[BigBendHiker]

The Jan 1968 issue of National Geographic references the Chisos Remuda which offered horseback rides to the South Rim (I also understand they offered rides to the Window).  

It said that "Experienced guides lead trail parties to the South Rim, an all-day 14 mile circuit that winds through forests green with conifers and across meadows ablaze with wildflowers.  The reward:  a heart-stopping summit-top vista where, an awed viewer once exclaimed "You can see the day after tomorrow"

Did any of y'all have an opportunity to take one of those rides?  Did they take the same trails the hikers would use such as the Pinnacles or Laguna Meadows Trail to get to the South Rim?  Was the stable there in the Basin?

BBH

[Joe]

I remember when the remuda was operating in the Basin.  The stables were located near what's now the entrance to the employee residence area in the Basin, just past the turn-off to the group campground.

They offered two rides, a half-day to the Window and the full-day to the South Rim.  They would go up and down the Laguna Meadow trail.  I don't remember the route they took from Laguna Meadow to the South Rim, but they did use the trail from Boot Springs to the Rim (or vice-versa).

Needless to say, the water quality and trail conditions are much better now that there's only an occasional horse.

[okiehiker]

The proprieters of the remuda graciously provided horses for the SAR I was involved in in Cattail Canyon.  Although I am not a fan of horses on trails in sensitive areas, I love riding and the operators of the old Chisos Remuda were first class folks.

[Oilcan]

As a kid in the late 1970's during my first visit to BB one of the things I remember was riding a horse to the Window...  I have vague memories of an old stone watering trough and metal posts near the Window where the horses were tied...  I still have an old horseshoe I got as a souvenir from the stable...

[Robert]

One of my first memories of Big Bend was the trip to the Window as well. This would have been in the early '60s. I remember a wrangler cutting a switch off of a bush for me to use because my horse had a tendency to stop and munch on bushes along the trail. On subsequent trips we always looked forward to this ride.