Jessica Estepa

USA TODAY

Well, that's one way to make an entrance.

On his first day as Interior secretary, Ryan Zinke rode a horse to work. While wearing a hat. With an escort from the United States Park Police.

According to the Interior Department, his ride took place from the National Mall, where the National Park Service has stables, to the Interior Department's main building, located just off the Mall. He was then greeted by more than 350 federal employees. There, a veterans song was played on a hand drum by a Bureau of Indian Affairs employee, who is from Montana's Northern Cheyenne tribe.

Also part of the welcome: former acting Interior secretary Jack Haugrud, who greeted Zinke on the steps.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, an agency within the Interior Department, tweeted Thursday a photo of its new boss that captured the moment:

Zinke later tweeted, "Humbled by the warm welcome at Interior this morning."

Zinke accepted an invitation from the Park Police to "stand should-to-shoulder with their officers on his first day at Interior, the eve of the Department's anniversary," Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said.

Zinke, who previously served in the U.S. House and as a Montana state senator, was confirmed by the Senate as Interior secretary on Wednesday. As a fifth-generation Montanan who is also the first person from the state to serve on a presidential cabinet, perhaps it should be no surprise that he's starting off his time at Interior in such a manner.

First thought: Did this disrupt traffic at all?

Second thought: What does Vladimir Putin think?