Francis Asbury - Often described as the “Prophet of the Long Road,” Francis Asbury’s life is a unprecedented mixture of equestrian travel and spiritual devotion.

The future Long Rider grew up near Birmingham, England during a time of immense social and religious turmoil. Asbury was raised in the relatively new Methodist faith whose advocates, though routinely persecuted, nevertheless provided comfort to their fellow citizens suffering from the ravages of the new Industrial Revolution. Though he had been religiously persecuted and viciously attacked as a youngster, Asbury became a Methodist preacher at the age of eighteen.

By 1771, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, announced that preachers were desperately needed in the American colonies. “Who will go,” Wesley challenged. Young Asbury immediately volunteered. When Asbury embarked for the New World on September 4, 1771, he wrote in his journal,” If God does not acknowledge me in America, I will soon return to England.”

He never saw England again.

Upon his arrival, Asbury was upset to discover that many ministers preferred to live amidst comfort. The young Spartan stated, "I am determined that no man shall bias me with soft words and fair speeches." Thereafter Asbury sought no ease while he preached. When the American War of Independence broke out in 1776, Asbury was the only Methodist minister to remain in America. Having retained his British citizenship, he feared that anyone who sheltered him would be denounced as an English spy. To protect his parishioners, he was often forced to hide in swamps, though he never stopped riding and preaching. Thanks to this extraordinary dedication, Wesley named Asbury as superintendent of the work in America. For the next thirty-two years the scholarly Long Rider led all the Methodists in America, during which time he preached in churches, courthouses, taverns, tobacco fields, public squares, wherever a crowd assembled to hear him.

What sets Asbury apart from his contemporaries is that he rode an average of 6000 miles a year. During his years in the saddle, Asbury crossed the Allegheny mountains sixty times and rode to Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and Canada. After decades of hard riding through every type of harsh weather, the aged preacher suffered from rheumatism. During the last two years of his life, his feet were too swollen to fit into the stirrups and he had to be lifted into the saddle. Yet under his direction, the church had grown from 1,200 to 214,000 members and 700 ordained preachers were practising in the newly liberated colonies. Like his contemporary, the English Long Rider Thomas Clarkson, who rode an estimated 35,000 miles throughout Great Britain, all the while lecturing on the evils of slavery, Asbury defended the civil and religious rights of mankind. Among the men he ordained was Richard Allen, the first black minister in the United States.

Princess Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso was an Italian noblewoman, writer, political revolutionary, social reformer and equestrian traveller who rode from Turkey to the Holy Land.

Described as the richest heiress in Italy, at sixteen she was wed to a libertine prince. After their separation she became an ardent supporter of Italy’s struggle for independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire. Her political activities brought her to the attention of the secret police, which forced her to flee to France. During the 1830s and 1840s her Paris salon became a meeting place for Italian revolutionaries. She also associated with the European artistic intelligentsia, including Honore de Balzac, Victor Hugo and Franz Listz.

In 1838, she gave birth to a daughter, she named Mary. Yet motherhood did not suppress her political ardour. During the Italian revolution of 1848 she organized her own troop of soldiers, the led them into battle against the Austrians. When that insurrection failed, she returned to Paris where she published articles describing Italy’s plight. . In 1849 she returned to Italy to support another independence movement but when it too failed, she was forced to flee with her daughter, and her English maid, Mrs. Parker.

They ended up in Turkey, where the Princess purchased a remote farm two days ride from Ankara.

In January 1852, the adventuresome trio left for an eleven month equestrian journey which took them through Turkey, Syria and Palestine. Due to Cristina’s desire to learn about the people, their culture and religion, she visited harems, administered medicines, and interviewed various officials, all the while putting up with the hardships of mounted winter travel. An avid author, the Princess published an account of her experiences. In her book, Of Women's Condition and of their Future, she took great exception to how women were treated in this part of the world, arguing that to deprive girls of education was to condemn women to lives of oppression.

Olive Murray Chapman has been described as a “determined English lady traveller of legend.”

When reviewing travel literature it is easy to forget the social restraints, not to mention physical dangers, which added additional burdens to independent female travellers in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Olive Chapman was one of that rare breed who refused to be kept at home by such “stuff and nonsense.”

