Riding in Patagonia & a Few Tips

by Majo

 

Northern Patagonia and Southern Patagonia are definitely my favorite places in the world. I have a long history with this remote, magic, wild region of Argentina. I’ve been in North Patagonia (Neuquen, Rio Negro, Chubut) as well as in South Patagonia (Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego). I can say I know it from north to south and east to west.

A little bit of background

I can’t recall my first trip to Patagonia, for sure it was with my family when I was a kid. My aunt has a beautiful house in the Llao Llao neighborhood – one of the nicest areas of Bariloche – and we used to visit her very often. It was a lot of fun because in winter we used to go skiing and during the summer my uncle loved to take us to the lake to do fly fishing and water skiing.

 

Over the years I came back as many times as I could, but it wasn’t till 2009 that I decided to move to South Patagonia, precisely to Calafate. Actually, it was a matter of fate how I ended up working in an estancia in Patagonia. I was looking for a job on the internet and the first one I found was a job offer to go and work as a horse ride guide at El Galpon del Glaciar – an estancia located 20 km away from Calafate Town. Without blinking my eyes, I decided to go for this adventure and I’m glad I did it because it changed my life.

 

Thanks to this job I met Cami, with whom many years later we founded Equus Argentina. Also, it was in this place that I realized I could live my life doing what I was passionate about. Moreover, it was in this place where I found “Señora Sol”, my stunning Anglo Arab mare. She was the horse that gave me the chance to compete in Endurance races.

 

South Patagonia Experience

While working and living in Southern Patagonia I had the fortune to ride every single day! I was always keen to go out for a ride. I was never bored because there was always a new place to explore. I loved riding with the guests of the hotel. I met amazing people with whom I’m still in touch.

 

My best companion for horse riding was Cami. She was also working as a horse-riding guide of the estancia. When we weren’t working, we would go out riding for hours, every time to a new place. Patagonia is vast, but this part of Patagonia is especially immense and wild. Here the estancias are huge, which means there are almost no limits.

 

Back then was when we invented the trail to the Ride to the Great Sand Dunes and we got to know the whole area. That’s why we can highly advise travelers about rides in Calafate.

 

As Calafate is quite close to Chile’s border, I did a trip to Torres del Paine where I did an amazing ride in the forest with endurances horses. It also involved herding cattle. Later, I traveled to Ushuaia in the winter and did a spectacular horse ride by the shore of the Beagle Channel.

North Patagonia Rides

A few years later, already with Equus Argentina, we were able to travel and ride in other outstanding destinations such as Peninsula Valdes and Neuquen. One of my favorite rides was Horse Riding and Whales. Cantering by the shore of the sea while watching the whales do their amazing jumps was a once in a lifetime experience!

 

On the other hand, there are no words to describe the Horse Riding and Cattle Herding in Patagonia in Morado Ranch. This was a really unforgettable adventure. You can learn more about it in Cami’s blog Horse Riding in Neuquen, the Beginning and Horse Riding in Neuquen, the Great Adventure. But in short words, this ride has everything: hot springs, super fun horses, turquoise water rivers, waterfalls, breathtaking views and of course the experience of herding 250 cows in Patagonia.

 

A few tips about riding in Patagonia

Season

Although riding in the snow is really nice and peaceful, the truth is most of the estancias shut their doors during the winter. People don’t usually travel during this time. Instead, they tend to take a break from all the hard work during summer. Long rides are only available from September till end of March, though there are still short rides to do in destinations as Bariloche.

Weather

North Patagonia is always hotter than South Patagonia, but this doesn’t mean that summers are always hot. In fact, Patagonia’s weather is unpredictable; a sunny day can turn into a freezing windy day in a wink. Generally, the lowlands have warmer weather than the highlands and temperatures can drop around 15º up in the mountains.

 

Spring is a good time to visit Patagonia but it can still be cold and more often than not it’s very windy. In south Patagonia wind can blow up to 150 km per hour.

Clothes to wear

As the weather can be tricky your saddle bag always needs to be equipped with a good windproof and rain jacket, a polar jumper, a good sweater, thermal T Shirts, good winter socks, comfortable riding trousers – if you can buy “bombachas de campo” better! Alpargatas might also be very useful, particularly when walking in the stone beaches by the rivers and lakes. A swimsuit, a hat – no cap – shorts and shirts.

 

Trekking shoes are also very handy, Patagonia has infinite hikes to discover and in every ride there is a moment to explore the land by foot. At last, riding gloves can be very valuable in cold weather but also very practical when looking for wood to do the fire.

Horses

Most of the horses that are used for riding in Patagonia are the national breed: Criollo horses. These are well known for their stamina and great temper. What you need to know is that horses that are born and raised in Patagonia are experts in moving up and down the mountains, so you don’t need to be concerned about it. They are used to walk over stones. Always trust your horse, they know what they are doing, and pay attention if something calls their attention, it might be a puma.

Landscape

Don’t worry about heights, horses know exactly what to do in the mountains. You only need to be aware of how to balance your body when going up and descending. When ascending you need to move your body forward and lose a little bit the reins in order to allow the horse to climb easily. When going down, you need to move your body backwards and have more contact with the reins to use them just in case the horse trips.

 

Be careful with wetlands, there are some areas known as “mallin” that can betray you. They seem to be firm ground but underneath there is water and sometimes horse and rider can get stuck there.

 

Hope you find these tips useful, for more information check our horserides in Northern Patagonia and Southern Patagonia.