A signature tradition that dates back to January of 1952, trail rides continue to be a distinguished part of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo nowadays.
Last Friday and after a week of riding, more than a dozen trail rides from all around Texas arrived at Memorial Park in Houston for the Rodeo.
The Northeastern Trail Ride started in Beaumont, Texas about a week ago, under the direction of Anthony Bruno, trail boss, and Keith Mack, assistant Trail Boss.
Wednesday night they camped at the Rockin’ C Arena in Crosby, Texas and then took old U.S. 90 to their campsite at Triangle 7 Arena on Parker Road in North Forest.
Along the way, they stopped at several schools to show children the horses and wagons, and share stories about Western Life. The schools they stopped at included Sheldon Elementary, Hilliard Elementary, Kipp Academy, BC Elmore, and Bruce Elementary. Last year, this trail ride experienced a sad event, as one of the original founders, J. Joe, died of heart attack the morning they arrived in North Forest. His son, Kevin, has continued the tradition this year. Brian Richard, son of Northeastern’s sound man, Caston Richard, also continued in place of his father, who died before last year’s ride. Also riding with her father was flag-bearer Birdie Sion, keeeping up that family tradition with her dad.
The Northeastern Trail Ride rode through North Channel, Channelview and North Forest, and the Spanish trail ride passed through the Aldine area, a tradition every year since 1982 and 1961 respectively. This family ride began their journey of 108 miles from Beaumont, Texas the morning of February 21, 2015. Trail boss Anthony Bruno led a total of 300 riders and 14 wagons.
The group started each day early in the morning and traveled between 10 to 20 miles per day riding until about 4:00 pm. Wednesday night, they caped at Crosby Fairgrounds.
Last Thursday, the ride made a late morning stop at Sheldon Elementary for lunch. estern Wear on Aldine Bender. Then Friday night they camped in Memorial Park, and Saturday they participated in the downtown Houston Rodeo parade along with the other 12 trail ride groups.