Did y’all watch the Tournament of Roses Parade the day after New Years Day?
RFD-TV honored Roy Rogers with a spectacular 75’ float entitled “Happy Trails” in the 2012 Tournament of Roses® Parade.
Roy’s faithful companions, Trigger “The Golden Palomino” and Bullet “The Wonder Dog” stood at the entrance of the float,(The faithful duo are the actual preserved remains and were not organically decorated duplicates), while Roy Rogers, Jr. along with his son Dustin Rogers, serenade the crowd with the “Happy Trails” theme song.
You can get your own copy of the RFD-TV Rose Parade Video and Commemorative Lapel Pin
Folks often say that no one influenced an entire generation more than Roy Rogers.
Roy would have been 100 years old on November 5, 2011 but he passed away in 1998 at a time when the cowboy ideal seemed to signify everything decent about a nation in which all things were possible.
“No one challenged the imagination of millions of baby boomers more than Roy Rogers,” said Patrick Gottsch, founder and president of RFD-TV. “Whether it was playing cowboy in the back yard or dreaming of having a palomino horse or German shepherd dog of their own after watching one of the 88 movies or 100 episodes of the Roy Rogers Show, young minds were inspired for decades.”
RFD-TV will continue to honor Roy Rogers in 2012, with a Trigger & Bullet “Happy Trails Tour” making stops all around the United States and Canada. You can learn more at: Tigger and Bullet Tour and Club
While most girls were dreaming of having a Black Beauty, I was dreaming of having my very own beautiful Palomino horse with shiny flaxen mane and tail. I never did get my Palomino Horse, but I did get two Bullet dogs. Our first German Shepherd, Cory we had for almost 14 years and our second one, Zuni, we still have now and is 4 years old.
Did you, too, also dream of having your own Trigger horse and Bullet dog?
By the way, this video below is very cool. It’s a Time-Lapse video of the building of the RFD-TV Happy Trails Roy Rogers Float. Check it out!
The RFD-TV float was the grand finale in the 123rd Tournament of Roses® Parade, but the best part, for me anyway, was the 100 golden Palomino horses symbolically riding with the float while their riders each carried an American flag.
Unfortunately, the flags caused a bit of a problem when one of the riders was trying to mount his horse (not sure why he had dismounted in the first place, though) and while handing his flag over to another rider so he could climb on, his saddle slipped, the flag wrapped itself over the face of his horse, causing the horse to get upset, rear up violently, lose it’s footing, and throw his rider to the ground.
Thankfully the rider wasn’t fully mounted on his horse or else he might have ended up seriously injured (or worse), but in the end he was able to get up and walk and was later seen leading his horse for the rest of the parade. You can watch the slow-motion video of that moment below:
I love parades, especially if they have marching bands and horses. How about you?
Have you ever rode your horse in a parade? If not, do you hope to someday?
12 Bahs, Hums, Clucks and Neighs:
It would be interesting to get the riders report on what happened as there are many different ideas of what happened. It looked to me like the saddle started to slip while he was on the horse and he was struggling to stay on. It lookes like his fellow rider took the flag from him and it brushed across the horses face, but I don't think the flag caused the horse to rear up. It looks like the reins either got caught on something or maybe the rider was holding on with the reins, the horse started to fight the bit by slinging its head around then going up. Either way, they bothed crashed hard and I am so glad they appeared to not be seriously hurt! I have been in a few parades when we worked for a commercial carriage driver, driving a team of half drafts. They are stressful and nerve wracking! Especially the Fourth of July Parade which takes place at night with kids throwing firecrackers and waving those glow stick light things around. I spent most of the parade walking at the horses heads in that parade!
We watched RFD-TV's coverage of the parade and it was so much better than the network coverage. You actually got to see the whole parade and we didn't have to listen to various network stars promote their upcoming shows.
Sorry to hear about the incident. The palaminos looked great.
Roy Rogers was my hero growing up.
Did you know that Trigger was actually in a movie before he was Roy's horse? Maid Marion rode him in the movie Robin Hood with Errol Flynn.
