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The Long Riders' Guild
More Historical Long Riders
discovered!
April 2008
A lot of equestrian water
has passed under the Long Rider bridge since a noted research librarian casually
mentioned to us that Lord Byron, the famous English poet, was also an avid
equestrian explorer.
Since that discovery The
Guild has documented the equestrian adventures of hundreds of astonishing
Historical Long Riders, thereby allowing this project to flourish into an
incredible body of unprecedented equestrian historical information. Yet the
rapid growth of the HLR collection is largely due to the bevy of clues sent to
Guild HQ from our readers around the world. The majority of the newly discovered
Long Riders on offer in this update came from such volunteers.
Thus, we continue the
series by publishing these summaries of more amazing Historical Long Riders.
Click on any photograph to enlarge
it.

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President Chester Arthur –
Though he is normally remembered as being the twenty-first President of the United States, Chester A. Arthur was also a Historical Long Rider who made a unique American equestrian journey. The son of Irish immigrants, Arthur turned a thriving law practice into a political career that resulted in him being elected Vice President in 1880.
When President James Garfield was slain by an assassin in July, 1881, Vice-President Arthur was unexpectedly sworn in as the country’s leader. He served in this capacity until March, 1885. To the chagrin of corrupt politicians, the new president insisted on political honesty. He required that certain vital government positions be obtainable only through competitive written examinations and protected other employees against removal for political reasons.
Though he enjoyed a reputation as being one of the most society-conscious presidents, because of his style of dress and courtly manner, Arthur maintained another side to his life. Despite the responsibilities of his office, the president was an avid fisherman and hunter who enjoyed spending time away from the political pressures of Washington DC. It was this longing for nature that prompted the portly president to become a Historical Long Rider. When the noted landscape painter, Albert Bierstadt, displayed his beautiful depiction of Yellowstone Falls in the White House, Arthur decided the time had come for him to visit this legendary part of the American kingdom.
The President proceeded by train with General Sheridan to Wyoming. Accompanied by an escort of cavalry, President Arthur proceeded to mount up and spend a month exploring Yellowstone by horseback. Many hundreds of miles later, the refreshed executive returned to the duties of his political office.
Soon after his term in office came to a conclusion, Arthur’s health failed. He died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 57.
Though he had entered the White House unexpectedly, Chester Arthur enjoyed a lasting legacy as a trusted leader.
"No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired… more generally respected," one historian noted.
Yet of even more interest to The Guild was Arthur’s desire to ride horses, enjoy nature and preserve his privacy.
“I may be President of the United States but my private life is nobody’s damned business.”
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August Barke - Rode from
Essen-Ruhr to Asia and Europe, starting on 1st July 1928. |

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Gabriel Bonvalot –
The annals of the
Historical Long Riders include men and women of astounding bravery,
remarkable resourcefulness and enduring optimism. Then there is Gabriel
Bonvalot, whose remarkable rides “through the Heart of Asia”
mark him as the
most influential French Long Rider of the 19th century.
Bonvalot
(1853-1933) was a French explorer, author, and legislator whose exploits in
the saddle began in 1880 when he set out to explore Central Asia.
Accompanied by the noted French scientist, Dr. Guillaume Capus, the intrepid
French Long Riders explored the fabled kingdoms of Bukhara, Khiva and
Samarkand. A few years later they once again rode across Central Asia, then
turning southward, tried to penetrate into the hostile kingdom of
Afghanistan. They were seized, imprisoned, then expelled back towards
Samarkand. Refusing to concede
defeat, Bonvalot determined to reach India via an obscure caravan track
which reputedly ran across the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains.
According to
legend, this “Roof
of the World” had been created when the Devil lifted the entangled mass of
20,000 foot high mountains to see what mysteries lay underneath.
After a
perilous winter passage, the Frenchmen managed to reach the remote mountain
kingdom
of Chitral. Instead of being
hospitably received, they
were again imprisoned as trespassers but,
with the help of sympathetic British authorities, were eventually released
and allowed to travel on to India. These two expeditions placed Bonvalot
among the ranks of the English explorer Younghusband, the Russian explorer
Prejevalsky and the Swedish explorer Hedin.
Yet these two
journeys could be considered “training trips” for what came next.
