10 Great Places to Horse Ride- #9 Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies are some of the most stunning mountains for horse riding and rank at #9 in our countdown. Watch this video from Banff and Kananaskis.
Alberta is the Western Canadian province that encompasses the timeless tradition of cowboys, cattle and making a living from the land. Similar in size to Texas, Alberta is one of three Canadian provinces to border a single state, Montana. It’s here, amid beautiful mountain scenery that we embarked on a true rugged adventure, packing out into the wilderness and discovering Alberta’s Western legacy in Banff National Park and Kananaskis. These two Canadian Rocky destinations come in at #9 in our top 10 countdown of great places to horse ride, because of their amazing scenery.
Kananskis Horse Riding
If you truly want to get away from it all, ride high in Kananskis, where you'll probably only run into wild horses–– not humans. The Sheep River Valley lies about an hour and a half Southeast of Calgary. We traveled over 20 miles into the backcountry of the Rocky Mountains through drastically changing weather and steep mountain terrain. If you want to discover this truly amazing scenery, you’ll want to ride. I know that I feel much better traveling on a horse that knows the terrain here than I do on my own two feet, plus those four legs will take me much farther, much faster.
Banff National Park Horse Riding
Banff National Park is the oldest national park in Canada. It dates back to 1883, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was being built and workers discovered the unique beauty of the land . Today, riding the park trails, the scenery looks much as it would have 10,000 years ago when hunter gatherers roamed the area, harvesting the abundant natural resources. As my guide Barry pointed out, in Banff you are either walking or riding a horse, as no vehicles are allowed.
Read about our #10 pick- Hawaii.
Read about our #8 pick- Cappadocia.
Learn more about riding vacations in Banff National Park and Kananskis in the Equitrekking Vacation Guide.
