January 2011. For brides and horses, a bit of Elysium on earth.
How does that song to Daisy go? “It won’t be a fancy marriage, I can’t afford a carriage. But you’d look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.” Horse pucky! You heard it here first: as far as wedding trends go, bicycles are out. Brides look extra sweet in a Elysian Fields Farm carriage seat, blushing in the knowledge that the rental fee for the carriage service goes to a farm founded to provide a “retirement home” for unwanted or elderly horses.
Mrs. Hamilton B. Willis, owner of said operation, began thinking of a way to rescue old horses from being auctioned off years ago, when she and her late husband learned that slaughter house bidders were often in attendance at those auctions. In 1999, Willis happened upon Elysian Fields Farm’s first resident. “That was when I saw a pitiful little bay horse tied with a long rope to a tree in a front yard Livingston Parish with a sign that read ‘Horse 4-Sail.’
“I bought that little horse for $300, and they threw in an old western saddle, a bent up bit and bridle (showed how hard they had been yanking on his bit) and the half of bag of deer corn still left from what they had fed him as his grain ration.”
As far as the name of her horse farm, Willis explains, “I started referring to my project as Elysian Fields Farm because in Greek myth that is the part of Hades where heroes go when they die—a pleasant place of open fields, flowers, food and drink, and contentment that is their reward for bravely facing the trials and battles in life. I taught literature, journalism, history and social studies for the past fifteen years, so I decided that when I quit teaching I would deserve to enter the Elysian Fields myself.”
The wedding carriage side of her operation already has a few ceremonies under its belt and is just getting started, but Willis already has a great story to share.
“One of the wedding hires I didn’t get was kind of interesting. I got an email from a prospective bride who had seen my brochure with the horse and carriage pictured. When I called her number to discuss the job, she seemed really interested, discussed time, date, place and fees with me … She asked me to email her a copy of the contract, and then just as she was about to hang up, she said, ‘Oh one more thing, I don’t want a black horse; I want a white horse.’
“I told her that white draft horses were pretty rare, they are usually older greys who have aged out to white, but that I only have black Percherons. ‘That’s okay,’ she responded, ‘Just dye or paint yours white for the wedding.’ Needless to say, I didn’t get the contract to do that wedding. I hope she was able to find her ‘white’ horse though.”
At present, Dixie is the beautiful black Percheron in front of the white Voitures Robert carriage. “She is twenty years old this year, and has registration papers. She was originally used on one of Warden Burl Cain’s Percheron hitches. She was trained by Jerry O’Carroll, a very experienced driving horse trainer, hired by Warden Cain to train horses at Dixon Correctional Institute.”
The other “vehicle” in Willis’s fleet is a buggy, which makes a perfect mode of transportation for grooms on the big day. “I found the buggy in Mississippi, but it was originally built by Amish or Mennonite craftsmen. The Mennonites call these ‘courting buggys,’ and they are usually the first vehicle a young man owns. These come on the market at equipment sales in Pennsylvania or other states with large Amish or Mennonite communities. This one is totally road legal with battery-powered headlights, tail lights, auxiliary lights and turning signals.”
You can find Willis and Dixie at the Clinton Community Market where they provide carriage rides around the historic Courthouse Square area. To discuss an upcoming wedding, or to donate hay, feed and the like, send Willis an e-mail: elysian_fields_farm@yahoo.com.
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