Travel & Outdoors
February 13, 2024
An Adventurous Week of “Yes” on South Padre Island
Nearly everything my teenage son wanted to do during our beach vacation required a waiver.
Horses
Travel & Outdoors
April 14, 2023
Pilot Point Is a Quaint North Texas Getaway (and an Animal Lover’s Paradise)
It promises a grand time on a big lake, next to an awakening downtown square and miles of horse (and lemur!) country.
Sports
January 19, 2023
A Regulatory Feud Threatens to End Thoroughbred Racing in Texas
While the state racing commission jousts with a new federal oversight body, business is cratering at Texas racetracks.
Being Texan
May 11, 2022
The Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots O’Neal
He’s pushing ninety and still saddling up at the Four Sixes Ranch. Just don’t call him the last cowboy.
Film & TV
February 17, 2022
The Human Cost of Horse Racing
In ‘Jockey,’ Dallas director Clint Bentley draws dark lessons from a life lived on the track.
Travel & Outdoors
June 17, 2021
Seven Outstanding Parks for Riding or Renting Horses
Hoof it to these parks with your steed (or someone else's).
Travel & Outdoors
June 17, 2021
Texas Parks by Horseback Offer a Whole Other View
Equestrians can ride their own steeds, or in a few cases rent them, on public lands across the state.
Country Notes
April 24, 2019
How Animal Psychics Helped Untangle a Mixed-up Horse
Healing a spooked horse takes time, patience, and skill. And maybe a little help from beyond.
Country Notes
October 19, 2018
For Want of a Nail
Without a good shoeing, a horse can indeed be lost. Enter the farrier.
The Daily Post
June 11, 2015
Cirilo Castillo Jr. Busted Again After Allegedly Trying to Have Sex with a Horse
Time to double-check the locks on your barns.
Critters
May 22, 2015
Cowboy Family Rescues Horses in Raging Flood, Proves Cowboys Still Exist
When torrential storms brought raging flood waters to their ranch in Eastland, the Barrett family took to the muddy waters to rescue their prized horses.
Sports
April 30, 2015
The Houston Rockets Fired Their Social Media Manager for Being a Sore Winner
He had one job.
Critters
April 13, 2015
You Can’t Even Ride a Horse Through a Taco Bell Drive-Thru in North Texas Suburbs Anymore
What is the world coming to?
Critters
December 6, 2013
The Earth Is There to Catch Us When We Fall
My life with horses.
Critters
June 17, 2013
How Medieval Times Became the Largest Breeder of Pure Spanish Horses in America
The "dinner theater" chain supplies all of its castles with purebred Andalusian horses, which are all born at an unassuming ranch in Sanger, Texas.
The Culture
May 13, 2013
Bits and Spurs
Equestrian gear that will steer a horse—and turn some heads.
Critters
January 21, 2013
Slaughterhorse Rules: The Debate Over Updated Regulations Continues
With the USDA poised to once again allow the processing of horse meat, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram argues that Texas should repeal its 1949 law against the practice.
Critters
January 21, 2013
Does This Mean Horse Is Back on the Menu?
Five years after the federal government closed facilities that slaughter horses, President Barack Obama signed legislation that effectively reverses the old policy and allows slaughter plants to open.
Critters
January 20, 2013
Horse Sense
Redford, shmedford: If you think the aging Hollywood hunk is anything like the prototypical horse whisperer, you haven’t met Del Rio native Ernesto Rojas Serna.
Feature
January 20, 2013
Gentling Cheatgrass
What does it take to break a wild mustang? Patience, horse sense, experience, and if you’re Teryn Lee Muench, no more than one hundred days.
Web Exclusive
January 20, 2013
A Q&A With Sterry Butcher
Sterry Butcher talks about her experience watching Teryn Lee Muench break a wild mustang in less than one hundred days.
Critters
November 6, 2012
Did You Say You Wanted to Buy a Zetas Racehorse?
The federal government made a cool $8.8 million over the weekend auctioning off racehorses that purportedly belong to the Zetas.
December 7, 2011
Dust Bowl Texas: The Drought’s Impact on Groundwater, State Parks, and Horses
The drought leaves nothing untouched. This week the ongoing drought impacts the state’s groundwater, state parks, and horses.
November 7, 2011
Dust Bowl Texas: The Latest Drought News
Summer's over, but the drought may never be, and it's affecting everything from tourism to pecan pie to horse welfare.
Being Texan
July 31, 2001
Queen of the Rodeo
For teenage girls in the Hill Country town of Llano, life can be short on glamour and excitement—except at the annual rodeo, when one of them gets a rhinestone tiara and a rare, thrilling moment of glory.
True Crime
May 31, 2001
The Killing of Alydar
In 1990 the legendary Thoroughbred was put to sleep after his leg was broken—an accident, it seemed, until a tenacious prosecutor linked his death to a Houston bank scandal.
Behind the Lines
February 1, 2000
Animal Magnetism
My mane attraction.
True Crime
March 1, 1998
The Last Posse
After thieves stole his daughter’s horse, deputy U.S. marshal Parnell McNamara didn’t make a federal case out of it. Instead, he rounded up a group of old-style lawmen and lit out after them.
Being Texan
September 30, 1996
Home on the Range
All over Texas, small ranchers are giving up and moving to the city. But the Stoner family of Uvalde is as determined as ever to hold on to its land—and its way of life.
True Crime
March 1, 1996
The Horse Killers
The shocking and sad story of the East Texas kids who beat a horse to death just for the thrill of it.
Business
February 1, 1996
Trailing the Field
Texas was supposed to be horse racing’s salvation, a Thoroughbred–loving state with money to burn. So why can’t the sport get out of the gate?
Being Texan
April 1, 1987
The Man Who Understands Horses
Buster Welch’s success as a cutting horse trainer is based on a simple observation: when you insult a horse’s intelligence, you hurt his feelings.
Critters
March 1, 1980
Horse Power
Horses are expensive, finicky, and a pain to groom. They are also irresistible.
Sports
April 1, 1976
The Horseman and His Apocalypse
People bring their gangly quarter horse colts to Bubba Werner to transform into winners. Now and again, he does.
Sports
January 1, 1976
That’s Me On That Horse, Terrified.
A tale of chukkers, stable snakes, Andy Warhol, and the booming sport of polo.