They’ve weathered the cold and the ache of the saddle for days, each of the ten trail rides keeping a favorite tradition of the HLSR in motion forging their path to Memorial Park.
The legend is often told to keep the memory breathing fresh life about how back in 1952, when Harry Truman was still in the White House and a faraway young princess named Elizabeth was crowned monarch of the United Kingdom, four men up around Brenham set off on horseback headed for Houston to draw attention to the rodeo. The next year 80 more decided to join them on the Salt Grass Trail Ride, and no one and nothing has stopped them since, except that virus last year that shut down the whole rodeo.
There are ten trail rides that will converge on Memorial Park today, says Kacey White, Vice Chair of the Trail Ride Committee, where they make camp. “We have ten rides coming in between 11am and 4pm. They’ll all arrive at different times based on how far they are coming. All but one of those rides do camp out in Memorial Park.” This year has been especially poignant. “Just the perseverance of the trail rides. We’ve missed two years and lost two rides that had to drop out due to Covid issues or traffic issues, but we still have ten rides going strong and we even have one trail that has grown their ridership by 100 riders,” White adds. Tomorrow morning they leave in the reverse order of their arrival and head for the downtown skyscrapers and the Rodeo Parade at 10.
Listen to KTRH for Sky Mike’s morning traffic reports as he tracks their progress. These are the notes Sky Mike has created to inform Houston drivers this morning of what to expect and when:
NORTHEAST TRAIL RIDE - Cheek, TX (Fannet) (near Beaumont) 26 yrs
- SPENDING THURSDAY NIGHT -north Forest.
- FRIDAY: Tidwell/Wayside/Liberty Rd.
THEN thru DOWNTOWN on Nance / Main (U of H) then- Franklin/ Washington/ Houston Ave (TRAFFIC CT) - MEMORIAL
OLD SPANISH TRAIL RIDE Logansport, LA? yrs - TODAY: coming down Shepherd to MEMORIAL
PRAIRIE VIEW TRAILRIDE - Hempstead, TX 65 yrs
- SPENT THE NIGHT - at Community of Faith Church/ Pinemont
- TODAY: Mangum/18th/N. Post Oak - MEMORIAL
SALTGRASS TRAILRIDE - Cat Spring 71 yrs
- TODAY - Clay rd. Hempstead Hwy/ Antoine/ Katy feeder/
Post oak to MEMORIAL
SAM HOUSTON TRAILRIDE - Montgomery, TX 67 yrs
- TODAY: Fairbanks to 290 to Under 610 to MEMORIAL
TEXAS CATTLEMENS TRAILRIDE - Magnolia, TX 34 yrs
- TODAY: back to N. Houston Rosslyn/ Antoine/ 290/ Hempstead - Hwy/ N. Post Oak to MEMORIAL
SOUTHWEST TRAIL RIDE - Rosenberg, TX 29 yrs
- TODAY: Almeda Rd to Reed Rd./ Fannin/Holmes/Kirby (Rice Village past Greenway Plaza thru Rivr Oaks, cross Buffalo Bayou in Shepherd to Memorial
TEXAS INDEPENDENCE TRAIL RIDE - La Marque, TX 61 yrs
- TODAY: back across Old Spanish Trail to Spur 5/
Gulf Fwy to Pease/ Gray Taft St. to Allen Pkwy/ Shepherd to MEMORIAL
THE SPANISH TRAIL RIDE Shepherd, TX61 yrs
- MEMORIAL
VALLEY LODGE TRAIL RIDE - Brookshire 62 yrs
- TODAY: Patterson Rd to Eldridge Pkwy to Katy Fwy
to N. Post Oak to MEMORIAL
SOUTHWESTERN TRAIL RIDERS Of HOUSTON- West Columbia, TX 46 yrs
- MEMORIAL
photo: Getty Images