After her husband was killed during the First World War, the young widow determined to make the most of the education provided to her by her surgeon father. Ignoring criticism, she instead followed in the hoofprints of that former famous lady Long Rider author, Isabella Bird. Instead of remarrying, Chapman set out not only to see the world’s more exotic places, but to record her experiences on paper.

Her first journey took her to Iceland, which she eagerly explored on horseback. Not being content to merely recite the history of the remote island, Chapman made it her mission to also interview women in the less frequented portions of the tiny kingdom. During her intensive ride across the rugged terrain she also created beautiful water colours, as well as describing the great social struggle which had occurred between the old Norse religion and Christianity. Though she employed local guides, Chapman made her own decisions, which included climbing to the rim of a bubbling crater emitting noxious fumes. Nor was she put off by the many rushing rivers she routinely rode her pacing pony through. Her journey provided her with enough material to write her first book, which was aptly entitled Across Iceland: The Land of Frost and Fire.

Wilbur Cummings

In the company of fellow American, F. Bailey “Billy” Vanderhoef Jr., Wilbur L. Cummings set off in 1938 to ride from the Indian town of Kalimpong, over the Himalayan mountains, to the Tibetan city of Gyantse. Their mission was to observe the sacred Buddhist ceremonies held there during a sacred festival.

During their time together as students at Harvard University, both young men had expressed a mutual desire to visit Tibet, so when a museum offered them a chance to photograph the famous Saga Dawa religious ceremony they jumped at the chance. The highlight of this ceremony was the unveiling of a famous massive religious painting which was only shown for two hours each year.

Yet religious values couldn’t save the young travellers from noxious daily remainders. Their journey took them through the town of Phari, which had the unpleasant reputation as being the filthiest place in the world. Because of its bitterly cold climate, Phari lived in a nearly frozen state for nine months every year. As result, the residents simply threw their refuse out the window into the frozen street. Over the years the street would raise to the point that the first floor of the buildings were buried under the decay, prompting the Tibetans to simply build another floor atop the building. When Cummings and Vanderhoef rode through Phari, their horses were almost up to their knees in slime and they were forced to hold their breath as they passed through the toxic miasma.

Prince Galatzin of Russia made a 12,000 mile ride through Russia, Turkestan and Tibet. A descendant of one Russia’s noblest families, according to an interview granted to the Los Angeles Times on November 23, 1893, Galatzin had just arrived by ship in San Francisco, after having completed an equestrian journey of tremendous proportions.

Galatzin set off from St. Petersburg in May, 1890, after having been commissioned by the Czar to undertake a scientific and diplomatic mission, so as to collect specimens of minerals and plants, as well as to make barometric observations. The prince travelled with a mounted escort provided by the Russian ruler.

“On reaching the Tibetan highlands we could barely breathe. I soon found that it was highly dangerous to sleep on the ground, not because of the cold but because of the possibility of the heart ceasing to beat. Though one might not notice at first, his lungs soon grew too cramped to afford free breathing and the sleeper would grow black in the face, while his heart would flutter like a wounded bird. Several of my men came near losing their lives, so to obviate the great danger of dying while trying to gain a little rest, we were forced to sleep in a sitting posture,” Galatzin recalled.

As they proceeded, the lack of oxygen caused the Russians to have delusions.

“The thin air caused us to move very slowly and become the victims of strange hallucinations. One day some of my men said that they had seen two queer men in white who said they were ghosts. All of us felt very light-headed and strange. Our hearts fluttered as though they might suddenly stop and we were weak as though we were recovering from a serious sickness. We found we must eat no meat nor drink spirits, as these increased the beating of our hearts. Sugar was good but a single cup of coffee in that thin air could kill a man.”

Though remembered today more for his work as a pioneering geologist, Raphael Plumpelly also undertook several equestrian journeys during the course of his long academic career.

After having graduated from the Royal School of Mines in Germany, the young American’s first assignment in 1859 was to oversee the development of silver mines in the Apache held portion of the Arizona territory. This mission found him making perilous rides through mountains, often times barely escaping death. In a bold move, in 1861 he next accepted an offer to work as a consulting geologist for the Emperor of Japan. Once again he explored the countryside during extended rides. He thereafter journeyed to China, and then made an equestrian journey to St. Petersburg, Russia.

Though he returned to the United States and enjoyed a brilliant academic career, Plumpelly still longed for adventure.

