A
long the Gulf Coast, the weather in
the month of February cannot seem
to make up its mind to be cold or
wet—or worse, cold and wet. It is probably
a cruel coincidence that February was the
month chosen as the time for the Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo. On the other
hand, one of the purposes of the Show is to
allow Houstonians to step
out of their modern life
style and to relive, as
closely as one chooses, a
historical era that helped mold
our Texas heritage and mystique.
The coincidence of choosing Febru-
ary as the time to begin the Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo and its
trail rides is that its name comes from the Latin phrase
februarioius menisis, “month of purication.” Although that
“purication” may not register with all Houstonians, certainly
the riders feel the “purication” from modern niceties and the
daily routines as they ride through the weather, in all manner
of discomfort including sore “extremities.” Still, the recurring
response is that it was a lot of fun!
Implicit in this annual region-wide celebration are the
cultural roots that remind us of the city’s birth expressed in the
trail rides that begin in some thirteen cities and towns through-
out the Texas Gulf Coast and make their trek to Houston riding
horseback, buckboards, and covered wagons. The rst trail
ride begins early in February, 386 miles away in the border
town of Hidalgo, Texas. Later, the other trail rides begin on a
staggered schedule, timed so that they all arrive in Houston’s
Memorial Park on the same day. The following day, the trail
rides line up for the parade that ofcially opens the Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo. Some of the major rides are the Old
Spanish Trail Ride from Logansport, Louisiana; the Mission
Trail Ride from San Antonio, Texas; Sam Houston Trail Ride
from Montgomery County; and
Prairie View Trail Ride from
Hempstead, Texas.
The Salt Grass Trail Ride
The granddaddy of them all
is the ninety mile long Salt
Grass Trail Ride from Cat
Springs that began in 1952
as a dare. Like so many
Texas events, the history of
the Salt Grass Trail began in
the Cork Room of the Shamrock
Hotel where one afternoon in 1952
over lunch, Reese Lockett, then mayor of
Brenham, was complaining of a weather
delay that had stranded him in Florida. “He said
he’d never go so far away again that he couldn’t
ride his horse back,” Maudeen Marks,
daughter of rancher Emil Marks, recalled.
Someone at the table responded, “Reece, you couldn’t ride your
horse from Brenham to Houston.” The gauntlet had been thrown
down and the challenge accepted.
1
In an article for the Houston Chronicle, Maudeen Marks
remembered, “Reese said he had driven cattle all the way
to the Salt Grass in winter time and, yes, he could ride from
Brenham.”
2
That, of course, ignited all sorts of discussions and
when all the bravado died down the ground was set for the Salt
Grass Trail Ride. In winter months of the 1900’s, when ranches
were open-range, cattlemen drove their herds of longhorns
from Hempstead to the green nutritious salt grasses along the
gulf coast. Accompanying them were cowboys and wagons that
would pick up the calves when they tired. Converging on the
gulf grasslands were other herds from as far away as Orange
County and Brownsville. From November to February cattle
were branded as they grazed and intermingled with other herds.
At the end of the season the cowboys helped each other cut out
their respective herds and began the trek home.
In February 1952, timed to arrive for opening day of the
Houston Fat Stock Show, two horsemen, Mayor Reese Lockett
and Emil Marks rode into town accompanied by two “wag-
oneers.” John Warnasch, a hand from the LH7 Ranch, drove a
wagon pulled by a pair of mules, and Pat Flaherty, a reporter
from KPRC, rode in a second wagon sitting on a pillow nailed
to the bench. This group of Salt Grass Riders drew a lot of at-
tention and was enough to spark the interest of many others.
Two years later there were 100 riders, then 300, followed
by 500 people on horseback settling into Memorial Park at the
end of the trail. People lined the highways to watch the riders
pass by as they made their way to the city. Today there are some
2,000 folks on horseback and 50 wagons.
Los Vaqueros Trail Ride
In 1974 Larry Ramirez, who loved riding horses, decided that
he might enjoy participating in one of the trail rides that con-
verged on Houston during the Livestock Show and Rodeo. Since
no Hispanic trail ride was currently in existence, he decided to
Los Vaqueros (LV)
Mission (M)
Northeastern (NE)
Old Spanish Trail (OST)
Pairie View (PV)
Sam Houston (SH)
Southwest (SW)
Southwestern (SWN)
Salt Grass (SG)
Spanish Trail (ST)
Texas Cattlemen’s (TC)
Texas Independence (TI)
Valley Lodge (VL)
John Warnasch, Emil Marks, Pat Flaherty, and Reese Lockett (left to
right) enjoyed the adventure of the rst Salt Grass Trail Ride in 1952.
No one could have imagined at that time what they had started.
38 Volume 7 • Number 1 • Fall 2009