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Historical Long Riders
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Franc and Jean Shor - rode across the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to Gilgit, Pakistan, in 1952. |
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One of the most unusual Historical Long Riders came from the tiny mountain kingdom of Gahrwal adjacent to Nepal. Giyan Sing was one of these hardy mountaineers who had enlisted to serve in the British army in India. When Lieutenant Percy Etherton asked for a volunteer to accompany him in 1909 on a 4,000 mile ride from Kashmir, north to Gilgit, across the dangerous Pamir mountain range, through Chinese Turkistan and Mongolia, the intrepid Sing accepted the challenge. His decision was made all the more extraordinary considering the fact that Sing had no previous equestrian experience. Nevertheless the small equestrian traveller rode alongside Etherton throughout their lengthy journey. Upon reaching Yarkand, the weary Long Riders were invited to a feast hosted by the local Chinese governor. Though they were thousands of miles from Peking, the governor nevertheless produced a plethora of tasty dishes including pigeon’s eggs preserved in chalk, lotus seeds, stag’s tendons and sea slugs. The ride turned deadly when Sing and Etherton rode into Siberia during the winter of 1910. The cold was simply appalling, with the temperature sinking to 46 degrees below zero, when Etherton suffered from frostbite. When they remarked on the cold, a local Siberian told the equestrian explorers that though the Czar might rule all Russia, it was King Frost who ruled Siberia. Having ridden four thousand miles with Etherton, the young Gahrwali tribesman completed the journey to England by train and ship, reaching London fifteen months after first stepping into the saddle. |
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Gorn Skifter - rode from the Arctic Circle, Finland to Haugesund, Norway in 1953. |
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Wilfred Skrede was nineteen in 1941 when the Nazis occupied his homeland of Norway. Determined to reach a training camp of the free Norwegian Air Force located in Toronto, Canada, the daring young man set off across Russia, Siberia, China, Turkestan and India before finally reaching his destination in far away North America, more than one year later. After the war Skrede wrote about this amazing journey describing how he made his way along the tracks of Genghis Khan’s hordes, followed the silk caravans from China, crossed the high mountains of Central Asia, and miraculously made his way to freedom. Yet the liberty he sought demanded a high price. Being a Norwegian refugee, he was frequently arrested by various police forces who threatened him with deportation back to his Nazi-occupied homeland, and in communist controlled Sinkiang the young adventurer had his back cracked by a wild truck driver. His most perilous challenge however came when he was forced to ride horseback over the infamous 16,000 foot high Mintaka Pass, a hideous bit of trail known for killing horses and riders alike. Across the Roof of the World is an epic equestrian travel tale laced with unforgettable excitement. |
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“Medicus” was the pen name adopted by Daniel Denison Slade, an American physician, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 10 May, 1823. After graduating from Harvard in 1844, Slade went abroad for the purpose of higher studies, and on his return in 1852 he settled in practice in Boston. During the civil war he was appointed one of the inspectors of hospitals under the United States sanitary commission. Despite his medical success, Dr. Slade gradually relinquished his medical profession in favor of literary and horticultural pursuits, and in 1870 was chosen professor of applied zoology in Harvard, which chair he held for twelve years. In 1884 he was appointed assistant in the Museum of comparative zoology and lecturer on comparative osteology in Harvard. Though he is best remembered for his prize winning medical books, Slade also wrote this rare account of equestrian travel. Like his fellow New Englander, Captain John Codman, Dr. Slade was an advocate of the physical benefits of what was then termed equestrianopathy. “No exercise can compare with that of horseback riding,” he wrote. His short booklet, “Twelve Days in the Saddle,” recalls how in 1883 Slade and his daughters rode through primeval forests, alongside rushing rivers and ventured into the still unspoiled valleys of Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts. Yet in addition to this lovely story, Slade was wise enough to provide would-be equestrian travellers with a list of tips on how to make a successful journey. The “Maxims” provided by the good doctor still hold true today. |
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An English immigrant, J. Smeaton Chase (1864-1923) came to California in 1890 where he pursued a career as one of the state’s earliest social workers. Yet he never allowed his career to interfere with the life-long pursuit of his twin passions, equestrian travel and botany. Though Chase made many various horse trips throughout the American West, his book California Coast Trails describes his most famous journey, from Mexico to Oregon along the coast of California in 1910. The amateur scientist doesn’t merely ride along, he treats us to a treasure trove of observations, commenting on subjects as diverse as the architecture of the Spanish Missions, the hospitality of the people, and the beauties of a fabled countryside in the last days of its pristine natural glory. While Chase regales the reader with adventures, such as rescuing his horse from quicksand, the book is far more than a mere account of an equestrian exploration. Then in 1916 Chase mounted up and rode into the Mojave Desert to undertake the longest equestrian study of its kind in modern history. The book of this journey, California Desert Trails, is one man’s love affair with the Mojave Desert. |
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Beryl Smeeton - rode across South America in 1938. |
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Cornelius Smith was no stranger to danger, having already won the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry against the Sioux, when the dashing young lieutenant announced he was going to spend his leave attending his sister’s wedding. Only problem was that this happy event was half-way across the American west. Yet Smith had no doubts that his horse, Blue, could carry him the thousand miles from Fort Wingate, Arizona to Fort Sam Houston, Texas. “I had purchased Blue from Lieutenant Bruce Wallace, who had used the animal to run down the Apache Kid in Arizona. Blue was not of proud lineage, just a good-sized horse bred at the Maxwell Ranch in New Mexico. He was a fifteen hand high gelding known to the Mexicans as a “grullo. ”… I have always thought myself fortunate to belong to an organization whose Captain believed in making camp early in the day. To do so, he trotted his horses, perhaps three-quarters the length of any march we ever made. This allowed men and horses to rest comfortably in camp, a rest they could not attain by loafing along the road all day. I patterned my ride after this. Of the thousand miles of my ride to Texas, I trotted Blue for about 700 miles. I did not gallop him one step. I rode into Fort Sam Houston just twenty-eight days and ten hours out of Fort Wingate. The ride had been pleasant all along the way.” |
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Edith Somerville and Violet Martin
were the two fun-loving, hard-riding, co-writing female cousins who penned
a total of fourteen books, including their immortal classic, Some
Experiences of an Irish R. M. While readers of that generation would have recognised the names of the co-authors' pseudonyms, “Martin Ross” and “E.
