Houston George Bush Interncontinental Airport

Horseback endurance ride at Houston Airport

Horseback riding at the airport?

Yup. The volunteer Airport Rangers at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport do it year-round for recreation and to help patrol the airport’s grounds.

And on February 4th and 5th, 2012, 100 riders will show up for the 2nd Airport Express Endurance Ride through the 13,000 acres of groomed riding trails at the airport.

The goal of endurance riding is to complete a marked trail within the time given, as established by the American Endurance Ride Conference standards. Contestants in IAH’s ride will set out on 25 and 50 mile courses, but there will also a 10 mile “Fun Ride” for novice riders.

Even if you don’t have a horse you may want to mosey on over to see the demonstrations put on by the airport’s mounted patrol and to find out what “Cowboy Karaoke” is all about.

Want to find out more about the Airport Rangers? Here’s a link to a story I wrote about them a while back for my “At the Airport” column in USATODAY.com.

And here’s a video put together by the airport: