The Long Riders' Guild

Aggressive Polish Police Halt Equestrian Journey

In 2015 Dalibor Balut made the first modern journey in the Czech Republic. This was a 1,000 mile circular journey that took him and his mare, Sheila, from the front door of his cabin deep in the woods, around the entire country, and then back home. Having had such a wonderful time, this year Dalibor set his sights further afield. He and Sheila set off to ride from the Czech Republic to Lithuania, where they were expecting a warm welcome from the strong Lithuanian Long Rider community.

They never made it.

Dalibor and Sheila rode north, crossed into Poland and had barely begun riding through that country, when he was stopped by police. They ordered him to leave the country. All of his, and the horse's, papers were in order. He had not broken any laws. And no one at the Polish border had warned Dalibor about potential trouble.  Nevertheless, he was ordered to turn around, and go home, or go to jail.  Thus his journey north was halted by government antagonism. Undeterred, Dalibor rode south though the Slovak Republic and Austria before concluding his ride.

Even if you don't speak Czech, you will find the film Dalibor made about this journey ("CESTA K BALTSKEMU MORI"  to be visually lovely and filled with beautiful music.

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