Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Marines On Parade
Mounted unit presents flags at Rodeo of the Ozarks
Sgt. Jacob Cummins admits he didn’t know much about horses when he was assigned to his current job.
He does now. He is among an elite few U.S. Marines serving with the Marine Corps Mounted Color Guard, based at Marine Corps Logistics Base in Barstow, Calif.
The unit was founded in 1967 by Lt. Col. Robert Lindsley, just back from Vietnam. Appointed senior officer in charge of the Center Stables Committee at Barstow, he noticed that military children often rode the horses housed there.
“Some of the dependent children, my son included, would take horses from the stables, they had about 20 at the time, and would ride in parades when they had them in town,” Lindsley said in a Marine Corps publication. “Having been familiar with the Mounted Color Guard at Camp Pendleton, I decided rather than kids riding in parades, we would have a color guard.”
Nowadays, says Cummins, the seven members start their year riding in the Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 1, and they travel across the nation with their horses from April through October to appear in parades and introduce the colors at rodeos, including this month’s Rodeo of the Ozarks. It will be the unit’s first visit to Arkansas.
“It’s not quite like jets flying over, but it’s pretty sharp,” says Rick Culver, executive director of the rodeo.