Dalton Green, Gordon Lee High School’s Trojan mascot, poses with his horse, Traveler. Green is graduating, and this will be his last year as school mascot, a position he has held since sixth grade.
Dalton Green, Gordon Lee High School’s Trojan mascot, rides his horse, Traveler, through the football field at the start of a game. Green is graduating, and this will be his last year as school mascot, a position he has held since sixth grade.During the Gordon Lee Trojans’ final home game on Nov. 4, a staple of the high school’s football history took to the field one last time.
GLHS senior Dalton Green, 18, has been the Trojan mascot since he was in sixth grade, but with graduation right around the corner, his time in the armor has come to a close.
“It was kind of a bittersweet moment,” Green said of riding his horse onto the field during the Nov. 4 game. “It was sad in the sense that it was the last time, but it was also kind of joyful knowing that I get to leave with this legacy behind me here at Gordon Lee, where we care so much about tradition.”
Green first donned the helmet seven years ago after he and his family noticed the high school was without its own mascot. Inspired by sports teams with live horses alongside their mascots, Green, an avid horse trainer, presented his idea to the Chickamauga City School Board.
At first, the board was skeptical, Green said. They cited liability issues and bylaws that prevented animals from being on campus. But once solutions were found for some of the minor issues – like strapping boots onto the horse to prevent its hooves from damaging the field – the bylaws were changed and the board gave its blessing.
“They were always very supportive of the idea, and I appreciate that,” Green said.
Since then, Green and his spotted saddle horse, Traveler, have strutted across the field as “the Trojan” at almost every home football game and several softball games. But getting to that point took a lot of training.
To ready Traveler for the chaos of a high school football game, Green had to get him used to the band and waving flags by inching him closer and closer. He also helped prepare Traveler for large Friday night crowds by taking him to middle school football games. And he ran Traveler around the field alone so the horse’s lack of depth perception didn’t cause him to hesitate at certain spots, like navy blue patches that could be perceived by a horse as a puddle of water.
“What a lot of people, I don’t think, realize is the work that actually went into that,” Green said. “You can’t just take any horse to a football game and expect them to be calm amongst the crowd and players running at him and whistles and the band.”
But luckily, added Green, Traveler was just the right horse for the job, and the duo’s presence has come to be expected at home games. So much so that children would line the gate at the games to see the gray horse and bring him treats to eat.
“That’s the greatest thing that I’ve got out of it: the fact that people have come to expect it,” Green said. “It’s gonna be kind of sad, I guess, for some people with him not being there next year.”
But Green was not the first Trojan to storm the field. Alumni remember a similar mascot supporting the school’s teams many years ago, and Green hopes the revived tradition won’t end with him.
“Even if it’s not next year, I just hope somebody does [take over] in the near future,” he said. “It’s really been great for school spirit. I have enjoyed doing it and I think it’s a legacy that me and Traveler together will be able to leave as I graduate this year.”