On any given December night, a man dressed like Santa riding horseback can be seen taking photos with people outside the Paramount Theatre or the Continental Club on South Congress. People greet him and his horse wherever they go. His name is Samuel Grey Horse, and he has been a staple of the holiday season in Austin for more than a decade.
Grey Horse, a Native American Austinite, rides around town on a mule or a horse spreading the Christmas spirit.
"I want to give everybody a taste of what I do and what Christmas is to me," he said.
But 2025 was a bumpy ride for him.
“Hard year is an understatement," Grey Horse said.
In January, his house burned down. In less than 30 minutes, he was left with nothing but his horses and mule. The fire meant he had to move out of Austin. Then, in November, his beloved horse Big Red died. On top of that, he is dealing with health issues from a riding accident a few years back; his eyesight is not as good as it used to be; and he has lost all hearing in his left ear.
Given the cascade of events, Grey Horse found himself asking: “Why am I doing this? Nobody cares."
But he still found himself looking forward to December.
“I follow my heart, not my head,” he said.
All the love and joy he put into the community for years made its way back to him, when people set up a GoFundMe for him.
“When my house burned down, people that would never talk to me helped me,” he said.
Mackenzie Mitchell, who works at the Continental Club, said Grey Horse is a symbol of Austin. Mitchell said he considers Grey Horse family, and it was no surprise that people came together to help him.
“Since people have known him for such a long time and he’s had that great energy, he’s really left an indelible mark on certain people and their lives,” Mitchell said.
Grey Horse now lives in Lockhart. Joan Havard, a woman he met only a couple of times, called him and offered him a place to stay in return for taking care of her 105-acre ranch. He said he will be forever grateful because he has a home for himself, his horses, cats, pigs and his mule, Mula. Though he’s not in Austin anymore, he is near his granddaughters whom he plays music with, and he gets to spread Christmas joy in Lockhart.
In Austin, Grey Horse rode his horse out of his backyard, but in Lockhart he had to borrow trucks to drive into Austin. Then, a friend of his gave him a truck with 267,000 miles on it to help.
When his horse Big Red died, Grey Horse said he was heartbroken. He called Big Red his soul companion, and the horse that reminded him the animals are medicine after an accident almost killed him. At 34, Big Red was old for a horse. He also has Mula, 27, and Big TX, 33. He knows they are old and could die soon.
After Big Red's death, the community came through again. A friend gave him a 15-month-old horse that is in training. Another person sold him three young horses at a low price. They are wild, but he said he is sure he can get them ready to ride.
Despite his personal struggles, Grey Horse said this season is about making strangers smile and sharing Christmas cheer.
"I grew up at a time when Christmas meant something totally different than it does now," he said. "I try to bring back what I used to know what Christmas was: a time when people weren't fighting so much and doing all the stuff that we're going through with race and borders and stuff."
His holiday tradition is a way of reminding people that Native Americans rode around this part of the country in the past and present, he said.
"Me riding through the streets or riding from Lockhart to Austin is an indigenous feat for me," he said. "Going through traffic, and going wherever I need to go, I'm going on a journey."
