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Friday, May. 16, 2025

Fact brief: Does state law allow Texans to ride their horse in a drive-thru?

Jacob Sanchez, Fort Worth Report
yes

Under Texas law, residents are allowed to ride their horses when visiting a drive-thru.

A person riding an animal on a roadway has the same rights as someone driving a vehicle. 

A horse rider must follow the same traffic laws as a driver.

Cities may restrict horse riding on streets. 

The city of Fort Worth does not restrict riding a horse on city streets. Fort Worth considers a person on horseback a vulnerable road user.

Businesses, however, may have policies allowing only motorized vehicles in drive-thrus and can refuse service to people on horseback.

See a full discussion of this at Fort Worth Report

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

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