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The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Junior Mounted Posse honored Lauren Dahse with a cowboy hat and wooden baton signed by city leaders during Weimar’s Go Texan Day, Saturday, Feb. 14, outside Weimar City Hall.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Junior Mounted Posse (HCSO JMP) annually participates in relay rides to surrounding counties to deliver invitations to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. To honor those along the way, the riders collect signatures from sheriffs, mayors and other city leaders on wooden batons and a cowboy hat. During the ride, the HCSO JMP gifted one of the batons and the cowboy hat from the year before to a person who greatly supported and impacted them. This year, the HCSO JMP gifted the tribute to Lauren Dahse, Weimar Police Department Administrator, member of the rodeo parade committee and 18year rodeo volunteer.
“Thank you to these girls for everything they do. Their love for horsemanship and riding is something that’s really special, and it’s special to my family too,” Dahse said in a speech after receiving the award. “We are big supporters of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo so any awareness that we can bring…is something that’s really incredible.”
Dahse said she had no idea she would receive the honor. She said she grew up with a love for horses but couldn’t own or ride due to where her family lived. Dahse said she’s fortunate her kids can grow up around horses.
“Everything that they display, their horsemanship and their riding skills and the grit they have to ride through these kinds of conditions to come bring these batons and deliver the message of the rodeo of Houston is something that’s really cool and special,” Dahse said, referencing the day’s rainy weather.
The HSCO JMP’s relay rides mirror the much larger Pony Express where riders of over 20 groups and agencies pass the official invitation mile by mile down US 290 from Houston to the state’s capitol, Austin. For HSCO JMP’s first relay, the riders start in Waller, ride to Tomball and Magnolia, then finish in Navasota. The second relay starts in Columbus then continues to Weimar and ends in Hallettsville. Each relay is completed in a single day.
Brandie Irwin, secretary of the HCSO JMP board and mother to HSCO JMP’s riding president Katie Lynn Irwin, presented Dahse with the award. Irwin said the team chose Dahse because of how she has encouraged lively community support and awareness.
“[She’s] just supporting these kids and keeping tradition alive with these children and horseback back like it used to be with the original pony express,” Irwin said. “She has made it public. She, every year, just makes it bigger with the band, with the cheerleaders, with the FFA kids.”
The youth, horse-mounted precision drill team was established in 1952 and is open to riders between the ages of 6-20. Throughout the year, riders practice horsemanship and citizenship while performing in parades, rodeos and relay