In 1889 Bonvalot
set out to make an unparalleled journey from France to French Indochina.
Accompanying the seasoned equestrian explorer this time was Prince Henri
d’Orleans, a young aristocrat with a craving for adventure and a talent for
photography. After crossing Russia, the Frenchmen mounted up in Siberia,
then headed south towards Tibet. The resultant equestrian winter journey
across the Tibetan plain and the Himalayan mountains is nearly too arduous
to believe. The men routinely rode in
weather so cold that their Siberian companions begged them
to turn back when the mercury in the thermometer froze.
Yet Bonvalot’s courage and
resistance overcame all obstacles. “Our diet is always the same,” he wrote.
“The frozen meat we chop with an ax. Our water is always dirty because its
comes from melting ice. Tea never really boils on account of the altitude.
The dust, mud, sand and hairs from our furs and beasts which we find in our
food, are things which we have long ceased to pay attention to.”
On one occasion, as the
illustration on the left demonstrates, Bonvalot's horse stumbled and nearly
went hurtling over a 300-foot precipice with his rider. But Bonvalot
carried coolly on. No doubt this terrifying scenario was repeated
several times.
The French Long Rider needed
to be tough, as not only the terrain, but also the xenophobic Tibetans, were
trying to deter him. The government of Lhasa had a standing order to turn
back any foreigners attempting to enter their “hermit kingdom.” But the
observant Bonvalot was able to enter Tibet by following a trail considered
so secret that many Tibetans did not even know of its existence. This
attention to detail caused one caravan traveller to declare that even though
he was a European, Bonvalot was certainly a “Saia.” When asked to explain,
the wise traveller explained that a saia was a man who cannot stay in one
place for long because “when our mothers were pregnant with us, they
travelled, and as they strained their eyes to see beyond the horizons, they
made us journeyers.”
Though Bonvalot and Prince
Henri did indeed reach faraway Indochina, their most remarkable legacy is
that they are the only Europeans known to have ridden the fabled meat-eating
horses of Tibet. Due to a lack of grain and traditional forage, the Tibetans
fed their horses on a special protein diet. Bonvalot noted, “We have had
some small Tibetan horses given us which are full of go, and which feed on
raw flesh, as we have seen with our own eyes. These carnivorous beasts have
marvelous legs, are as clever as acrobats and carry us at a rapid trot.”
Bonvalot’s observations form part of an important new research project
currently being carried out by The Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation.
The French Long Rider’s findings have been incorporated into a study of the
hitherto undocumented use of carnivorous horses in cultures around the
world.
Before his journey was over,
Bonvalot had ridden across Siberia, the Takla Makan desert, Tibet and China,
reaching Hanoi in little more than a year after setting off from Paris. This
astonishing journey, which has never again been attempted, inspired Jules
Verne to use Bonvalot as the role model of his intrepid fictional reporter,
Claudius
Bombarnac, who also travelled in this remote portion of the planet.
Yet Bonvalot’s ride was fact,
not fantasy, and remains the record of the man who the natives said “was
never happy unless he was seeking a fresh road.”
In admiration of this
phenomenal equestrian explorer, The Long Riders’ Guild Press is preparing to
re-publish Gabriel Bonvalot’s classic books, Through the Heart of Asia
and Across Tibet. For further information on these exciting
titles, please contact The Long Riders’ Guild. |
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Guillaume
Capus - Before the turn of the 20th century, exploration of
the Pamirs was usually the reserve of the British and the Russians. The
French Long Rider, and renowned naturalist, changed that by making two
historic rides across Central Asia and the celebrated mountain ranges. In
1880 Capus set off with his companion, Gabriel Bonvalot. They rode across
Turkistan, then explored Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. By 1886 the French
scientist had returned to Central Asia, again in the company of Bonvalot.
