Trail rides promote Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Participants of this year’s ride will follow their usual path, heading northeast from Cat Spring on Feb. 19 into the Miller Farms Pasture, a familyowned farm, between Hempstead and Prairie View before pivoting southeast to KatyParkand reaching Memorial Park onFeb. 26.
To participate,
riders are required to be members of an official ride organization, called a wagon group, from the Houston area. Riders typically own their horses. Hakemack is a member of the closest wagon group to Katy, the Brazos River Riders from Brookshire. Combined, the wagon groups form the Salt GrassTrail Ride.
Katy Police information-technology specialist Michelle Miller, 46, has ridden with the group for 18 years. Miller grew up in Katy, graduating from Taylor High School in 1987 before moving to Waller in 1993 to raise two horses at herhome.
Miller never tires of seeing residents in the Katy area hop out of vehicles in astonishment as they view hundreds of horses passing along Clay Road, then Katy Hockley Cut-Off and then Morton Road, where KatyParkis located.
The view is surreal for Miller: an endless line of humans in cowboy hats riding both in-front and behind her.
“People want to come and pet the horses. Every child wants a horse, and they come over to the park to see us all gather and be with us,” she said. “By the time we arrive here, people are eager to see us because it’s not something that they usually see.”
The Salt Grass Trail Ride includes 30 total participants who live in Katy area ZIP codes.
Katy Park has been an overnight campground with the group for years. The organization shares a longtime partnership with Harris County Precinct 3, whichoversees the park.
Expenses such as water and food for both animals and riders are funded by fees from participants, with charges starting at
$25 for children and $50for adults. The deadline to enter passed onFeb. 4.
The journey can be tough.
“The hardest part by far can be the weather,” trail boss Mitch Morgan said. “It can become dangerous. Just the past two years, we had to use our vehicles and move on to the next camp because it was too wet. Safety is ahuge priority.”
At one point, the group has to cross Interstate 10 to arrive at Memorial Park. Each wagon group carries a scout to direct traffic, and police help in urban areas.
As Katy has developed throughout the years, traffic obstacles have multiplied. The line of riders usually takes up one lane, causing impatience for some drivers, Miller said.
But most people marvel at the sight, she added. The rides pump Houston’s economy as thousands of participants spend money at stores along the routes.
The exhausting weeklong ride into Houston climaxes when the group rides on Feb. 27 with the rodeo’s opening parade in downtownHouston.
“We like being the ones to kick-off the rodeo,” Hakemack said. “The peo- ple are what makes it great — seeing the common interest in it. It’s like a big family reunion.”