MERCED COUNTY, Calif. (KMJ/KFSN) — Everything from saddles to feed, ready for a first-class send-off to the Nation’s Capitol.
The Merced County Sheriff’s Posse was chosen to be in the presidential inauguration parade next week.
“There’s a wow factor to it. It’s hard to explain the emotions that go with it to know that we are going to be representing the Central Valley,” Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said.
This the fourth time the posse has participated in a presidential inauguration since it was established in 1948.
First for Richard Nixon, then George HW Bush and now a second time for Donald Trump.
“I’m very honored that I get to represent the sheriffs from San Joaquin County through Kern County to include Riverside Monterey,” Sheriff Warnke said.
The posse raised close to $100,000 in community donations to make the trip possible.
A total of 42 people will be heading to D.C. from Merced, 12 riders will be in the parade with half a dozen posse members walking alongside them.
For Merced County Sheriff’s Posse Captain Laurette Locke and her horse Rosey, it’s not their first time being a part of the historic day.
“The lights were so bright it was almost like a dream when you go into it you go and I really doing this,” Locke said. “You just get the quivers when you go through the lights and you look up and you see the president and his family there, the White House, it’s like who does this.”
The palominos are pros in the spotlight, but there are still last-minute preparations needed to get them ready for their closeup.
“We’re going to have to bathe them. We’re going to have to make sure everything gets done and the hair is trimmed and right down till we paint their toenails,” Sheriff Warnke said.
Wearing the star with pride, Sheriff Warnke and the posse have one-of-a-kind uniforms specially made for the ceremony.
A pinch-me moment for the Sheriff, the sendoff extra special as it’s in his own hometown of Hilmar.
“I started out as an explorer, so with this agency in 1974, five years later, I was full-time deputy sheriff, and here it is 45 years later and to be the second time to go as the sheriff of this county, it just an honor to be the sheriff of this county,” Sheriff Warnke said.
The horses were escorted by police as they left the area. The rest of the group will join them on Friday.