During his 1903 expedition through Turkestan, he sought evidence of the Usun, a people of antiquity who were rumoured to have had red hair and blue eyes. The discovery of the “Tarim Mummies,” by subsequent scientists confirmed the existence of the forgotten people.

W. C. Rose - Though the Historical Long Riders project is filled with extraordinary equestrian journeys, few are as unique, nor its rider more mysterious, than Captain W. C. Rose. It was the famous English Long Rider, Roger Pocock, who introduced Rose to their fellow countrymen. This occurred in 1907 when Pocock, who had made a tremendous solo ride along the length of the Outlaw Trail a few years earlier, told readers of England’s Wide World magazine about Rose’s equally astonishing adventures.

According to a lengthy, detailed account written by Rose, after having made his fortune in the California gold mines, he journeyed south to Mazatlan, Mexico. Rose had barely arrived when he happened to see two men being attacked by a dozen brigands. Though he lacked the necessary Spanish, the impetuous traveller didn’t hesitate to attempt a rescue.

“They did not understand my words, but my levelled Colts conveyed my meaning readily enough.”

Pedro and Jose, the two Mexicans Rose had rescued, were so grateful that they decided to accompany the English Long Rider on his equestrian journey from Mexico to Argentina. The resultant story is unlike anything else in Long Rider records.

Rose begins by describing their ride through the Mexican countryside, noting the wildlife and providing many geographic clues as to the group’s southern progress. During their ride, they hunted jaguars, attended weddings, survived scorpion bites and experienced the day to day misadventures which any lengthy equestrian journey will surely encounter. Rose next provides information about their entry into Guatemala, which indicated that they ridden the length of Mexico. According to the account, they then passed through El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. Rose does not explain how his party avoided the infamous Darien Gap jungle, which separates Panama from Columbia, but it was common for travellers to sail between the two countries so as to avoid this swampy green hell.

When the account continues, Rose mentions riding through Columbia, Ecuador and Peru, Then they entered the notorious Gran Chaco jungle of Paraguay. No outsider would thoroughly explore this insect-infested wilderness on horseback until the 1920s, when Welsh Long Rider Thurlow Craig ventured in on his grey Criollo, Bobby. Finally, after surviving enough hair-raising adventures to have slain an army of mortal men, the weary trio finally rode into Corrientes, Argentina

The Long Riders' Guild can find very little information about the author, except for the fact that he died of heart disease in 1912 in an hotel in San Francisco, in his fiftieth year. Whereas we believe Rose made the journey, because it appears to be vouched for by that equestrian travel expert, Long Rider Roger Pocock, some of the episodes described do seem somewhat far-fetched. While the jury is still out in regards to the specifics of the journey, evidence clearly indicates that Rose was indeed involved in the day to day experiences of an extremely long, and perilous, equestrian journey. One point he made perfectly clear, was the high regard in which he held the beloved horse who accompanied him during the length of this Odyssean journey.

“And now,” Rose wrote, “I crave to be permitted a few lines in just praise of my noble mare, which carried me faithfully and well during my long, long ride. She was a half-breed between a "bronco" and a pure Spanish thoroughbred, stood about fourteen and a half hands, was as swift as an arrow, surefooted as a goat, and almost indefatigable. She was a beauty, endowed with great intelligence, and of a very amiable and docile character. She twice saved my life, and, as I have said, carried me all the way from Mexico to the Argentine.  When, after the termination of our journey, I made a present of Pepita to Pedro, he said it was the greatest token of friendship I could have given him.  He was right:  parting from her made me weep like a woman for the first time in my life.”

Those are the sentiments of a Long Rider, past or present.

Max Schiffler - According to a South American newspaper story published in 1907, Schiffler had already ridden in the Far East and was attempting to ride through Argentina and Brazil. No record has been discovered detailing Schiffler’s previous rides in Tibet, Japan or China, nor is it known if he completed his Latin American journey.

“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do,” she wrote, before setting out to ride alone across the Turkish plateaux to the distant Tigris River. Along the way she journeyed from Lake Van through desolate mountains, during which time she encountered Turkish governors, mad men, villagers and policemen, all of whom were baffled at her unhurried manner of travel. Never a quitter, the woman known as the “poet of travel,” climbed the notorious Annapurna mountain at the age of 86 and lived to be a hundred.

