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The Long Riders' Guild News Archive
The year 1955 saw the birth of two important events in equestrian history. The advent of inexpensive black and white television sets created an insatiable demand for exciting juvenile entertainment. So in addition to watching Hopalong Cassidy gallop his white stallion, Topper, across their TV screens, children could tune in to the adventures of "Judge Roy Bean" or relive the exciting "Tales of the Texas Rangers."
Yet while others were merely dreaming, a young American horse rider named Pat Schamber was making equestrian plans in 1955 that would inadvertently change the course of equestrian travel history. Ironically, though television was awash in cowboy fantasy, the ancient art of equestrian travel was in danger of blinking out of existence. That was why Pat's 1955 decision to begin collecting newspaper and magazine articles regarding the topic of equestrian travel marked a unheralded academic salvation of what would become the largest single source of 20th century Long Rider accounts.
"I started dreaming of and planning for some kind of epic ride, as I called it, after reading Tschiffely's Ride" as a teenager in the late 30's. I began collecting horse articles in my epic rides folder in 1955," Pat recalled. Though it took her forty years to turn her a dream into a mounted reality, the determined equestrian explorer finally set out in 1979 to ride "ocean to ocean" across the United States. She went armed with the equestrian travel knowledge she had patiently gathered for so many decades, while riding alongside was her daughter, the journalist turned Long Rider, Linda Schamber.
When the Long Riders' Guild was created, Pat's articles, along with hundreds of others collected by CuChullaine O'Reilly, were used to help locate the world's "Missing in Action" Long Riders. With the addition of other articles, gathered by equestrian explorers from around the world, this extensive collection has now been scanned in and is presented as a public resource so as to protect, promote, and preserve the names and accomplishments of the Long Riders.
This singular collection is dedicated to Pat Schamber, who at eighty-five years young is still riding, writing and collecting Long Rider articles.
Though more than a hundred Long Riders are already featured below, there are still additional articles ready to be added to News Archive. When the initial stage is completed, this resource will provide expedition details, in their diverse original languages, on nearly two hundred equestrian explorers, and include accounts stretching back to the 18th century.
If you are a Long Rider with articles regarding your journey, please scan them in and they too can be added to this collection. Likewise if you have a news or magazine article about an equestrian explorer, please contact The Guild regarding its inclusion in this unique collection.
Articles by and regarding the Long Riders listed below can be found by clicking on the individual names.