This time they were determined to ride further afield. They journeyed from
Tehran to Samarkand, then attempted to reach Kabul. When that plan failed,
Capus and Bonvalot crossed the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains, before
entering the remote mountain kingdom of Chitral. From there, the scientist
turned equestrian explorer, made his way back to France via British occupied
India. In his travel book, Capus carefully explained the history and culture
of the various tribes he had encountered. He was, for example, an early
authority on the Chitralis, the Kyrgyz, and the Kalash pagans of Kafiristan |

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Douglas Carruthers - Few people are blessed with the clarity of purpose which the English Long Rider Douglas Carruthers carried throughout his remarkable and event-filled life. Born in 1882, as a boy he had determined to cross “Darkest Africa,” see the ruins of Petra and reach “that strange capital at the back of the world, Bokhara.” Before he was 26, he had done all three. During this remarkable burst of intense exploration, Carruthers had scrutinized the Middle East, examined Arabia, travelled across Africa from east to west, followed the course of the Congo River, and investigated Central Asia. Yet it was his equestrian journey across Dzungaria which marks Carruthers as an important Historical Long Rider. In 1910, at the age of 28, the young scientist was joined by a journalist, M.P. Price, and a professional hunter named J.H. Miller. The trio were determined to see Dzungaria, an ancient Mongolian kingdom which lay between Siberia and Mongolia. In fact the obscure realm had been named for the Dzungars, the left (züün) hand (gar) of Genghis Khan’s army. Our aim was to explore the last stronghold of the indigenous tribes of Southern Siberia and the Great Mongolian plateau,” he wrote. It may surprise modern equestrian explorers to learn that many of the problems currently affecting 21st century equestrian travel presented challenges to Carruthers and the Long Riders of his generation as well. This included visas and money. Unlike in today’s ATM or credit card culture, Carruthers noted that he had to estimate all of the expenses for the six month ride across the mountains, tundra and desert that lay before him because, “Our next banking town would be six months and 1,500 miles away.” Adding to his problem was the culture consideration that many of the Mongolian nomads he would encounter had never seen bank notes. Consequently, the English explorers were forced to carry much of their wealth in small gold and silver bars. But having the money was no guarantee of success, especially when the cynical representatives of the Czar’s Imperial government mistrusted your motives. Thus, despite their scientific credentials, the Long Riders had to contend with a hostile Russian government who disbelieved in their purpose. “That is an absurd route to take,” the skeptical officials announced. “Nobody goes that way. Besides, the track to Usinsk will be open in a week or two; so why choose this difficult one?” It was only after Carruthers had appealed to the Governor-General of Siberia, that the proper paperwork was produced and the travellers were permitted to depart across Russian territory, bound for faraway China, via Dzungaria. The resultant trip took the men and their horses across 5,000 miles of trackless forest, insect infested taiga, freezing steppes and dreary deserts. But despite the physical hardships, Carruthers remained enchanted with travel. “Day after day, as we travelled across the boundless wastes of Central Asia, we were surrounded by views possessing the magic which inspires a man with great thoughts and makes him long great longings,” he wrote. At the conclusion of the journey, Carruthers wrote a tremendous book entitled Unknown Mongolia. Not only did it provide its readers with loads of entertaining excitement, the book was also filled with accurate observations of the Uriankhai reindeer herders and other lesser known cultural secrets. Carruthers was awarded the Patron’s medal by the Royal Geographical Society in London. He went on to inspire a new generation to become explorers and Long Riders. However, he had no tolerance for fools or frauds. Carruthers especially disliked those authors who enriched themselves by writing about how their lack of proper planning had caused them to “suffer this or endure that.” Such actions, he thought, were merely a way for inept travellers to disguise their incompetence and issue a license to lecture. Carruthers, on the other hand, was always eager to advise and encourage young people. Shortly after the Long Rider’s death in 1962, the equally famous camel traveller and Central Asian explorer, Owen Lattimore, recalled the man who had encouraged him to follow the caravan trail across Mongolia. Carruthers, Lattimore
recalled, did not seek fame but truth. Self-glory he disdained, in favour of
knowledge. Truth he served, while pride he ignored. |
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Russian anarchist, Peter
Kropotkin, rode across Siberia from Irkutsk to Kyakhta in 1864.
Though he became one of the forefathers of the Russian revolution, Kropotkin
never forgot this great equestrian journey he made as a young man. It
was a "long,
circuitous route, across mountains 7000 to 8000 feet high. I once
travelled along this track, greatly enjoying the scenery of the mountains,
which were snow-glad in May, but otherwise the journey was really awful.
To climb eight miles only, to the top of the main pass, Khamar-daban, it
took me the whole day from three in the morning till eight at night.
