The tall hormonal kid thinks that she would like to be an RCMP officer. The small squeaky kid could very well be the subject of an RCMP manhunt at some point in her life. They both like horses. It seemed like a reasonable idea to take the kids and a few friends to watch the RCMP Musical Ride on Sunday. A learning opportunity wrapped up as entertainment.
It was amazing that they can keep up the choreography perfectly and not run into each other. The two oldest kids were enthralled and spent some time after the show interrogating the officer that stopped in front of us. They didn’t get the officer’s name, but he clearly resembles Dudley Doright. The horse, apparently, was Archie.
Dudley and Archie being interrogated by the tall hormonal kid and her friend.
The girls were shy about what to ask, so I told them to find out how many years of service they need before they could join the musical ride and how many years they could stay with it.
Here’s the cut and paste version of Dudley’s answers (copied from the RCMP website):
Members of the Musical Ride are first and foremost police officers who, after at least two years of active police work, volunteer for duty with the Musical Ride. Most members are non-riders prior to their equestrian training with the RCMP; however, once they complete the courses of instruction, they not only become riders but ambassadors of goodwill. Working through a unique medium, they promote the RCMP’s image throughout Canada and the world. RCMP members only remain with the Musical Ride for three years which ensures an annual rotation of approximately one-third (33%) of the riders.
Today, in keeping with tradition, the Musical Ride is performed by a full troop of thirty-two riders and horses, plus the member in charge. The Musical Ride consists of the execution of a variety of intricate figures and cavalry drill choreographed to music. Demanding utmost control, timing and coordination, these movements are formed by individual horses and riders, in two’s, four’s and eight’s at the trot and at the canter. Months of training, practice and many kilometres around the riding school make horse and rider one. The horses must not only appear in the Musical Ride, but on Parliament Hill, in parades, special events and have the ability to travel and adapt to different environments, not to mention, hours of petting and photo-taking that the horses must patiently endure.
My favourite picture of the day.
lightlycrunchy 
Your opening sentence just made me laugh out loud. I think my little one could be in company with your small squeaky one….awesome!
Uh oh – you mean there might be two of them?
Sounds like lots of fun! It’s amazing they don’t run into one another and I’m sure I couldn’t do it. Thanks for your comments on my site – especially since I was at the BlogHer conference in Seattle. It was lots of fun and is always great to meet other bloggers in person! Perhaps one day we’ll meet….:)
They were at our town on Saturday..unfortunately we didn’t get to see them…but saw them at the Queen’s diamond Jubilee celebration….very impressive to watch…Diane
lol the last photo is fantastic it can’t be easy holding a big heavy flag and riding a horse in time in a crowd!
You could easily tell who the new riders were – some of them were holding on for dear life. The horses are the veterans and can apparently finish the sequence even if a rider falls off.
handy! Never need to worry about a horse pile-up then haha 😀
Lovely bit of education and that last photo totally cracked me up! I do that when I run sometimes and have been caught on film with the same expression 😉
I took my boys to the musical ride a few years ago – it is certainly impressive – but I do not remember anyone like the person in your last favorite pic – maybe they were concentrating a little too hard
And she was one of the good riders..
Love the last photo. Horse and rider look quite magnificent – and I love the concentration on the face of the rider. Thanks for a great post.
Wonderful! I know so very little about the RCMP except when I hear them mentioned on “As it Happens” Thanks for the info. The tongue shot is hysterical, I’m sure they are not too pleased that you published that one 😉 A bit less than the image they likely prefer to project eh?
*anna
I think it would be funny if the picture ever made it back to the rider. She was definitely trying her hardest.
I’m thinking about wall-papering my office with the tongued rider. I’m thinking she would be a great reminder to FOCUS and at the same time, a fabulous reminder to laugh hysterically sometimes too.
Never thought of that. I have a similar pic of the kid a few posts back, tongue out, astride a horse.
I always love looking at photos of places and events I’ve never been to. This looks great.
What a fantastic outing.
Looks fun! Had to agree with the previous commenter who laughed out loud at the descriptions of your kids’ possible future roles with the RCMP.
Love the “tongue of intense concentration” shot! Oh and the description of your children’s possible future associations with the RCMP had me giggling from the outset as well!
It’s one of those times that i hope I’m at least half wrong.
awww come on… could be worse… she could end up wearing combat boots! 😛
That’d be the best possible outcome. They could both end up military – the oldest is nosy enough for JTF2.
How interesting! And what lovely photos. I especially liked the last one too. So cute.
[…] of some kind. A highlight of the month was taking the kids and some of their friends to see the RCMP musical ride. Most of the time, our kids are busy just being country kids and enjoying […]