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Last Update: 06 Aug 2010

Riding Holidays | Iowa

Iowa is a far less well represented horse riding holiday destination than the neighbouring States of South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri. While Iowa is still part of the Great Plains farming region and is nicknamed the ‘Food Capital of the World’ by Americans, its predominant agriculture is corn and oats production and high intensity livestock rearing.

There are a small minority of traditional Iowa working cattle ranches and quite a few ranch horses of various common western riding breeds, but no known horse riding vacations in Iowa. We are always looking for new riding destinations and regularly update the information on this site. If you have information about horse riding or trail rides in Iowa please do contact us.

Horse riding is still a fairly common activity in Iowa and there are a number of equestrian centres providing hourly riding lessons in both English and Western style riding, plus a number of horse stud farms throughout the state. The Iowa Horse Fair in April is a big attraction drawing many visitors to see particular horse breed displays, western riding demonstrations, educational seminars, talks on bit and saddle fitting, driving displays, natural horsemanship clinics and western games.

Iowa itself is situated between the great Missouri and Mississippi rivers and was originally a land of wild open prairie. Now this has been almost entirely replaced by farmland. The State is dominated by a landscape of flat plains or gently rolling hills, with the higher Loess hills alongside the Missouri river in the west and steep hills of the Driftless Zone in the northeast. There are many lakes and wetland areas which are often densely forested.

It can be really hot in Iowa in midsummer with big thunderstorms and even the odd tornado. The best time to visit is in early Autumn, avoiding the heat, but before the cold of winter arrives. Des Moines is the principle city and has lots of museums and attractions to see. Iowa has a number of interesting facts. Did you know that Quaker Oats, the largest cereal company in America is based here? Winterset, near Des Moines is the boyhood home of John Wayne, and Winnebago County is where the famous campervans are built.