Growing up in Wichita, Kansas, the only thing Teri Hasten wanted was a horse.

“Horses are a part of me,” said Hasten, manager of compensation for TWU’s Office of Human Resources. “They say it’s in your genetic makeup; you either have it in you or you don’t.”

Hasten got her first horse at age 12 when her family moved to Flower Mound and has had them ever since. She’s participated in rodeo events like team penning and ranch sorting, has run barrels and poles, and has taken part in trail rides.

In 2013, a friend invited her to join the Fairgrounders, a North Texas Fair & Rodeo volunteer team that performs the opening ceremonies each night of the rodeo, carrying the United States and Texas flags. Last summer, her main horse, Cornbread, suffered a career-ending injury. Hasten borrowed a friend’s horse to prepare for the rodeo’s August opening, but only a week prior to the start, that horse was injured.

“I called a friend who is a barrel horse trainer and she let me borrow Big Boy,” Hasten said. “He literally had two practices before opening night, and all the other horses had been practicing for several months. I was the first one out, leading the group with another member, so I was pretty nervous.

“He did fantastic,” she added. “It is a lot of stress and pressure on them, and he handled everything well. After the final performance, I bought him. He also runs barrels and poles.”

Hasten and Big Boy participated in an impromptu Fairgrounders event June 5.

She said watching news of violence across the country left her wondering, “What is going on in America?

“I just wanted to spread some patriotism,” she said. “I saw a post of a lone cowboy on a bridge holding a flag and knew that was it.”

Hasten texted the other members of the group on Thursday, and all rallied together to make the event happen — having shirts made, collecting the flags, and even borrowing a horse at the last minute. Hasten also checked with a friend on the Denton police force to see if it would be okay to hold flags on a bridge. She was told it would be fine, as long as there was a shoulder on the bridge and the group wasn’t blocking traffic.

“I scouted out (the Loop 288 bridge over Interstate 35) Thursday on my way home from work, and it was perfect.”

The group — which included elementary school teacher Shelby Jackson, military veteran Shirlene McMurray, veterinary tech Ashley Saylors and animal control officer Steph Pienta —and their horses lined up on the bridge, flags waving, as traffic passed below.

“I wasn’t sure what reaction we would get, but the response was and still is overwhelming,” Hasten said. “People were smiling, honking, literally hanging out the windows waving, standing up through sunroofs, giving thumbs up and fist pumping, even blowing kisses!”

The reaction on the group’s Facebook page was positive as well. One man wrote, “At first I was mad because traffic was getting backed up, but then I saw this and I was not mad anymore. I was proud to see this.”

Hasten said other Facebook comments, including “This brought tears to my eyes,” “Love to see our flag” and “Thank you,” brought the positivity she’d wanted to see in her news feed.

“I would 100% do it again, in a heartbeat,” she said. “We needed this. We need more of it, too.”