The Long Riders' Guild

Founding Members of The Long Riders' Guild

Gérard Barré - created the world's first equestrian travel website and has ridden extensively through the Alps and the Jura Mountains in France.
Gouraud.jpg (67542 bytes) Jean-Louis Gouraud - rode from Paris to Moscow.  He is the author of many equestrian books, including Serko, a novel about the one of the most remarkable Long Riders of all time, Cossack officer Dmitri Peshkov. That book was later made into the first Long Rider movie.
Robin & Louella Hanbury-Tenison - contributed to the body of equestrian travel literature and made historically significant rides on several continents.  Author of "White Horses over France", "A Ride along The Great Wall", "Spanish Pilgrimage", and "Fragile Eden".

Marshal Ralph Hooker – made several rides across the United States in the 1950s. At 95 years old, he was the world's oldest equestrian traveller when the Guild was formed. Author of Born out of Season and Guns and Badges. Now deceased.

Jeremy James - added to the body of equestrian travel literature by writing Saddletramp, Vagabond, The Byerley Turk and The Alchemical Horseman. He made journeys across Turkey and Europe.

Gordon Naysmith - made the only recorded ride in modern history from South Africa to Western Europe. The two-year journey took him across sixteen countries and nearly saw him die of thirst in the deserts of Arabia.  Author of "The Will to Win."


Basha O'Reilly -
rode from Russia to England, then rode from Mexico to Hole-in-the-Wall, Wyoming along the Outlaw Trail. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers’ Club, she attended the first international meeting of the Long Riders' Guild, located and visited equestrian travellers throughout Europe, created all of the Guild’s various websites, has published hundreds of equestrian travel books in many languages and is the Executor of the Tschiffely Literary Estate. Author of "Count Pompeii - Stallion of the Steppes" and “Bandits and Bureaucrats.”

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CuChullaine O'Reilly –
the Founder of the Long Riders’ Guild, has spent more than thirty years documenting and studying equestrian travel. He led the Karakorum Equestrian Expedition through Pakistan and was thereafter made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers’ Club. He has mentored equestrian expeditions on every continent except Antarctica. He is the author of “The Encyclopaedia of Equestrian Exploration,” “The Horse Travel Handbook,” “Khyber Knights,” “The Long Riders” and “Deadly Equines.”


George Patterson went to Tibet shortly after the Second World War. When the Communist Chinese army invaded, the country’s leaders asked Patterson to ride through the snow-locked Himalayas and carry a plea for help to the outside world. Known as “Patterson of Tibet,” His Holiness the Dalai Lama awarded George “The Light of Truth” award in recognition of his life long devotion to that country. Author of "Journey with Loshay" "Gods and Guerillas" and "Patterson of Tibet".  Now deceased.

Pat Schamber – rode “ocean to ocean” across the United States. Though she made that journey in the 1970s, Pat’s interest in equestrian travel began in the late 1930s, after reading Tschiffely's Ride". In the subsequent decades Pat collected and preserved equestrian travel articles. These historically vital stories later became the basis for the LRG News Archive. This singular collection is dedicated to Pat, who is now deceased.


Otto Schwarz
- was a captain in the Swiss Cavalry. Over the course of his life, the cavalryman turned Long Rider rode 48,000 kilometres (29,800 miles) on five continents, thereby covering more miles than any other equestrian traveller in the 20th century. Among his many equestrian journeys were expeditions through Japan, Iceland, Latin America, along the length of Hadrian's Wall in Scotland and across the old Oregon Trail in the USA. In later life Otto taught that it was the spiritual pilgrimage, as much as the physical journey, that appealed to the wandering souls of Long Riders like himself. Author of "Reisen mit dem Pferd".  Now deceased. Click here to learn more about his journeys.
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Raul & Margarita Vasconcellos – are examples of how careful preparation leads to success. In 1984, they had the idea to ride from their home in Arizona back to their native country of Argentina. Despite their desire to mount up and set off, the Argentine travellers didn’t depart until January, 1987 after having learned horse shoeing, riding and mule packing. As a result of their careful planning, they made one of the most successful, and trouble free, equestrian journeys of the late twentieth-century. Raul is now deceased.

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DC Vision – not only had no equestrian travel experience, he had never even stood next to a horse. But that did not stop the young man from Maine from completing a 14,000 mile spiritual odyssey through the United States. He attended the first international meeting of the Long Riders’ Guild, where he made several vital contributions, the most important of which was his belief that the Guild must not be competitive and should instead encourage the growth of “spiritual equestrianism.” His story, "A Journey to Simplify Life,” is the most widely read article on the LRG website. Now deceased.

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Günter Wamser – made an epic journey from Argentina to Alaska. The 25,000 kilometres (15,535 miles) ride took him through Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, United States and Canada. By using Criollos from the pampas and Mustangs from the plains, both parts of Günter’s journey were done on native horses which originated at either end of the Americas.  He has written several books recounting his adventures.
 

Catherine Waridel rode alone from the Crimea to Karakorum in Mongolia, after being inspired by Historical Long Rider William of Rubrick. The author of Voyage dans les pas de Rubrouck, Catherine was among the twenty-nine Long Riders who came to London in 2005 to attend a special meeting held at the Royal Geographical Society. Now deceased.

 

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