City Riders Saddle Up for a Fight

HOUSTON —  Behind a wood-frame house in a neighborhood north of downtown, five horses are stabled whose regular riding trails are the grassy medians that cut through the city’s major roadways.

Cars fly by on either side. But these horses, like many others in the city, are so accustomed to urban living that traffic noise is simply part of the landscape. Hundreds of Houstonians keep horses in their backyards, riding them near strip malls, fast-food joints and other areas not normally associated with farm animals.

But after receiving complaints that private landscaping had been trampled under hoof, the Houston City Council in December enacted an ordinance making it illegal for horses to travel the city’s esplanades.

The law caught horse owners by surprise, but now they are geared up for a fight.

“This makes criminals out of people who’ve been riding in the city their whole lives,” said Darolyn Butler-Dial, a board member of the Greater Houston Horse Council. “Riding horses is something you do in Texas. For Houston to have this on the books is embarrassing, and it needs to be changed.”

Part of the problem lies in clashing views about the role of Texas’ cowboy tradition in Houston, the fourth-largest city in the nation. Most residents can put up with the annual rodeo trail rides -- with hundreds of horses clomping along Houston freeways -- because it is an event that brings in tourist dollars.

But as a way of life, the practice known as street riding is impractical and dangerous, contends Charles Crain, president of the Inwood Forest Community Improvement Assn.

Houston isn’t a big cow pasture anymore, said Crain, who complained to the City Council last fall. “People who want to ride their horses in the city and retire into the whole cowboy image thing” are “out of touch, in my perception, because that time is gone,” he said. “It’s not real and hasn’t been for a long time. It’s over. We’re urbanized now.”

His and other neighborhood associations have spent thousands of dollars on shrubbery, flowers and sprinkler systems, only to have them flattened by horses meandering through their subdivisions, he said. “If nobody ever rode a horse again in the city limits, our Texas culture and heritage would not be diminished,” said Crain, who was raised in Houston.

Crain has plenty of supporters, but opposition to his views starts right at home. His wife, Annie, is against the riding ordinance. She said she got a kick out of seeing horses in unexpected city settings, and recalled with irritation the day her husband returned from a meeting with city leaders who were receptive to the law.

“He was gloating,” she said. “I was most annoyed.

“It makes people smile to suddenly see a horse in the middle of all the development; it makes you feel better,” she said. “The city seems more inviting.... I don’t care if there’s poop left behind. Call me, and I’ll pick it up myself and fertilize my garden. If there’s a demonstration against the law, I’ll be there.”

The ordinance makes horse riding on an esplanade a Class C misdemeanor, which carries a fine of as much as $500. That doesn’t sit well with horse owner Jim Hubbard, who said Texans don’t like being told where they can or cannot ride.

“This issue isn’t going away,” he said. “The first time people are issued citations for riding a horse on an esplanade, you’re going to hear about it. I guarantee if it’s me, you’re going to hear about it.”

Faced with a perturbed horse-loving constituency, city leaders have backtracked a bit and are working with the horse council to reach a compromise.

“I didn’t realize how much [street riding] there is throughout the city. There is a very large and deep and traditional horse community, and we need to respect and honor that culture,” Councilwoman Ada Edwards said. “At the same time, we need to have a way of cleaning up horse feces and ensuring that private property is not destroyed by horses.”

Tony Miranda, a veterinary technician, welcomes a compromise, but has been street riding for 15 years and doesn’t intend to stop. “We’ve done it for a long time with no problem,” he said. The ordinance forces horses off of medians and onto busy roads, he said. “I won’t do that, especially with my kid riding. We still ride on the esplanades.”

Outsiders might have a hard time understanding why a person would want to ride a horse in a metropolitan area, but to Miranda, the answer is simple.

“It’s a Houston thing. Horse riding is part of Houston tradition and history. We’re still in Texas and we’re still in Houston,” he said.