Dan
I am with you! I always wanted the palomino! I got one but he tried to kill me and I had to get rid of him....would rar right over backwards....constantly! I love watching Roy and Fury and any other show with horses! I am not sure how I feel about Trigger being stuffed, I get a little sick in my stomach every time I see him....I hope his sweet spirit made it over the rainbow bridge with his trusty canine buddy!
I got to see the parade. Didn't see the fall though. Roy Rogers was from the town just across the river from where we live. He is a icon around here.
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were huge in my childhood. I had Roy Rogers six-guns, Dale Evans shirts, and so on. My new Cowgirl Bathroom is dedicated to the memory of those days. Thank you for this super post, Lisa.
I rode in the Fort Worth Stock Show parade last year which is the largest non-motorized parade in the US (all horses, mules, donkeys). It was my first parade and I was really nervous. My horse still had his shoes on and I was convinced he was going to slip on the steep hill going up to downtown or be spooked by the bands. He was perfect and we had a great time.
Loved Trigger! Actually saw the Trigger and Bullet display in Vegas , and wasn't as bothered by it as I expected to be. And Yes I did ride in a parade once , on my sweet Sunshine horse ! She was 2 I was 17 the memory is a treasure she was so good(probably stupid to take such a baby , but it was years ago) ccrap now I have tears!
gots me some pally ponies here ya know !lol
Looks like the Rider- a Shriner that is pretty old- really had a death grip on his reins- then they both crashed to the ground. Glad neither was seriously hurt. I have been reared up with and fallen down on, and rolled over- it sucks! I've been in plenty of parades too- and the people used to be so much better behaved. People don't think of the horses in parades as 'real', to them they are like in the movies- impervious. They crowd and throw things at you, rush under your horses or wagons and cause a ruckus. I won't ride in a parade with my horses ever again. I'll leave that to the better behaved mounts!
I missed the Parade on TV this year- I was looking at a new horse! I may have to buy the DVD just to see it! What a sight it must have been!
I missed the Parade! Sigh! I thought it was on on Sunday, didn't find it...called my mom to find out what was up with no Rose Parade on New Year's Day and she told me it was going to be on Monday. Well Monday rolled around and I forgot!
I loved your post though! Beautiful float! What a great way to honor and remember and American icon!
We did have a palomino, well my husband did, for a short time when we lived in Idaho. His name was Mooch and he was a big horse that had a knack for exploding like gun powder! Very high strung to say the least!
I totally spaced the parade, but I did see the rehearsal for all those Palominos before the parade on RFD-TV. When I was about 12-years-old I was invited to glue corn husks to be used as shingles for a house on the Winchell's Doughnut float, but got kicked off the team for being too silly and not taking the job seriously. I think that was the start of me intentionally trying to get myself fired from boring jobs. Hee hee.
We had 2 families of grandkids here at New years...didn't see the parade! nasty accident. Doesn't look like the rider used commen sense when mounting in an already anxious time for the horses. by the way...I have been told by several of my desert friends who are members of the group and have ridden the parade, that all of the horses HAVE to be aced before they are allowed to ride. Our Stables here also used to send as many as a dozen horses to groups that were riding in the parade. A few years back, John Wayne's son Patrick was going to be riding one of their horses and the wrangler that normally rode the horse worked with the horse for weeks specically... to not react to the hazzards of a parade. The stable horses were also aced before the parade.
I rode Jesse in the St Paul Rodoeo parade 5 years ago. The part that was difficult was the staging area where everyone was gathering to line up for the parade. The were tons of things scary for horses...blimp type balloons, banners, flags, loud and big trucks, floats and the worst seemed to be the the covered
wagons and stagecoaches! we did not ace our horses or not was it suggested. Jesse ( and Zoe) were perfect once the parade actually started. Jesse actually loved seeing all the people who seemed so happy to see him!unfortunanetly the route back to the trailers after the parade took us VERY close to the carnival rides and many horses went beserk. Again, Jesse and Zoe seemed amazed and courious about it not frieghtened.
I was asked to represent our desert riding group in the grand entry opening ceremony of the Palms Springs rodeo last year however after talking to several cowboys in the know of what that would be like I decided to pass and not put my horse or self in the a bunch of horses galloping around the arena. getting to old for that. They said they knew Jesse and I could do it, but it was the other "drivers" we would have to watch out for and the risk was not worth the glory!
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