was how many people were watching me. Anyone that could stop what they were doing, did, and every camera in the place was now pointed at me. Being photographed or recorded is common, I don’t mind it, but I wasn’t aware of it at the moment, and I was playing for the horses, not really in a performance mode.
I’m fairly certain that each of those video’s is now on someone’s facebook page. I did manage to see one and I’m sure that google will track others down. This is my problem: I would ask that if you ever do happen to see any of the videos, please don’t judge me too harshly. As I said, I was not in what I’d call performance mode, primarily wanting the volume and an assortment of music for the horses and hoping for little or no reaction. I was no where near perfect. I’ve been told that “I’m my own worse critic,” but still I’m pretty sure this was a little rough around the edges. So, I do have to realize that it was really more of a warm up or practice session than a performance.
All that aside, in the end they said that the horses were fine with it, and they appeared to have been. They weren’t fidgety or nervous as I played or when I went to meet them after. Oh, I forgot to mention that before I played, I was introduced to the two horses. They looked me up and down and got acquainted with the pipes. They really were most interested in nibbling at my pipe bag cover so how bad could it have been? It seemed hopeful.
But after this first round, Suzy said that there were some others in the stalls area that they wanted to check, so I played as I walked down that corridor of maybe 20 stalls. They paused me in place for a few horses that they were concerned about. I didn’t see any that appeared even phased. Suzy told me this at the end: As I approached each stall, the horses almost came to attention, eyes locked onto me, ears forward and did not take a single step back. Each of them did this exact same thing… she said it was like they had a kind of “reverence” for these pipes. Everyone was happy and confident that this could go very well. That concluded the sound check, next would come actual rehearsal.
Read Part 2