Presidential Pomp is a Culver Tradition


Amid the pomp and circumstance of January’s presidential inaugural parade was a finely tuned group of equestrians from Culver Academies. For the past 104 years, the all-male Black Horse Troop from Culver Academy, a military school in Indiana, has participated in presiden- tial inauguration ceremonies. On Janu- ary 20, 2017 the inauguration of Donald Trump marked the seventeenth time that the Troop, along with the school’s all-female Equestriennes who were there for the eighth time, would parade through the streets of Washington, D.C. to welcome a new president to the White House.


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entities: Culver Military Academy for boys, Culver Girls Academy and the Culver Summer Schools and Camps. The Culver Military Academy uses a military model to educate its cadets in leader- ship. A notable feature is the Black Horse Troop, their cavalry division, as well as infantry, artillery and band. The girls’ school is based on the English prefect system. The mounted unit served as the official escort for Vice-Pres-


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ident Thomas Marshall during Woodrow Wilson’s inaugural parades in 1913 and 1917. (Marshall was the former governor of Indiana, as is the newly instated vice president, Mike Pence.) “It’s special to students because they are the only unit from this school that performs in this event,” says Culver Equine Direc- tor Mark Waller of the school’s participation in the inaugural parade. “It’s become a huge tradition and a lot of kids join the troop just to do that, because there’s a lot of pride and hard work associated with participating in the inaugural parade. It’s the Equestriennes’ eighth appearance as well.”


The Black Horse Troop The Black Horse Troop is the cavalry division of the school, and from this comes the Lancer Platoon, consisting of 30 horses from the Black Horse Troop. This is a prestigious group that perform drills at major school weekends and other occasions. Like the Equestriennes, the Lancers are an honor group, where students are selected on their riding ability and then held accountable for


TOP: The academy’s Black Horse Troop participated at the presidential inauguration parade on January 20th, a century-old tradition for the school.


By Amber Heintzberger


ounded in 1894 and located on Lake Maxinkuckee, Culver Academies is a college preparatory boarding school located in Culver, Indiana. The school is composed of three


Jeff Scudder


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