It turns out Jordan Williams wasn’t actually trying to ride a Detroit bus with his horse Raven.
Williams, cofounder of Urban City Cowboys, was out with his best friend (another horse owner), and their horses in Detroit over the weekend for a fundraiser, riding along 7 Mile Road, when he came across a Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) bus pulling into a stop.
Williams said he spoke to the driver, jokingly remarked that the horse was his service animal and was on and off the bus in no time, much to the astonishment of a passenger inside who snapped some pictures. Williams didn’t know someone outside was recording him — a video that would soon go viral — but he did intend to make a splash with the stunt.
“I’m always known for doing stunts on my horses as well … I’m standing up on them, riding backwards, riding sideways,” Williams, 35, told the Detroit Free Press at his Romulus barn on Thursday, Nov. 12.
Surveillance footage provided to the Free Press from the bus by the City of Detroit, including multiple angles in one video clip, shows the two riders at the stop.
“If he can get in here, it is what it is,” a chuckling bus driver is heard saying in the 1:35 minute clip. “Hey, you want me to let them in?”
It’s unclear what Williams and his friend say in response in the video, but the driver says “service animal” a few times. The ramp is lowered, as a passenger and the driver both smile and laugh. Williams brings Raven onto the bus followed by his friend and his horse, who then promptly exit out a side door near the back.
“That’s crazy,” the driver says. A passenger can be heard saying, “We good.” The bus then rolls away, leaving the horses and their riders behind at the stop.
Williams, who calls himself a cowboy and brings his horses to the city in a trailer, wanted to bring awareness to what he’s doing.
“I’m everywhere with my horses,” Williams said.
The born-and-raised Detroiter moved to Romulus from the city last April to pursue his goal of running a farm for Detroit youth and a Western rodeo school. Urban City Cowboys, which originally started in Detroit, offers equestrian therapy for children with disabilities and rodeo lessons, including barrel racing, relay races and general horsemanship. For kids unable to compete in a rodeo, the program does a mock rodeo. He doesn’t work only with youth. He has a participant who is 5 years old and another who is 68, he said.
“I was always an animal lover,” he said.
He was 13, on the way home from school, when he came across horses at a funeral home. He asked a man there if he could ride, got some quick lessons and didn’t want to get off. That man, who called Williams a natural and would become his godfather, told him to call him the next day so he could talk to his parents about some lessons. Williams made that call at 6 a.m.
“The rest is history,” he said.
When he started doing rodeo, he realized nobody looked like him. Then he was introduced to the Black rodeo world and wanted to get involved.
Williams sustains himself through horse rodeo earnings, takes his horses to events, does field trips and trail rides. He takes care of 10 horses belonging to other people, and has 12 of his own, including Raven, the rich brown American Paint Horse that boarded the bus. It was actually Raven’s first time in the city and “she did fantastic,” he said. The 12-year-old is his newest horse and a birthday gift. The second horse on the bus belongs to his friend.
Williams’ sprawling property is home to more than horses. He’s got three dogs, a parrot, a snake, chickens, chicks, turkeys, geese, a cow, goats, an alpaca, pigs and barn cats. He has eggs from his free range chickens.
On a brisk morning at his barn, a rooster crowed, ducks scurried about and a baby goat — 4-month-old Princess Fiona (like the “Shrek” character) — sidled over to a reporter’s feet.
“Some days, it’s still unreal,” he said, dressed in a poncho and black cowboy hat. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s rewarding now. It’s like, ‘Ah, I’m doing what I want to do.’ I’m doing what I love. It finally came. I waited patiently, I worked hard and now here it is.”
Williams owns 10 acres, a neighbor leases him another 10 and the city of Romulus, about 30 minutes from Detroit, allows him to use the nearby trails.
It’s a big change from the city. Back when he was in Detroit, Williams transformed his garage into a barn for his horse. His neighbors were really nice about it, he said. He actually worked for Detroit Animal Control as an animal care technician. He was going to be an animal control officer but he realized he probably broke too many rules. He struggled to have farm animals in Detroit, he said.
In an updated statement Thursday, the city of Detroit said that while DDOT welcomes service animals when they meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, the horses were apparently brought on the bus for other reasons.
Alexis Ware, deputy director of media relations for the mayor’s office, said the city doesn’t typically comment on any disciplinary action, but that DDOT officials spoke to the bus driver, adding that everyone in the department will receive training to make sure they’re aware of the different policies.
“We recognize that the actions in the video were meant to draw awareness to a positive cause. And we also acknowledge that this presented safety concerns for other passengers on public transit and for the horses themselves,” the statement said.
The statement went on to say: “This is an opportunity to retrain DDOT bus operators and to educate our Detroit residents on everything that we are doing to guarantee safe, timely and high-quality service through DDOT. The City of Detroit also stands ready to assist our local entrepreneurs by connecting them with programs and opportunities that safely increase awareness of their organizations, and helps them expand their positive impact on our City.”
Reach reporter Nushrat Rahman at nrahman@freepress.com.
