‘It’s exhilarating’: Roosevelt ISD students enjoy Ride Your Horse to School Day

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Students saddled up and moseyed on over to Roosevelt ISD today for Ride Your Horse to School Day, a tradition Roosevelt has been doing since 2018.

Not a modern form of transportation, but one the kids love.

“I rode my horse,” one student, Colbie Wheeler, said.

The assistant principal for the junior high, Wayne Groves, said it’s a popular event with all the students.

“It’s exciting. The kids love it,” Groves said. “They ride up in the mornings on the last day of school, and they’ve been doing this for several years now and we’ve increased each year - more and more horses have joined in.”

You could see students from many different grades taking the reins Thursday morning.

Fifth grader Trace Kilman enjoyed the experience.

“It’s exhilarating,” Kilman said. “You can’t find anything better than doing that.”

Kilman was a cowboy on a long journey for the education he would receive on the last day of school.

“That was four miles from my house to the country store I left at and another two miles to here,” Kilman said.

Not only is it fun for the students to come together and ride their horses on the last day of school, it reminds them of their connection to the local Ag community and brings it to the school grounds.

“We’ve got a huge Ag community out here, and these kids love this,” Groves said. “It’s good for all the other students to see it, too - their classmates riding horses. It’s exciting, everyone loves it.”

Kason Grizzell has been riding his horse to school on the last day since the tradition started five years ago. He loves showing the next generation the cowboy and cowgirl lifestyle.

“See all the little kids that don’t see horses a lot, see their smiles when they see all the horses,” Grizzell said.

It’s like a rodeo at Roosevelt ISD when the students ride up. You can see kids gathered around cheering and waving for their peers on horseback.

“They want one, they do,” Groves said. “They want to ride, they want to sit on top of it, take pictures, pet them.”

At the end of the day, these Roosevelt Eagles led their horses back home until next year when they’ll put their boots and spurs on to do it again.

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