Edward Percy Stebbing - Like many of his English generation, Edward Stebbing was deeply involved, and affected, by the First World War. Though he inspected the Serbian front, his most important war time experience occurred in Russia, which he visited in 1917 between the fall of the Czar and the rise of the Bolsheviks. A keen political observer, Stebbing correctly prophesized that Germany viewed Russia as a potential bread basket and that it was in England’s best interests to protect her ally. “The object is to save the Russians from the Germans, for if we fail now the war will have to be fought out again in the future,” Stebbing wrote. His warning proved to be all too true, as Hitler later invaded Russia so as to seize its vast resources.

Stebbing was no mere political columnist. He spent many years living in India, where he served in Forestry Service. Once again his observational skills were employed, this time to write a book about the insect life of the Indian subcontinent. Upon returning to Great Britain, he became a professor at the University of Edinburgh. During his forty-year career, he led one of the earliest efforts to study the danger of desertification presented by the encroaching Sahara.

Yet it was thanks to Stebbing’s organization and participation in the largest mass equestrian journey in English history which led to him being named as a Historical Long Rider.

While doing research for The Guild’s Horse Travel Handbook, the Guild recovered a rare book entitled Cross Country Riding. Written by Stebbing in 1938, there are less than half a dozen copies of the book now in existence. In addition to sharing the wisdom gained from years of riding in both India and England, the author made the startling announcement that he had been inspired to write his book because of the immense success of “The Long Distance Ride.” A diligent hunt through a great many archives finally located a copy of Stebbing’s article  wherein he described how hundreds of equestrians rode from all points of England so as to gather in a grand ceremony in southern Britain.

Dated August, 1937, the story described how a host of British horse riders set out from eight starting points, bound for a central meeting place at Eastbourne. Not only were the editors of the sponsoring magazine surprised that more than twice as many people as expected decided to ride across Southern England, they also reported that one contestant came from as far away as Norway. Nor was an age a factor, as the oldest rider was 76 and the youngest only 11 years old.

John Mcdouall Stuart was one of the most important explorers and equestrian travellers in Australian history. A Scotsman with a military background, he arrived in Australia in 1839. After having explored around Port Lincoln and the Flinders Range in the 1840s and 50s, Stuart led his first expedition into Central Australia in search of legendary inland sea called Windjulpin. Stuart departed on horseback in 1858, accompanied by an Aboriginal guide and a man named George Foster. The hardy travellers made their way into barren country, relying on Stuart’s compass and navigational skills to keep them alive. At one point hostile Warramnuga Aboriginals attacked their horses with boomerangs and set fire to the grass around their camp. Though they only carried rations for four weeks, Stuart and his men rode for more than two months, covering more than 2,000 kilometres before finally being forced to turn back. Still undaunted, Stuart returned to the saddle in 1860 by riding to the centre of the Australian continent. He followed that with an expedition in 1862 when he reached the northern coast of the continent. However, the toil taken by the difficult and dangerous journeys undermined his health. He retired to his sister’s home in London and died in 1866.

Ethel Tweedie - When this young equestrian traveller left London in 1888, she had not planned to forsake the sidesaddle favoured by other English women of her social class. Yet upon her arrival in Iceland, Ethel discovered that the local women rode astride like their male relations.
"Necessity gives courage in emergencies, so I determined to throw aside conventionality, and do in ‘Iceland as the Icelanders do.' The amusement of our party when I overtook them, and boldly trotted past, was intense; but I felt so comfortable in my altered seat that their derisive and chaffing remarks failed to disturb me. Riding man-fashion is less tiring than on a side-saddle, and I soon found it far more agreeable, especially when traversing rough ground. My success soon inspired Miss T. to summon up courage and follow my lead. Society is a hard task-master, yet for comfort and safety, I say ride like a man," Tweedie recalled. Upon her return to England, the Long Rider, turned social reformer, called for the abolishment of the sidesaddle for three reasons, safety, comfort and health. To read more about the issue of sidesaddles, view this story “Sidesaddles and Suffragettes.”

F. Bailey Vanderhoef Jr. - While attending Harvard University, Billy Vanderhoef and Wilbur L. Cummings discovered they shared a mutual desire to see the mysterious kingdom of Tibet. After graduation they set off in 1938 to ride from the Indian town of Kalimpong, over the Himalayan mountains, to the Tibetan city of Gyantse. Their mission was to observe the sacred Buddhist ceremonies held there during a sacred festival, the highlight of which was the unveiling of a massive religious painting.

