Where we ride · St James Conservation Area
Horse Treks in Canterbury
The region’s wildest riding — 78,000 hectares of high-country backcountry.
Canterbury is high-country country, and the St James Conservation Area is its wild heart. Sitting in the Hurunui district between the Hanmer basin and the main divide, the St James spans 78,000 hectares of tussock flats, beech-lined rivers and alpine passes that top 1,296 metres at Fowlers Pass.
This is the landscape Canterbury locals dream about and most never reach. On horseback you cross creek after creek, ride valley floors where the only sound is hooves on river stone, and finish the day in natural hot pools in the middle of nowhere.
We ride it year-round, reading the weather and choosing routes to suit the season — golden autumn tussock, snow-dusted winter ridgelines, long summer evenings in the saddle.
Getting here
In the Canterbury high country
Every ride leaves from the St James Homestead, about 20 minutes north of Hanmer Springs in the St James Conservation Area. We send full directions and a meeting time the moment you book — no four-wheel-drive needed, the road in is sealed most of the way.
Two ways
to ride
Whether you have a spare morning or a spare week, there is a ride from Canterbury that fits.
Horse Treks in Canterbury — good to know
In the St James Conservation Area, in the Hurunui district of North Canterbury — about 20 minutes north of Hanmer Springs.
A 78,000-hectare former high-country station, now public conservation land — tussock basins, braided rivers, hot springs and alpine passes. Some of the best riding in Canterbury.
We ride all year. Autumn and summer are warm and long; winter brings dramatic snow on the tops. We pick routes to suit the conditions.
