Alberta  Backcountry Horsemen

About Our Name

The name 'Backcountry Horsemen' is well-established. It has been used in British Columbia since 1989 and across the USA since 1973. We believe that being associated with the name speaks to the spirit of community collaboration and our goal to protect our right to ride on public lands. This is the very foundation on which our new organization will be built.

While Alberta Backcountry Horsemen Society was officially registered as an Alberta Society in April 2024, with ‘Backcountry’ as two words, we later made the decision to ‘drop the space’ and the word ‘Society’ in less formal communications.

Dropping the space: We recognize and appreciate that both Back Country Horsemen of BC and Back Country Horsemen of America have used ‘Backcountry’ as two words for decades. However, because we are a fledgling organization, still getting our proverbial feet wet, we made the decision to adopt 'backcountry' as one word, as defined by official dictionaries and commonplace use. With this change, our official acronym changed from ABCH to ABH. This is also in line with our website URL (www.abhorsemen.org) and official emails.

Dropping the word ‘Society’: While we are proud to be a registered society in the province of Alberta, going forward, the word 'Society' will only be used in formal and legal documents. This is in keeping with many other organizations' marketing and communications strategies and social media accounts.

Will you be changing the word ‘horsemen’?  We have elected to continue the decades-old tradition of using the word 'horsemen' in our name. This term is not gender specific but, rather, refers to 'a person skilled in horseback riding'.

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Please note that our logo is subject to further updates as we develop and implement future marketing strategies that will both align us with other backcountry groups yet provide us with our own sense of identity.