Œ. Somerville,” few knew that the books were actually the pen names of
these light-hearted Irish Long Riders. Their most famous equestrian work
was entitled Beggars on Horseback.
This delightful book recalls how the high-spirited young ladies decided to
tour North Wales on horseback. Finding suitable horses was their first task: even in
1894 this was no easy matter, especially when they explained why they
needed them: “We were conscious of social shrinkage as the work for which
we required the ponies was explained; a fortnight’s road work in Wales,
with the proviso that the animals would have to carry packs, held a
suggestion of bagmen, not to say tinkers.” They were both avid horsewomen,
and in due course they hired two ponies who have pride of place in this
enchanting tale.
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Alexander Spotswood - led the first mounted expedition from Virginia into the Allegheny Mountains in 1716. The cavaliers from this company formed North America's first equestrian corps known as The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. "After the adventure, and when the party had returned to civilization, Governor Spotswood, bethinking himself that there should be some token of the exploit, had made in London a number of small golden horseshoes, set as pins to be worn in the lace cravats of each of the adventurers." |
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Even in the Age of Adventure, there were few men to equal Thomas Stevens! He scouted for the famous African explorer, Henry Morton Stanley. Then in 1866 the American reporter proceeded to pedal a penny-farthing bicycle around the world, seeing the sights in Europe, out-racing a mob in Persia, and baffling the Japanese in Yokohama. No sooner had Stevens returned from his four-year bicycle marathon than he was hired by a New York newspaper to go to Russia on a special assignment. Only this time Stevens was ordered to travel through the heart of the Czar’s vast domain on horseback! Though the intrepid traveler had already lived through dozens of dangers, Russia presented new challenges. Mounted on his faithful horse, Texas, Stevens crossed the Steppes in search of adventure. Cantering across the pages of Through Russia on a Mustang is a cast of nineteenth century Russian misfits, peasants, aristocrats—and even famed Cossack Long Rider Dmitry Peshkov. This exciting equestrian tale is illustrated with photographs taken by Stevens during his historic trip. |
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A. W. Stirling FRGS - explored North Queensland, Australia, on horseback in 1882. |
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Few equestrian travellers had a more politically radical life than did the American, Anna Louise Strong. Having been raised in Seattle in the early 1900s where she was strongly influenced by the labor riots and social unrest of that time, Strong turned her back on her otherwise normal suburban roots and fled overseas. Denouncing capitalism, she began a series of state-sponsored journeys deep into the secretive heart of the recently formed Soviet Union. Her resulting books described a worker’s paradise and invariably praised the communist experiment. Dictator Joseph Stalin was so pleased with this American convert, he encouraged her to visit the far-flung corners of the new Red Empire. The Road to the Grey Pamir is the story of how Strong accompanied a group of Soviet geologists as they rode into the seldom-seen Pamir mountains of faraway Tadjikistan. Mounted on her horse, American Girl, the political renegade turned equestrian explorer soon discovered more adventure than she anticipated. |
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Jonathan Swift - rode extensively in Ireland in the early 1700s, journeying from Cavan to Carbery. The solitude and interaction with his horse laid the foundation for his famous book, Gulliver's Travels and was the inspiration for the talking horses in the Land of the Houyhnhnms. |
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At
a time when polite Victorian
society severely curtailed a woman’s activities, famous female adventurer Ella Sykes risked her life on a
daily basis. Religious fanatics failed to frighten her. Forsaken, hostile
deserts never slowed her horse-bound progress. Instead Ella Sykes rode
side-saddle 2,000 miles across Persia, a country few European woman had ever
visited. Mind you, she travelled
in style, accompanied by her Swiss maid and 50 camels loaded with china,
crystal, linens and fine wine. In her day Sykes was considered one of the bravest women alive. Today her remarkable story, replete with rajas and rogues, camels and caravans, is all but forgotten. Illustrated with photographs taken by Sykes, Through Persia on a Side-Saddle is a rare glimpse into a lost and romantic portion of the nineteenth century world! |
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