vettech2112

Heya,

Can anyone suggest equine-friendly state parks in TX? I'm involved with someone who is a horse owner and we're thinking of doing some exploration of the parks on horseback. And, yeah, Hill Country SNA is very high on the list.

Alchemist2000

Try this link

I am not a horse owner, but I was especially impressed by some of the equestrian facilities the last time we were hiking at Caprock Canyon S.P. It is such a great place and I would think it would be wonderful on horseback. However, I don't know if last summer's storm damage to the roads has been repaired yet or not.

Alchemist2000

After thinking about this some more, I thought I should expand upon my first response, which was focused on the state parks because that was what you had specificaly mentioned. If you are looking for something closer to Fort Worth, there are a number of popular riding trails near the metroplex.

There are some very popular equestrian trails on Grapevine Lake and Lewisville Lake. These are on Army Corps of Engineers land and open to the public, but maintained by the Cross Timbers Equestrian Trails Association See the CTETA website for maps of the various trails.

The Greenbelt between Lake Ray Roberts and Lewisville Lake, which is run by the state park system, has 12 miles of equestrian trails and some accommodations for horses at the three trailheads.

Finally, the LBJ Grasslands, which is federal land north of Decatur, is used extensively by horse owners, with 50 miles of horse trails. I could not find their map online, but we picked up one for free at the ranger station going north out of Decatur. I would definitely recommend getting a map if you are headed out that way, since the roads are a maze of old drilling roads. I did find a website for a Bed and Barn there. I don't know anything about the Bed and Barn, but their website does have a little bit of info. The grasslands are one of our favorite places in north Texas to hike. It would be a great place on horseback....lots of woods and varied terrain. It is not at all what I first envisioned when I heard the term "grasslands". Most of the area is free, although a couple of the improved camping areas require a fee. The most popular horse location seems to be Tadra Horse Camp. It has primitive camping areas large enough to accommodate horse trailers. There is a $4 per car fee for this location.

We have hiked in all of these areas, some more frequently than others. All of them seem to be extremely popular with area horse owners. Unfortunately, since we do not own horses, I can not critique these locations from that perspective. Good luck and let us know if anything pans out.

crimsonblaize

Mineral Wells State Park (about 50 miles West of Fort Worth) is a decent place to ride. There are 8-13 miles of equestrian trails as well as the Rails-to-Trails road from Mineral Wells to Weatherford which has limited equestrian access.

If you want directions feel free to reply, but I'm sure they're all over the net as well. Anyway, that's not a bad drive for a day ride.

vettech2112

I was exploring Fort Griffin & Fort Richardson on foot yesterday. Ever done the Lost Creek Trailway at Fort Richardson? We've not taken the horses out on trails yet but I was thinking that Lost Creek might be a decent outing.

Alchemist2000

We were at Mineral Wells State Park on Sunday, but the trails were still considered too wet and were therefore closed. It is a great place, but you might want to check to make sure the trails are open before making the trek out there.