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Things to do in Houston!

Visit the Houston Police Department Mounted Patrol Stables

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Mounted Patrol Stables
Address:  5005 Little York Road, Houston, Texas 77016
Cost:  Free
Appropriate Age: Any Age
Hours: These change a lot… so please check before you go!

Updated hours (as of 12/24/15): These hours keep changing, so please check before you go. Right now the website says it is open daily, 8:00 a.m. to. 4:00 p.m., excluding city holidays.

Updated hours (as of 5/28/15): Monday – Friday: Unscheduled visitors are welcome from 12pm-2pm. Saturday and Sunday: Visits must be scheduled ahead of time by calling 832-394-0394
Guided Tours for large groups can be scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays, by calling 832-394-0372.

Visiting the Houston Police Departments Mounted Patrol Stables might just be the coolest free thing to do in Houston. You know I love the mysterious red button in Downtown, but feeding the 38 HPD horses at the stables ranks just as high.

Mounted Patrol Feeding Horse Apple
Bring your own carrots, quartered apples and peppermints, and you can stop in to visit the horses, during visiting hours. Just grab the kids and go!

Mounted Patrol Petting Horse
If you do have a group and want a formal tour, you can set that up for free as well. Details are on the HPD website HERE.

Mounted Patrol Horse
BigKidSmallCity had a Meet Up here in the Fall. We met on a Friday morning with for a demonstration and to feed the horses.

Mounted Patrol Feeding Horses Noah
A HPD officer was our guide and taught us all about the Mounted Patrol. Kids and parents learned all about the division. One interesting fact is that the horses are good for public relations. In Downtown Houston or Memorial Park, people are generally happy to be confronted by a police officer on a horse… when they might be angry to be confronted by just a police officer.

Mounted Patrol Demonstration
We also learned that the Houston Mounted Patrol practices natural horsemanship and they feed the animals a natural diet and they are barefoot!

Mounted Patrol Police Officer
After sitting on the bleachers and learning about the horses, we went back in the stables to feed all the horses. There were 38 hungry horses that gobbled up everything we gave them!

Mounted Patrol Feeding Horses
Carrots, apples and peppermints are all allowed, but big carrots were the most popular. This way the kids could feed the horses without getting their hands in their mouths. Also, big carrots are better than than the little baby carrots… because horses don’t know the difference between a baby carrot and a little finger!

Mounted Patrol Walking Through Stables
The stables are very clean and the horses all stick out their heads to greet your kids.

I highly recommend this outing to all Houstonians. It is very unique adventure for your family!

About Jill Jarvis

Jill Jarvis is the owner of JillBJarvis.com, a BigKidSmallCity.com and Things to Do in Houston, with Kids, blog!

She is the mom of 4 and started the website years ago... when she was tired of constantly cleaning up the same mess in the family room.

Another mom showed her that you could just go do fun things in Houston, without hours of planning.

This inspired the blog and changed everything about how she enjoyed life in Houston, with kids!

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Comments

  1. emile unverzagt says

    Does the mounted patrol still come out a give presentations to groups? If so, I’d love book a time for officers to come out and speak to the participants here. Perhaps some time in middle to late March or what ever works best for you.

    Thank you for your time.

    Reply

  4. Conny Sain says

    I would love to know the brand of saddle they use on these drafts. I see it is an austrailian saddle of some sort but to purchase one of these I would need to know the brand. Does anyone have this information.

    Reply

    • Jill Jarvis says

      Eric –

      I don’t know! They have answered for me in the past… but I have not tried lately. Here’s the latest info on the website:

      Houston Police Department Mounted Patrol Facility
      5005 Little York Rd. Houston,Tx. 77016-2547
      Main Telephone Number: 832-394-0399
      Primary Fax Number: 832-394-0398

      Have you tried this number? Or sent a, uh…, fax? (Seems like an email address would be better!)

      Jill

      Reply

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