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February 2026 ushers within the Hearth Horse Yr, a time historically related to freedom, vitality, and renewal. It’s an auspicious second to look towards experiences that reconnect us with rhythm, land, and intuition. In Chilean Patagonia, at Las Torres Patagonia, that connection unfolds not via spectacle, however via a quieter, older language spoken between people, horses, and the open pampa.
Set inside Torres del Paine Nationwide Park, Las Torres Patagonia is the one property within the park permitted to supply equine actions. Right here, company trip alongside baqueanos—Patagonian cowboys whose horsemanship traditions stretch again greater than a century—throughout large steppe, river flats, lenga forests, and glacier-framed valleys. This isn’t horseback driving as an add-on, however as a manner of figuring out a spot.
The expertise is guided by three interwoven themes: Study, Experience, and Heal.
Study: Farm-to-Saddle Encounters With Dwelling Tradition
The phrase baqueano comes from baquía, which means deep data of the land. These aren’t merely guides, however custodians of terrain, climate, animals, and tales handed down via generations of horseback work in Patagonia.
By means of the Baqueano Cultural Expertise, company are invited into the every day rhythms of the estancia. Mornings would possibly start on the horse corrals, studying about conventional saddles, leather-based tack, and clothes designed for lengthy days within the parts. There’s hands-on secure care, horseshoeing demonstrations, and mild instruction in horsemanship that emphasizes respect and endurance over efficiency.
Halfway via, time slows. A communal gourd of yerba mate is handed hand at hand—a ritual of reflection and camaraderie—accompanied by sopaipillas with pebre, heat pumpkin bread served with contemporary salsa. Tales circulation simply right here, formed by climate, reminiscence, and the regular presence of horses close by.
Experience: Into the Vastness of Torres del Paine
Horseback journeys led by baqueanos open up a facet of Torres del Paine that few guests expertise. Using permits for a deeper immersion into the panorama’s scale and silence, following historic routes used lengthy earlier than trekking trails have been mapped.
Experiences vary from light introductions for newbies to full-day rides for assured riders:
- Lake Nordenskjöld Half-Day Experience: Supreme for first-time riders, following non-public reserve trails to the lake’s turquoise shore.
- Ascencio Valley Half-Day Experience: Tracing early baqueano paths with sweeping views of Las Torres, Los Cuernos, hanging glaciers, and the storied Puma Cave.
- Valle Encantado Full-Day Experience: A 24-kilometre journey for skilled riders, galloping throughout open pampas, weaving via lenga forests, and skirting the japanese fringe of the Paine Massif alongside the Paine River.
- Base Torres Full-Day Experience and Hike: Combining driving with a guided ascent to the Base Torres viewpoint, culminating in a picnic lunch beneath one in all Patagonia’s most iconic vistas.
Every trip is as a lot about listening as shifting; studying to learn the land via the cadence of hooves and the insights shared by those that understand it intimately.
Heal: The Quiet Energy of Equine Presence
Past journey, time spent with horses affords one thing extra restorative. Horses are extremely attuned animals, conscious of physique language and emotional states. Analysis cited by the British Horse Society means that equine interplay can cut back signs of melancholy by as much as 30%, with greater than 80% of riders reporting constructive emotional results.
At Las Torres Patagonia, therapeutic doesn’t require being within the saddle. Company can even have interaction via quieter moments: observing horses within the corral, becoming a member of guided walks, or gathering round campfires the place baqueanos share anecdotes and conventional chamamé music. These unhurried encounters provide grounding, perspective, and a uncommon likelihood to be totally current in a spot that asks little and provides a lot.
“Our baqueanos are greater than guides—they’re storytellers and keepers of an equine language handed down via generations,” says Juan López, Gross sales & Advertising Director at Las Torres Patagonia. “When company saddle up right here, they don’t simply trip. They step right into a residing tradition.”
Stewardship on Horseback
Take care of the land is inseparable from take care of the horses. Las Torres Patagonia is residence to roughly 150 horses, all managed below an authorized holistic deliberate grazing system that rotates herds throughout designated areas to stop overgrazing and soil erosion.
Licensed by the Savory Institute since 2021, this method helps long-term ecosystem well being whereas permitting the horses to graze freely every evening and be gathered at daybreak.
Equine welfare is central: skilled baqueanos oversee all driving and dealing with, secure routines prioritize relaxation and well being, and visitor experiences are designed to be academic, respectful, and low-impact.
A Dwelling Invitatio
Open seasonally from October via April, Las Torres Patagonia affords greater than a keep; it affords a return to older rhythms, the place motion is purposeful, tales matter, and therapeutic occurs quietly, one shared second at a time.
Within the Yr of the Horse, this nook of Patagonia feels particularly resonant: a spot to trip not towards conquest or pace, however towards understanding—of land, tradition, and ourselves.