RCMP Musical Ride National Historic Event

The RCMP Musical Ride was designated as a national historic event in 2023.

Historical importance: popular Canadian cultural, traditional, ceremonial event in the 20th century which speaks to the longstanding importance of horsemanship in the history of the arm police force, one of the distinctive symbols of Canadian identity in Canada and abroad.

Commemorative plaque: no plaque installed^{Footnote 1}

RCMP Musical Ride

With origins in British cavalry traditions, this grand precision performance of scarlet-uniformed police constables on horseback, coordinated with music, was first performed in Regina, North-West Territories (now Saskatchewan), in 1887. The Musical Ride demonstrates the longstanding importance of horsemanship in the history of the federal police force. Training in equitation (the art of riding and horsemanship) was mandatory throughout the force from its creation in 1873 until 1966. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has bred, trained, and groomed world-class black thoroughbred horses, later adding Hanoverian horses, for Musical Ride performances since the 1940s at Regina, Fort Walsh, and Ottawa. For nearly 150 years, the Musical Ride has been the traditional and ceremonial arm of the force, popular even in the face of policing controversies. The Ride has become one of the distinctive symbols of Canadian identity in Canada and abroad.

The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was created by the federal government in May 1873 as a mounted constabulary (policing) force. From the beginning, the NWMP engaged in mounted tournaments, cavalcades (processions on horseback), and sports on horseback to practise and display their riding skills. These activities were believed to instill discipline and obedience to authority, essential qualities for police officers. The NWMP Musical Ride originated soon after the first “musical rides” took place in England in the early 1880s. Musical rides differed from cavalry performances, as they were choreographed to illustrate synchronism and skill, as well as to entertain, and were led by an accompanying brass band comprised of members of the force instead of an instructor shouting orders.

In 1886, a new NWMP headquarters complex was built at Regina, including a state-of-the-art riding school that enabled the NWMP to move its cavalry training indoors year-round. The Musical Ride’s first performance was held in January 1887 and multiple performances in the West attracted public attention and acclaim across Canada and internationally. In 1897, for example, the NWMP displayed its cavalry skills at Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London, England, but performances were only held sporadically over the next few decades.

In 1920, the newly created Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), headquartered in Ottawa, continued the Musical Ride tradition. In 1961, the RCMP created an annual Ride, performing more than one hundred times per year by 1966. Since 1988, officers selected for the Ride serve a three-year term before returning to regular police duties, and the Ride now performs in Canada and around the world from May to October.

Although the Musical Ride has served as a symbol of Canadian identity, during its first century only male, white members of the force performed in this event. It was not until 1974 that women could join the RCMP as police officers, and the first women to perform in the Musical Ride were constables Christine Windover and Joan Merk in the 1980s. Métis Constable Dennis Fraser is noted as being among the first of the Indigenous members of the Ride in the 1990s. Today, approximately half of the 32 riders consist of women and members of visible minorities, better representing the diversity of the Canadian population.

This press backgrounder was prepared at the time of the Ministerial announcement in 2025.

Related links

• National historic designations
• National historic persons
• National historic sites designations
• National historic events
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• Creation of the Northwest Mounted Police National Historic Event
• This Week in History