About the Estancia to Estancia Ride
by Majo
My history with Corrientes
I’ve always loved this quote that says:
“Freedom is riding wild over untamed land with no notion any moment exists beyond the one you are living” (Elsa Dutton 1883).
The reason why I feel so identity is because I had, and still have, every once in a while this freedom moments. Calafate, in South Patagonia, is for sure one of these places where you can ride the wild and untamed land. But Corrientes, in the Mesopotamia of Argentina, it’s kind of similar but in a different way.
Let me explain. Corrientes, this northeast land, is still a little bit beyond time. Here you can yet find real gauchos who live lost in the forest or estuaries. They have no nearby towns, just a few rustic places where they can go with their horses to buy essential things: drinks, cigarettes, cookies, etc. There are not many proper roads, and some towns are connected by long and wide arena roads which are awful for cars but perfect to ride.
Twenty years ago or so my father used to manage a ranch in the area of Esquina in Corrientes. The ranch was located 60 km away from the town. The road to get to it was a typical white soft arena road. There was nothing around except for other ranches and these small rustic “bars”, a small chapel and a few houses. I used to go out with the gauchos that worked at the farm and many other times I used to ride by myself miles and miles by the arena road. When I got bored (which was never) I used to get lost in the forest and just let myself be. Thats the memory I had from Corrientes… and also the most amazing sunsets I’ve ever seen!
I never came back till now, August 2024, for my 40th birthday, with Equus Argentina. Me and Cami went by car and visited 5 estancias: one is located in Curuzu Cuatia (on the way to Iguazu waterfalls) and it’s where we do Horse Riding on Criollos (3 Nights /4 Day ride). The other three are part of the Estancia to Estancia Horse Riding in Corrientes in the area of Esquina. I will tell you my experience about this last ride.
The estancias
The ride starts at Fernando´s estancia. He is the one who “invented” this ride. Actually he was inspired by his grandfather: he used to have three estancias around the area and so he used to move cattle from one estancia to the other. Long story short, his grandfather left one estancia to each son (luckily he had 2 sons and one daughter), so it seems it was a fair division. Fernando started doing this ride following the path his grandfather used to do with the cows.
His estancia is super nice. It’s an old house, with old fashioned furniture, almost lost in time. Having dinner here is like being in a super fancy restaurant. Silver forks, crystal cups, special flower arrangements for the table. I felt like a princess. However, we are horse girls, and for us the most important things are horses! Our room was located just beside the “Calchero” – this is the name given to the place where they keep the saddles.
Fernando gave me “Bayo” and Cami was riding “Colorado”, both very nice horses. Bayo was very active, very comfortable at galloping and an expert cantering in the water. Maybe what I liked more about this estancia was the amount of horses they had. We gathered 67 of the 180 horses they owe.
As you can see in the pictures, horses were spread in a estuary (an area flooded by huge lagoons). We had the best time ever and the weather was warm, so water wasn’t a problem for us.
The second estancia was the one of Nico – Fernando´s cousin. Nico is an ex polo player and he breeds polo horses. I knew Nico from before when my father used to work at Estancia del Medio. It was very nice to meet him again after many years, he looked the same but now he is father of a lovely girl – who seems she will like horses as much as him – and a younger boy.
He was expecting us with a royal “picada” and wines. What else could we ask for? After riding the whole day we were hungry and thirsty of wine. We had a nice chat by the fire and a royal dinner as well. The advantage about staying at an estancia instead of tends is that after long day rides you get to have a nice shower and sleep in super comfortable beds.
The following morning, we changed of horses. This time we had “Zaina” and “Juanita”, both young polo horses. They were machines! Definitely ongoing horses. We rode by another estuary, saw millions of birds of different species, got a taste of natural lemons that grow in the forest and then we were so lucky that we got to see one of his mares giving birth. This last thing was the star of that day. We’ve never seen a mare giving birth and it was a special moment. We were in silence watching how the stallion made sure to get the other horses away and leave the mare quite doing her job.
Our following stop was at Klaus’ estancia. This is the third stop of the ride. This estancia has a beautiful house. Is an old construction typical of the area of the country. It has long and wide galleries. Each room has its own fire place which makes it magical. The garden is surrounded by palm trees that you can see from each window. That day we rode to the river, and had excellent meal by the shore of the Corriente River, had some wine, rest in the hammock hanging between the trees and then at night we had the best asado ever.
Again, I must say that stopping at an estancia each night has its benefits. We had a very nice sleep and the following day we were riding again. The regular Estancia to Estancia Ride ends at Klau´s cousin estancia which is located by the river, but as we were short in time instead of doing this, the last day we did a ride towards the refugee- an other place located by a huge lagoon. On the way we went through a pine forest – planted by man in order to do wood – and we saw antelopes and capybaras.
They invited us to do a boat ride around the lagoon. The water was chilled and we could heard all the birds. It was a grey cloudy day, but for sure we will be back in the summer to enjoy a boat ride under the northeast sun.
