The Long Riders' Guild

Swiss Long Rider, Basha O’Reilly, rarely grants an interview.  When she does, she is more likely to discuss the astonishing equestrian discoveries she has helped assemble than her own remarkable accomplishments.  For example, Basha revealed how British explorers used horse snow shoes to try and reach the South Pole.  She also documented the journey of two brothers, aged 8 and 11, who rode unaccompanied from New York to San Francisco in only 62 days.

Truth be known, this lady Long Rider is herself the epitome of an “international cowgirl.”  Few people have ridden farther, accomplished more, or created a larger, more lasting literary legacy than she has in the realm of equestrian travel.  She seems, however, just to be getting started.

Basha is a Founding Member of The Long Riders’ Guild (LRG), the international organization of equestrian explorers, all of whom have made continuous horseback journeys of 1,000 miles or more.  The Guild now has members in 38 countries, and these equestrian Argonauts have logged expeditions on every continent except Antarctica.

Her resumé as an equestrian explorer began when, just after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Basha became the only person to ride out of Russia on a horse in the twentieth century.  This 2,500 mile adventure took her across the recently collapsed Soviet Union, through Europe to her home in England.  Because of this journey she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

The lady Long Rider then explored America by riding from Mexico to Wyoming along the notorious Outlaw Trail.  And that’s just a smattering of the headings from her horse-heavy resumé.  But she hasn’t just spent her life in the saddle.
 

She was instrumental in the formation of the LRG Academic Foundation, the world’s first global hippological study and, as a publisher/editor heading up the LRG Press Imprints, Horse Travel Books, Classic Travel Books, and the Equestrian Wisdom and History Series, Basha managed to spearhead the publication of the world’s largest treasure-trove of equestrian travel information.  She has thus made available and affordable the most eclectic and important books in equestrian history at the rate of more than a book a week for five years:  that’s well over 300 titles in eight languages.  During her work as a publisher she pioneered the print-on-demand method of publication, all the while promoting its environmental benefits.

So what does such an accomplished Long Rider do next, you wonder?  Partner up with her internationally renowned Long Rider husband, equestrian scholar and author, CuChullaine O’Reilly, to become the first human beings to journey around the entire planet on horseback.  It is a challenge for which they are uniquely qualified, and while she is in the saddle Basha will be collecting equine DNA so as to enable the formation of the first global DNA study of equines.  That’s what.

No one is better suited to explain what it takes to dovetail so much into a single life than Basha herself.  She recently took the time from her round the clock, round the world, typical daily activities to grant this rare personal interview for I. M. Cowgirl Magazine.

So, how did you initially become interested in riding?

Soon after my parents and I moved to England, when I was three, my cousin put me on her horse, a chestnut named Dante.  I was hooked!  Even though my English father was a fantastic horseman, at first my Swiss mother refused to allow me to have any riding lessons, saying I had to wait until I was seven (think what that means to someone who has only lived for three years!).  But I nagged and nagged and eventually she gave in when I was five.

And... what spurred you to become a Long Rider?

I went to Russia by chance in 1995, and discovered magnificent herds of wild horses running free on the Steppes.  I chose my great Cossack stallion, Count Pompeii, from such a herd.  Few now remember that the former Soviet Union relied heavily upon horses for local transport, and indeed most of the herds had belonged to the government and were now in a sort of legal limbo.

When I asked the Cossacks if I could try one of these horses, they threw up their hands in horror, saying that women weren’t capable of riding.  In fact, during my subsequent equestrian journey across Russia, I met women doctors, veterinarians, and scientists, but never saw another woman in the saddle because it was frowned upon in that male-dominated world.

But when the Cossacks saw how adamant I was, they reluctantly allowed me to mount up.  By the end of the day, and after having galloped and hunted with them across the Steppes, I had been made an honorary Cossack!  That’s the day that I made one of my most important discoveries.  I was trotting alongside a Cossack, when he turned to me and said, “You know, Basha, I’m a Communist and you’re a Capitalist, but really we’re just people.”  My Russian wasn’t quite good enough then to protest that I was not a fully paid-up member of the Capitalist Party, so instead I agreed and pointed out that, despite all of our superficial differences, and the fact that we had been brainwashed to fear each other, our mutual mother tongue was “horse.”

That wild gallop is what prompted the idea of buying one of these tough and resilient horses and riding him 2,500 miles back to England.

This was, of course, before the formation of The Long Riders' Guild, so I had nowhere to turn for information and no-one to ask for help.  All I had was the desire and the determination to ride from what used to be called Stalingrad to London.  In fact, I didn’t even know of any other Long Riders and thought I was the first person to make a long equestrian journey in modern times.  Nor had I ever slept in a tent – my European parents thought roughing it was staying in a four-star hotel instead of a five-star one.  Ironically, I have now personally helped put more than 50 equestrian expeditions into the field, including the first modern ride across the African continent.

Once you had completed your first equestrian expedition, what did you discover and how did the journey change you?

