10 horseback riding destinations in Colorado
Here are 10 great places to experience the trail on horseback in Colorado.
Author’s Note: Equestrian tours often require riders to be of a minimum age and do not allow double riding. Check with the official source for planning your horseback ride, including for information on what to wear and what to bring.
Riding on Horseback, Colorado (Photo) Credit RiverNorthPhotography (iStock)
1. Grand Lake
Grand Lake is nestled on the mountainous west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Enjoy scenic trail rides around this iconic destination, home to Colorado’s largest natural lake, featuring wildflowers, wildlife, stream crossings, forests, and more. Trail rides at Winding River Resort begin Memorial Day weekend and take place through September 30.
Photo Credit: RiverNorthPhotography (iStock).
Trail Ride in Garden of the Gods (Photo) Credit powerofforever (iStock)
2. Colorado Springs
Discover the Pikes Peak region as the area’s first pioneers did on horseback. Academy Riding Stables offers rides year-round through the scenic red rock formations of Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.
Photo Credit: powerofforever (iStock).
Horses Grazing Below Pike's Peak (Photo) Credit EntropyWorkshop (iStock)
2. Colorado Springs (cont.)
The foothills of Pikes Peak can be explored on horseback rides with Old Stage Riding Stables. The ride follows Old Stage Road, a retired route once used by stagecoaches to connect Colorado Springs and Old Stage Road. Panoramic mountain overlooks, deep forests, and many other classic scenes of Colorado are viewed along the ride.
Photo Credit: EntropyWorkshop (iStock).
Rocky Mountain Horse Ride (Photo) Credit amygdala_imagery (iStock)
3. Fairplay
American Safari Ranch takes visitors through open valleys, allowing riders to roam throughout the historic ranch and public lands near Fairplay.
Photo Credit: amygdala_imagery (iStock).
Riding on Horseback, Colorado (Photo) Credit RiverNorthPhotography (iStock)
4. Estes Park
Rides with Sombrero Stables range from a half-hour to 2-hours long, allowing any level of riders to experience Estes Park and the surrounding Rocky Mountains on horseback. The 2-hour ride takes guests up 900 feet of elevation for incredible views of the Continental Divide, Long’s Peak, and the Estes valley, then deep into the forest for views of the Big Thompson Canyon to Eagle Valley.
Photo Credit: RiverNorthPhotography (iStock).
Horseback Riding in Colorado (Photo ) Credit amygdala_imagery (iStock)
5. Aspen
Choose from a day trip on the trail or overnight backcountry adventures on pack trips with Aspen Wilderness Outfitters. Journey through the Maroon Bells, Crested Butte, Hunter Creek, Woody Creek, Snowmass Mountain, and more.
Photo Credit: amygdala_Imagery (iStock).
Horse in summer (Photo) Credit krblokhin (iStock)
6. Fruita
See Colorado’s canyon country on horseback with Rimrock Adventures in Fruita. Two- and three-hour rides explore McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area and the wild horse ride takes visitors to the federally protected Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Preserve.
Photo Credit: krblokhin (iStock).
Two Cowboys in Telluride (Photo) Credit DOUGBERRY (iStock)
7. Telluride
Telluride Wranglers shows the best of the San Juan mountains via horseback with a variety of options including trail rides, the cowboy pack trip, dinner wagon rides, sleigh rides, hunting, and more.
Author’s Note: Telluride Wranglers hosts private rides only by reservation.
Photo Credit: DOUGBERRY (iStock).
Horses grazing in Crested Butte Colorado (Photo) Credit beklaus (iStock)
8. Crested Butte
Explore the mountains, meadows, and more of Colorado’s backcountry with Fantasy Ranch Horseback Adventures. With trail rides from Mt. Crested Butte, horseback rides wind around Snodgrass Mountain. Or consider packing in the trailer for a wilderness adventure with experienced wranglers in places like Oh-Be-Joyful Wilderness where riders follow Slate River, and Rustler’s Gulch Wilderness, where the trail leads to an abandoned mining site.
Photo Credit: beklaus (iStock).
Horseback Riding in the Rocky Mountains (Photo) Credit chapin31 (iStock)
9. Buena Vista
Options with Wilderness Aware Rafting range from a 30-minute pony ride to a 2- hour sunset ride and a 3/4ths day ride to a waterfall. Visitors see the Arkansas River, valley views, 14-197-foot Mt. Princeton, The Chalk Cliffs, and much more on horseback.
Photo Credit: chapin31 (iStock).
Chestnut Horse (Photo) Credit chabybucko (iStock)
10. Palisade
Rhyne Horses guides visitors on horseback through Palisade’s famed wineries along the Colorado River, ending with a tasting at Colterris Winery. Trail rides include a trip through the Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Area and wagon rides are pulled by two Clydesdales, Bonnie and Clyde, through town.
Photo Credit: chabybucko (iStock).
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