A shot from last year’s trail ride by my office on the southern edge of Houston.

On the trail ride, cowpokes draw a crowd | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle

On Tuesday, Davis and about 200 other cowpokes from the Southwest Trailriders Association ambled along highways to join 12 other groups at Memorial Park today to help crank up this year’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which begins Monday.They were about halfway through a 120-mile journey that began three days earlier in Rosenberg.

Their scouts, called the Butcher Boys, moved out first that morning. Spurring their horses, they galloped ahead to block traffic as a long line of wagons and riders snaked their way out of the Brazoria County fairgrounds in Angleton.

With a trio of flag-bearing riders leading the way, the trail riders embarked on their trek to Rosharon — about 15 miles up the trail.

And so it goes as hundreds of riders in 13 different groups start arriving in Memorial Park for the parade through downtown Houston tomorrow.

Houston Livestock Show And Rodeo™ – Trail Rides

Nothing brings to mind the Old West like a modern-day trail ride. Pioneers created trails as they moved west in search of a dream and cowboys created trails to take cattle to major market centers. While these routes are no longer a necessity in daily life, more than 4,000 riders saddle up each February to relive the Old West as part of 13 trail rides leading to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™.

Even I played the game some back in the early 70’s. Didn’t ride in the trail rid, didn’t have a horse. But a buddy and I met up with the ride each evening for the party, spent the night in the rain at Memorial Park,  and we snagged a place in a wagon for the parade…It was fun…