I discovered many things!  First, that possessions are a burden.  Second, that what is stressful in life is not how much work you do but how much of a hurry you are in.  Third, that a house is only a pile of bricks and mortar.  I discovered the joy and freedom of spending 24 hours a day with my stallion, Count Pompeii, and the amazing relationship which developed between us as a result.  In fact, I had hardly stepped down from the saddle when I was starting to plan my next Long Ride.  Soon after that I rode from Mexico to the Hole in the Wall, Wyoming, along the infamous Outlaw Trail once used by Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch.  Now CuChullaine and I are planning to set off on our World Ride.  Though twelve men have walked on the moon, no human being has ever ridden around our planet, so everything I have learned from Russia till now will soon be put to the ultimate equestrian test.

How is equestrian exploration different from other forms of horsemanship?

Let me explain about my equestrian background.  Since I started riding at three, I tried just about everything with horses:  Pony Club, gymkhanas, fox-hunting, dressage and three-day-eventing.  At one point I was thought good enough to be considered for the British Olympic dressage team.  But although I enjoyed all those activities,  there seemed to be something missing - until I became a Long Rider.  Until then I had either been riding in circles like a goldfish swimming in a bowl, or returning home to the barn, but when I became an equestrian explorer, I realized what horses could give me - equestrian freedom.  They freed me from the prejudices of the village and enabled me to become a Centaur.

It saddens me to see how much of the equestrian status quo has as its focus an emphasis on competition and commercialism.  These are equestrian activities prompted by the sole motive of personal glory.  That sort of thinking encourages the view that the horse is the application of a method, not a vehicle of inspiration.  But being a Long Rider is about connection, not collection.  So when you ride thousands of miles with your horse, the challenges you both survive force you to develop a blistering honesty and an absence of ego.

Would you like to tell of the romance between you and CuChullaine?

Because he was already doing equestrian travel research, CuChullaine learned about my journey from Russia to England while I was still in the saddle!  He was in correspondence with the famous London publisher and bookseller, J. A. Allen, and asked Mr. Allen if he could put us in touch.  Unfortunately, Allen couldn't.  It was five years before CuChullaine managed to find me.  We started corresponding by email about equestrian travel, but unexpectedly found ourselves falling in love without ever having met.  Again, my friends and colleagues were just as negative about my plan to fly to America to meet CuChullaine as they had been about my ride across Russia:  they said I was quite mad.  Isn’t it sad that so few people have any romance in their soul?  And how most people are afraid to take risks?

When did you begin collecting and publishing rare and important equestrian travel books?  Likewise, can you explain how you helped form The Long Riders' Guild?

It was CuChullaine who had spent years creating the largest equestrian travel library in the world, and when that was done he set about making contact with equestrian travellers everywhere.  That's how he eventually found me.

So while I was falling in love with him, CuChullaine was organizing the first international meeting of equestrian explorers.   In October 2000 I flew from England to attend that meeting.  It was astonishing:  for the first time in my life I was with other Long Riders who had survived the same dangers and hardships that I had.  For three days we never stopped talking and exchanging equestrian experiences and secrets that only Long Riders know.  At the conclusion of the meeting, I reluctantly returned to England but I immediately loaded Count Pompeii onto an airplane and we flew back to the States together.  CuChullaine and I were married without delay.

Then, even though I had never designed a website, I created the LRG website which we launched in April 2001.  At 2,000-plus pages, and still growing, it's now the world's largest source of equestrian travel information and has had more than a million visitors.

Next we turned our attention to republishing all the most important equestrian travel books, the vast majority of which were costly and rare.  But we were Long Riders, not publishers, so the first question was:  how many copies of each book should we print?  Where would we store them?  How could we sell them if we got back in the saddle and made another journey?  Then we discovered Print on Demand, a revolutionary new process which meant each book was scanned into a giant computer and only printed when a copy was ordered.  Not only did this help us create the largest equestrian travel library of all time, but ensured that none of our books is ever pulped or out of print.  The Long Riders Literary Collection is now the premier source of equestrian travel wisdom, and I'm proud to say that every book is a wanted book and not a twig is wasted!

I understand the personal sacrifice you undertake to run the LRG, manage the websites, and save so much equestrian information for future generations - what about this labor do you find most fulfilling?

We love what we do!  One very fulfilling aspect is encouraging people to undertake a life-changing equestrian journey like I did.  Unlike equestrian social events, which transform the horse into an icon of prestige but take you nowhere, geographically or spiritually, when you set out to become an equestrian explorer all you need is a dose of courage, a good road horse, and that altar of travel, the saddle.  And the LRG has now expanded so there is an international network of other Long Riders willing to help people fulfill their dreams.  For example, I just mentored the young Australian Long Rider, Tim Cope, who, though he couldn't ride a horse when he left home, has just completed a 6,000 mile equestrian journey from Mongolia to Hungary in the hoof-prints of Genghis Khan.  With so much equestrian travel knowledge now available, would-be Long Riders are only limited by the size of their equestrian dream.

Any final thoughts?

I have been living in the eye of an equestrian tornado for more than seven years, during which time we have created and launched five websites and published nearly three hundred books.  Yet it may be The Long Riders' Guild's new Academic Foundation which will have the most lasting influence on the equestrian world.  We formed it to create an alliance between academia and the equestrian world, enabling the study of all aspects of the hippological arts and sciences.  I am pleased to say that the LRGAF is already making ground-breaking discoveries and undertaking new projects.

For example, the LRGAF is donating the royalties from many of our books to help save the endangered horses of Afghanistan and document the threatened equestrian traditions of Central Asia.

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