Horse struts through OLG cake walk

Rita has come a long way from smuggling drugs to taking center stage in the Our Lady of Grace Parish annual cake walk.

The 18-year-old, half-quarter, half-Arabian horse was at the festival to give rides to kids but during the opening night of the three-day festival and carnival when participation in the cake walk was a little on the low side, Rita stepped up.

First the announcement came over the loudspeaker that a horse would be in the cake walk. The crowd seems a tad confused. But then 13-year-old church member Kaitlyn Shoemaker rode Rita to the center stage.

Rita trotted around and around the circle until the music stopped playing.

“And the winning number is – 15, 1 and 2,” the announcer said of the horse covering all three spots.

Church member Ron Brundage said having his horse participate and drum up business seemed like it “would be interesting and maybe get people more excited about the cake walk.”

About that drug smuggling.

Part of Rita’s back story involves being stolen in Texas and being taken to Mexico and once used as a drug smuggling horse. When police found her and took her into custody, Rita was scarred across her back from the bales of drugs she carried without a pack or protection and weighed only 600 pounds, 300 pounds less than her current healthy weight, Brundage said.

Five years ago Rita was put up in a police auction where Brundage bought her for $2,500.

“She’s our best horse, she’s smart,” Brundage said after feeding the horse a piece of the brownies she won.