Texas history goes to church as trail rides visit schools, parishes

St. Ambrose first-grade teacher Sister Maria Goretti, OP, helps a student pet a horse during a visit from the Sam Houston Trail Riders on Go Texan Day Feb. 28 at St. Ambrose School in Houston. (Photo by James Ramos/Herald)

Students, staff and faculty at St. Ambrose Catholic School in Houston cheered as the Sam Houston Trail Ride clopped down Mangum Road and made their annual stop at the northwest Houston parochial school and parish.

Students, pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, greeted the wagons, horses and riders, with many clad in their finest — and sometimes outsized — Western wear to mark Feb. 28 as Go Texan Day. A hat-tip to Texas history, the annual city-wide designation rallies communities across the region to celebrate Texas heritage and signals the beginning of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. St. Ambrose is just one of several parishes and Catholic schools in the Archdiocese that have encounters with trail ride groups across the region.

Dozens of horses, several wagons and support vehicles take part in the annual trail ride.

Reminiscent of the pioneer spirit that forged the Old West, more than 3,000 continue to join the rodeo’s signature tradition and honor the trails that linked Texas settlements.
Today, trail ride groups are permanent social organizations with officers and leaders, and they honor different aspects of Texas’ heritage. Some take historical trails, like the Sam Houston riders who take the trail forged by Texas hero Sam Houston.

According to the Sam Houston Trail Riders, they ride to honor generations of Western heritage and support the future through high school scholarships. Several wagons used on the ride are decades old, passed from rider to rider over the years. Others honor the roles of Black trailblazers and riders of the Rio Grande Valley on the Texas southern border, which takes the longest trail ride of 353 miles.

In the end, all 11 groups converged in downtown Houston for a major parade on March 1 to open the rodeo season. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo continues through March 23.