Mounted aboard pacing Tibetan ponies, the Ivy League Long Riders underwent a series of adventures, met a procession of intriguing people and observed one of the world’s most unusual horse races.

In his journal, Vanderhoef recalled how the Tibetans gathered at the remote hill fort of Dzong to commemorate Genghis Khan’s mounted invasion of that town. At the break of dawn, a horde of Tibetan horsemen set off from the site of the Mongol’s camp, which lay five miles away. As the sun rose they raced across the stony plain, charged through a river and eventually came galloping straight up the hill and into the "captured" town.

“What a sight they were in the full sunlight against the intense sky. We could almost imagine it was the same June sixteenth when Genghis Khan stormed the fort, for such was the splendor of the ancient custom of Tibet that had not changed since the centuries,” the young Long Rider wrote.

Upon reaching the Tibetan city of Gyantse, their efforts were rewarded. They not only observed the special religious festival, they also procured some of the first colour photographs of Tibet. In 2008, the many paintings, sculptures, photographs and journals they had collected were donated to Tibetan Collection at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The image shows a traditional Tibetan saddle.

Vonceil Viking - Few Long Riders ever attracted more spotlights than did the would-be movie star who called herself Vonceil Viking.

The year was 1927 when the attractive blonde announced to the press that she was going to ride her horse, “Broadway,” from New York to Los Angeles. Whereas other equestrian travellers have told reporters that they were setting out on horseback to find fame, fortune, love or just a job, Viking’s mission was to ride to Hollywood, where she hoped to become a movie star. Yet things were not as clear as they seemed. According to one newspaper story, the petite rider had been born in Oklahoma and raised on a ranch in New Mexico. She claimed her name, Vonceil, “is a Cherokee Indian word for of the sky.” Her surname, she admitted, was assumed.

Regardless of what they called her, Viking apparently had a different reason to make the ride, depending on which reporter she was talking to. If she made the journey in four months, she said, she would win a contract to appear in a movie.   But she told another reporter that she was making the ride, “so as to prove the hardiness and courage of today’s American girl.” Finally, there was a trace of the mercenary involved, as Vonceil also claimed she was making the ride as the result of a $25,000 wager she made with the Marquis of Donegal at a London dinner party.

While the motivation remained unclear, the fact that Viking received help from Fred Beebe instantly added a suspicious note to the beginning of the ride. Beebe was a well-known promoter who had recently staged the “World Series Rodeo” at Madison Square Gardens. According to the New York Times, “women screamed as cowboys and cowgirls were trampled by broncos” at the event. It was Beebe who provided an escort of mounted cowboys to escort Viking to her meeting with New York Mayor Jimmy Walker.

The inclusion of this well-known politician, who agreed to witness Vonceil’s departure, was ironic as in October, 1928 Walker welcomed Swiss Long Rider Aimé Tschiffely when that equestrian traveller concluded his legendary journey from Buenos Aires to New York. While Tschiffely’s journey is completely documented, Viking suddenly disappeared once she rode Broadway out of the Big Apple. The Guild has been unable to locate any newspaper accounts which might confirm Viking’s actual progress across the United States. Instead there are only two photos which claim to prove that she completed the ride.

According to a photo caption from the Los Angeles bureau of the Associated Press, Viking arrived in Los Angeles on February 10, 1928, after having “covered 4,000 miles in sixteen states.” A second photo claims she made the ride in 120 days. This would have required her to have averaged more than thirty miles a day. While this is not impossible, given the fact that the Abernathy Boys rode from New York to San Francisco in 62 days, it does stretch credulity to look at the photos showing a sleek horse and a radiant rider, neither of which seem to have encountered so much as a single dusty mile during the course of their transcontinental journey.

What is not in doubt is how the ride affected Vonceil’s plans to conquer Hollywood. Soon after arriving in Los Angeles, she was invited to open the new La Monica Ballroom. Then she got her big break.

She was invited to be the co-star in a low budget film entitled “The Fighting Forrester.” The second of twelve movies in the series, the films starred Edmund Cobb. No reviews apparently survive regarding Vonceil’s cinematic debut.

H. H. Weatherly rode a Thoroughbred from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1909 to demonstrate that this breed of horse “should be distinguished as being more than a mere gambling machine.”