{"id":185279,"date":"2026-03-01T05:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T05:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/185279\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T05:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T05:14:13","slug":"houston-rodeo-suspends-northeastern-trailriders-association-after-two-horses-die-on-ride-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/185279\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Rodeo suspends Northeastern Trailriders Association after two horses die on ride in"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show staff barred trail riding group Northeastern Trailriders Association<\/a> from participating in Saturday’s parade after two of its horses died during their trip here, officials said.<\/p>\n

Anthony Bruno, trail boss of the largely Black association, confirmed that two of his riders’ horses had died, but he said the rodeo had overreacted in barring the group from the parade. About 115 people traveled with the group on a roughly 100-mile ride from Cheek, Texas, near Beaumont, he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s very disappointing, especially considering the money you invested for the week, the time you prepare to do this,” Bruno\u00a0said. “I have my people crying about not being able to go downtown.”<\/p>\n

The association’s website says the association was “established in 1982 to preserve African American western heritage and promote educational awareness of our roles in agri-business, trail riding, rodeoing, and horsemanship.”\u00a0The group has hosted a trail ride to the Houston Rodeo since 1996, Bruno said.<\/p>\n

TRAIL RIDES: \u00a0 More than 3,000 trail riders converge in Memorial Park for Go Texan Day<\/a><\/p>\n

In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, rodeo officials said the decision was “guided by our established participation requirements and our animal welfare policy” and that “the health, safety and wellbeing of both animals and riders remain our highest priority.” The association is eligible to participate in the trail ride and parade next year, according to the rodeo.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of trail rides, with thousands of\u00a0participants, commence before the rodeo begins<\/a>, with some groups riding hundreds of miles into Houston.<\/p>\n

The rodeo’s animal welfare policy states that rodeo management can disqualify participants if they do not meet animal safety standards, according to language in a handbook distributed to trail riding associations and shared with the Houston Chronicle by rodeo staff.<\/p>\n

Bruno said one horse died Friday after a young rider mistakenly left the animal in a trailer with the windows closed, causing the horse’s body temperature to reach 109 degrees.<\/p>\n

A second horse died later that day, after it began having stomach cramps and\u00a0colicking\u00a0at the association’s campsite, Bruno said. He did not know its cause of death but said an equine virus could have played a part.<\/p>\n

After Bruno told rodeo staff about the deaths, an official told him in a phone call Friday night that his association could not participate in the parade, he said. He criticized the decision as harsh and said the horses’ deaths were related to temperatures that climbed to the mid-80s on Friday. Both horses\u00a0were about 20 years old, he said.<\/p>\n

“It is what it is, and it’s a natural thing for horses to get overheated and expire,” Bruno said.<\/p>\n

Rodeo staff said they were unaware of any other trail riding groups whose horses died this year and had called other group leaders to check. Bruno said, without evidence, in a post on social media that “several” other groups had lost horses.<\/p>\n

In lieu of the parade, Northeastern\u00a0Trailriders Association members relocated to Bruno’s Triangle 7 Arena in Northeast Houston for their own ride, said Bruno, who owns the arena.<\/p>\n

“We’re still gonna ride today and celebrate our history, our culture,” he said.<\/p>\n

This article originally published at Houston Rodeo suspends Northeastern Trailriders Association after two horses die on ride in<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show staff barred trail riding group Northeastern Trailriders Association from participating in Saturday’s parade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74023,4904,56,3747,58,57,30496,74024,74022,74025,61955,63827],"class_list":{"0":"post-185279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-anthony-bruno","9":"tag-downtown-houston","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-chronicle","12":"tag-houston-headlines","13":"tag-houston-news","14":"tag-houston-rodeo","15":"tag-northeastern-trail-riders-association-ride","16":"tag-northeastern-trailriders-association","17":"tag-the-association","18":"tag-trail-ride","19":"tag-trail-riding"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}