Our horses continually fell through the thawing snow, plunging with their
riders many times a day into the icy water which flowed underneath the snow
crust," wrote Kropotkin. |
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Hieronymous Münzer
- Born in Germany in 1437, he was a humanist scholar, physician and Town
Councillor
in Nüremberg.
In
1494 he and three friends embarked on a journey, on horseback, to visit the
Iberian Peninsular.
Münzer
authored one of the earliest printed maps of Europe and in 1493 he wrote to
the Portuguese King arguing that the eastern coast of Asia could be reached
from the Atlantic coasts of Europe and Africa within a few days. He
poured scorn on "inexperienced" people who tried to prove that the Ocean
covered three quarters of the world. (Oh dear!)
The
mistaken Long Rider died in 1508. |

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Prince Henri d'Orléans.
An heir to the throne of France, a notorious duelist, a big game hunter, an
acclaimed author, and handsome to boot, Prince Henri d'Orléans
was a dashing French Long Rider whose ride across Asia in 1889 remains the
stuff of legend.
Though born with an ancestral claim to the French crown, the dashing
aristocrat embraced democracy in its place. Denied a role in the
military because of his nobility, the Prince succumbed instead to the call
to adventure by volunteering to accompany the rugged French Long Rider,
Gabriel Bonvalot, on that explorer's journey from Paris to Hanoi, via the
frozen wastes of Siberia, the burning Takla Makan desert and the forbidding
Himalayan Mountains.
They
made an equestrian odd couple, the rough, good-natured, older Bonvalot and
the twenty-five-year-old princely cub in search of an exciting quest.
Yet together they overcame hardships and accomplished one of the greatest
equestrian journeys in human history.
One
interesting point about their journey has just been discovered. Upon
leaving Tibet, the French Long Riders used a remote and carefully guarded
route known as "The Little Tea Road" which led them into China. In a
strange twist of fate, the modern equestrian traveller, Daniel Robinson,
journeyed into Tibet in 2006 via a route known as The Tea Horse Trail.
Consequently, The Guild is attempting to verify if Robinson's road matched
the one used by Prince Henri and Bonvalot.
Upon
the completion of their record-making ride, Prince Henri and his mentor
returned to Europe where they were both awarded various honours.
Prince Henri was singled out for a Gold Medal by England's Royal
Geographical Society.
Yet
despite the acclaim, the Prince was soon involved in other explorations.
This included hunting tigers in India, exploring Madascar, venturing deep
inside Abyssinia and discovering the headwaters of the remove Irawaddy
river. When he wasn't exploring, the Prince engaged in a number of
swordfights with Italian nobles, etc. (as one does). Sadly, the suave
Long Rider died as he had lived, while travelling. During a journey
around the world, Prince Henri was stricken by illness and died soon
afterwards in Saigon on August 9, 1901. He was thirty-four years old,
and though there was talk that a statue was to be erected in his honour in
Cochin, The Long Riders' Guild has been unable to confirm if this occurred.
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Ida Pfeiffer
- If England is rightly proud of the doughty Long Rider Isabella Bird,
the German-speaking world can take equal delight in recalling the mounted
adventures of its own intrepid lady Long Rider, the brave Ida Pfeiffer.
Ida
was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1797 and, thanks to an indulgent father, was
encouraged to follow her tomboyish tendencies. This instilling of courageous
behaviour at such a young age led to Ida becoming a determined, brave and
outspoken young woman. After the death of her father, Ida reluctantly
married a man several years older than she was. Yet though they had
two sons, Ida laboured under the constraints placed upon her by conventional
society. Therefore, after her husband died, and as soon as her sons
had homes of their own, the still-young Ida set off from home anxious to
fulfil one desire: to explore the world at last!
Ida's
travels took her to many of the most exotic parts of the planet, including
Scandinavia, South America, the South Pacific, China, India, Persia, Asia
Minor, Europe and North Africa. It was, however, her equestrian
journey across Iceland in 1845 which marks Ida as an Historical Long Rider.
