Salt Grass Trail Ride

I’ve live in Texas my whole life and in the Houston area for 16 years. Nobody does rodeo like Houston. Three weeks of Rodeo, about 20 evening performance averaging 50,000 in attendance each night. The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is Texas size. In January of 1952, E.H. Marks formed the very first trail ride as a way to increase awareness of the Show. Though only four men made the first journey from Brenham, Texas, the attention they raised attracted more publicity than ever expected, as more than 80 men signed up the next year. The trail rides are a signature tradition of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo today.

I’ve been associated with Wagon #1, the founder’s wagon, of the Salt Grass trail ride for about 4 years. The trail ride is organized by wagon. It has approximately 25 wagons with 40 riders associated with each wagon.In the beginning the riders slept on the ground or in tents. Today it RV’s, Stock trailers, water trucks, & generators. Today there are 13 different trail rides coming from all across Texas. This coming Friday (February 29th) all 13 trail rides converge in Memorial park near downtown Houston for Saturdays Rodeo Parade. It really plays havoc with the traffic on the freeways.

It's trail ride time in Houston!