This photo story is from the summer 2025 issue of VICE magazine, THE REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL ISSUE. Get four issues each year, sent straight to your door, by subscribing here, or pick up the summer issue as one-off purchase here.

In 2024, I met a 14-year-old boy named Keagan outside a Walls Bargain Center in Grenada, Mississippi. He was training for rodeo competitions—the first in his family to ride horses—and shared the sense of peace he felt in their presence. “They calm everything down,” he told me.

Roy, Keagan’s mentor, has spent his whole life around horses. “They each have their own personality,” he explained. Tragically, Roy’s brother died in a horse accident. Yet rather than abandon the lifestyle, every November 9th, on his brother’s birthday, Roy organizes a special ride in his h

See Full Page