About the Author and Publisher
CuChullaine O’Reilly (left) is an investigative reporter who has spent more than thirty years studying equestrian travel techniques on every continent. After having made lengthy trips by horseback across Pakistan, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers’ Club.
He wrote The Horse Travel Handbook, a field guide that is referred to as “the Long Rider’s Bible.” O’Reilly is also the author of Khyber Knights. This equestrian travel tale has been described as a “masterpiece” and the author as “Jack London in our time”.
The author is married to the English Long Rider, Basha Cornwall-Legh, (right) who rode her Cossack stallion from Volgograd to London, after which she too was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers’ Club. Her book, Bandits and Bureaucrats, describes how she became the only person in the twentieth century to ride out of Russia. As director of the Long Riders’ Guild Press, Basha has published more than two-hundred travel books in five languages. The Encyclopaedia of Equestrian Exploration is the most complex project she has ever overseen.
Because of her skills as a publisher and her knowledge of equestrian travel, Lady Polwarth, heir to the famous Swiss Long Rider Aimé Tschiffely, appointed Basha to be the guardian and Executrix of the Tschiffely Literary Estate.
The O’Reillys founded the Long Riders’ Guild, the world's first international association of equestrian explorers. Its mission is to protect, preserve and promote the ancient art of equestrian travel. The Guild also reassures the public that they can trust the word of a Long Rider, as being a Member is more than just a matter of miles. It is a question of honour, dignity and behaviour.
The organization has Members in forty-six countries, all of whom have made a qualifying equestrian journey of at least one thousand miles. More than a hundred Long Riders are also Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society, which along with the Guild hosted the first international meeting of equestrian explorers in London.
The Guild, which has supported more than a hundred equestrian expeditions on every continent except Antarctica, also assisted in liberating Long Riders imprisoned in Turkmenistan and India.
The O’Reillys are the webmasters of The Long Riders’ Guild website, the repository of the largest collection of equestrian travel information in history. They also maintain the Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation, an open-source website designed to encourage the growth of an equestrian enlightenment.
As literary archaeologists, the O’Reillys believe there is a need to recognize the human value and historical importance of travel writing, that ancient art which enriches our souls, enlightens our minds and preserves the memory of bygone cultural traditions. This is especially true in terms of equestrian exploration, which has been veiled in mystery and confusion for centuries.
Like all of the books published by the Long Riders’ Guild Press, the Encyclopaedia of Equestrian Exploration is created using the environmentally friendly “print on demand” system. Unlike traditional publishing methods which print books and then pulp them, causing needless destruction of trees and paper, the LRG Press assures our readers that “not a twig is wasted” and that because every title is printed as and when it is needed, “every Guild book is a wanted book.”
The O’Reillys' goal is to create a lasting legacy that will keep equestrian travel alive for posterity and guarantee the transferral of valuable knowledge for generations to come.