During that journey the observant traveller described the island kingdom as
"a whole world of glaciers, lava-peaks, fields of snow and ice, rivers and
miniature lakes." Her equestrian journey allowed her to visit the
locals, witness the geysers, climb to the top of volcanoes and observe the
interesting local customs. These included "passionate addictions to
brandy-drinking, snuff-taking and tobacco-chewing," but not, she noted, any
strong desire for excess work. By 1856 Ida's travel books had been
translated into seven languages, she had seen a great deal of the world and
survived a host of dangerous adventures. With those qualifications in
mind, the diminutive Long Rider ventured to London. Her goal was to
meet England's most celebrated explorer, Richard Francis Burton, and
convince him to allow her to accompany him on his forthcoming journey to
find the source of the Nile River. Despite having entered into Mecca
in disguise, the flamboyant Burton wasn't able to evade the persistent
Pfeiffer, who methodically peppered him with requests.
Despite her excellent travel qualifications, and disregarding her documented
courage, the normally unorthodox Burton sided with the patriotic forces of
conventional society. As history later revealed, this was one of the most
remarkable "what if?" moments in exploration history. What if these
two incredible Historical Long Riders had defied custom and ignored the
allure of patriotism by creating an International Expedition?
Instead of travelling with Pfeiffer, the widely-travelled and talented
linguist, Burton chose John Hanning Speke. Speke was not
well-travelled and no linguist, and is the man whom history as often defined
as an infamous cad and who later betrayed Burton's trust in an
act of notorious self-interest.
When
her hopes were dashed by Burton, Pfeiffer responded in her usual resolute
manner by announcing that if Captain Burton would not allow her to accompany
him into the interior of the Dark Continent, then she would venture into
another area of that world alone. Soon afterwards, the intrepid Ida
set off to document the secrets of Madagascar. There she became
afflicted with a series of fevers which eventually slew her.
Despite the years she had spent in domestic duty, Ida Pfeiffer never lost
sight of her dream for adventure. During her lifetime she was awarded
membership into the geographical societies of both Germany and France.
Sadly, the Royal Geographical Society of England denied her that honour due
to her sex. Today Ida's legacy lives on by providing us with the
memory of a woman of matchless intrepidity, surprising energy and heroic
fixity of purpose. |
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Sir Hanns Vischer
(born in Basel,
Switzerland in 1876, died 1945) was a Missionary, an official in the British
Colonial service and African explorer.
Before Vischer obtained
British citizenship, he was on his way to becoming a Missionary in Hausaland;
as a British citizen he could work for the Colonial Administrative Service
and he developed an educational system which ensured that the local cultural
specialities were included. Following the success of this educational
system in northern Nigeria, Vischer was knighted.
The Swiss-born Briton
became famous for crossing the Sahara, from north to south, on horseback in
1906. The journey started in Tripoli, Tunisia and ended at Lake Chad. For
this he had to get permission from England to be allowed to make the return
journey to his post as administrator in Kukawa. A second journey in the
opposite direction was refused by his superior, W. P. Hewby. He published
the book about his journey in 1910, entitled Across the Sahara.
Vischer’s journey
inspired John Hare to undertake a camel expedition in 2001, which journey
went in the opposite direction. |

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Harriet Wadsworth Harper, a cousin of Historical Long Rider Martha
Wadsworth. Unlike other women of her time, Harriet was unusual in that her side-saddle placed her legs on the
right-hand side of the horse, not the left-hand side. "The family woke up
one day to the fact that I had begun to look like a crooked little gnome.
Something was wrong, so off I was sent to a surgeon, who ordered a steel and
leather brace for me and suggested that a saddle to go on the right side of
the horse should be made. This was to help correct my crooked back. No
girls rode astride in those days - it was unthinkable.... I never changed
back to riding on the near [left] side," Harriet wrote.
But
what sets Harriet apart from other Historical Long Riders was not her
saddle. It was the fact that she and Martha are the only Long Riders
in history to have undertaken an equestrian journey together during which
both riders used a side-saddle. In
May 1907 they made a 1200-mile journey "down through Virginia to West
Virginia, up the Ohio River, across Pennsylvania, and home to Genesee, New
York. We stayed at farmhouses, in mining camps, any place that had spare
beds."
In an
interesting historical aside, one of the "pleasant companions" who joined
the intrepid side-saddle Long Riders for a brief period was Gutzon Borglum
"the sculptor who carved the heads of Presidents Washington, Jefferson,
Lincoln and Roosevelt into Mount Rushmore, South Dakota."
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