Riding the trails, is our way of commemorating the Trail of Tears. What a wonderful horse holiday as you ride thru the same lands that the Cherokee Indians traveled during their relocation. If you open your mind and your spirit you can travel back in time and remember the Cherokee Indians and the hardships they endured. The freedom we cherish as American's, in the beginning, was not prevalent to all. As you ride thru the beautiful Ozark Mountain land, you can reflect on the freedoms we all share now.

It is difficult to imagine the hardships which faced the people of the Cherokee Nation who made the forced march to the Indian Territory. They had already lost their homes and possessions. Most felt that their government would not force them from their homes and made no plans for the long, arduous journey. When the government roundup of Cherokees began, many were forced from their homes with only the barest possessions

This tragic chapter in American and Cherokee history became known as Trail of Tears, and culminated the implementation of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which mandated the removal of all American Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River to lands in the West. The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail commemorates the removal of the Cherokee and the paths that 17 Cherokee detachments followed westward.

In 1838, the United States government forcibly removed more than 16,000 Cherokee Indian people from their homelands in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia, and sent them to Indian Territory (today known as Oklahoma). The impact to the Cherokee was devastating. Hundreds of Cherokee died during their trip west, and thousands more perished from the consequences of relocation.

About 4000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears" or, as a direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried" ("Nunna daul Tsuny").