RCMP Musical Ride National Historic Event

 

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (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 armed police force, one of the distinctive symbols of Canadian identity in Canada and abroad.

Commemorative plaque: will be installed at the Musical Ride Stables, 1 Sandridge Road, Ottawa, Ontario^{Footnote 1}

RCMP Musical Ride

This grand precision performance of scarlet-uniformed police on horseback, coordinated with music, was established and first performed in Regina in 1887 by the North-West Mounted Police, predecessor of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). With origins in British cavalry traditions, the Musical Ride illustrates the enduring importance of horsemanship in the history of the force. The RCMP has bred and trained world-class black horses for the Musical Ride since the 1940s. This equestrian ceremonial unit is a distinctive symbol of Canada’s national and international identity.

RCMP Musical Ride

With origins in British cavalry traditions, this grand precision performance of scarlet-uniformed police on horseback, coordinated with music, was established and first performed in Regina in 1887 by the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), later the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The Musical Ride illustrates the longstanding importance of horsemanship in the history of the federal police force. Since the 1940s, the RCMP has bred and trained world-class black horses for the Musical Ride at Regina, Fort Walsh, and Ottawa. For over a century, the Musical Ride has been the traditional ceremonial arm of the force, popular even in the face of policing controversies. The Musical Ride has become a distinctive symbol of Canada’s national and international identity.

The NWMP was created by the federal government in May 1873 as a paramilitary force of mounted constables and was charged with asserting Canadian control over the North-West Territories. The NWMP had a vast network of patrols and was expected to enforce federal policies that ultimately had long-term and damaging consequences for Indigenous Peoples. Horses were essential to policing in the Prairies as they allowed the force to range over great distances. From the establishment of the NWMP to 1966, all members of the force received equestrian training. 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, considered essential qualities for police officers.

The 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 Musical Ride, performing more than one hundred times per year by 1966. Since 1988, officers selected for the Musical Ride serve a three-year term before returning to regular police duties, and the Musical 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 Musical Ride in the 1990s. Today, the Musical Ride better represents the diversity of the Canadian population, with women and members of visible minorities making up about half of the riders.

This press backgrounder was prepared at the time of the plaque unveiling in 2026.

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