The Paso Fino Parade group received a special invitation to lead a parade procession that started the celebration and opening of the Museum's new building.  The city of Houston remembered us from all of the mounted entries in the Thanksgiving Parade.  They were looking for an elite mounted horse group to carry flags leading the start of their celebration.  The Pasos were the only mounted horse group invited to participate in this celebration.  Following the Parade was a Dedication Ceremony and special entertainment of bands and dance groups.  The museum was open free to the public ending the day with a late night Celebration and Gala. 

We had 12 riders for the parade, the first six carried flags in a point formation with six riders following in two rows.  Our riders were Mickey Beddingfield, Bob Burghart, Diane Burghart, Joyce Delaney, Larry Delaney, Beverly Frick, Kristen Jackson, Bill Saylor, Ruby Saylor, Cathy Starbuck, Judy Taft and Nancy Tetrault. We were a sharp looking group with matching outfits and sequin Texas vests as we paraded downtown Houston. This may have been the worlds shortest parade in distance, yet drew an amazing number of people.  Guinness Book of Records, where are you?

Afterwards we had a wonderful picnic planned for the group in Herman Park joined by several future Paso owners, followed by an exciting trail ride thru the Herman Park horse trails. We started the ride by negotiating the park paths thru the park streets and waiting at cross walks for the light signals to cross the streets. We went by the Miller Outdoor Theater and the Houston Zoo.  In the Park we rode along the Bayou and even found a challenging hill to ride up.  Beverly went first giving us the go ahead that there were trails to follow at the top, until she came running back hollering that it ended in a homeless camp.  This was a fun ride with wonderful sights and adventure, riding in the middle of downtown Houston.

We had one of the best crowds of people interested in our Paso horses and were able to give out farm literature and coloring books till we ran out.  Several People hung around wanting to know more about our group and our horses.

A special thanks to Gail Keller and Kitty Harvey for bringing lunch and Suzanne Seal for helping insure we had enough TX sequin vests for all the riders.