Bücher veröffentlicht von Long Riders' Guild Press

It seemed like a perfectly natural thing to do. Go to Russia, befriend the Cossacks, buy a stallion and then trot him more than 2,500 miles back to England. Of course the Soviet Union had just collapsed and no one had ever been allowed to ride out of that communist empire. But such minor obstacles didn't deter the author of this singular book."Bandits and Bureaucrats" unfolds in 1995 when unstable political conditions allowed Basha O'Reilly to travel through a recently off-limits country. What she found was a nation in unexpected transition. Emerging from decades of brutal governance, for a brief moment in time Russia's rules were no longer enforced and a rare opportunity existed to cross the secretive nation on horseback.Unexpected discoveries quickly followed. Because of decades of communist repression, ordinary people had never seen a woman in the saddle and in a landscape devoid of fences Basha rode from Russia into Belarus simply by crossing a river.Though she relished the simplicity of this new life, the author had to contend with the harsh realities of equestrian travel including KGB interviews, risky rapists and horse-hating bureaucrats. With its rich details, the book qualifies as an important addition to the history of equestrian travel. Yet there is more to this tale than reaching a distant geographic goal.Written by one of the foremost female equestrian explorers alive today, Basha's story explains how the journey encouraged her to change the direction of her life. When the western obsession with possessions was replaced with a love of personal liberty, what appeared to be the end of a journey was only the beginning of a life lived at the gallop.Sometimes our soul's song stirs. The ice that has confined us begins to crack. Lethargy burns off in the heat of a newly-discovered passion. Gypsy blood, long denied, sings to a moon long ignored. And our life is suddenly taken away from where we lived, from what we knew, from who we were. Here is the tale of how a brave woman discovered a horse that took her past frontiers, both physical and spiritual, into a new history, a new life, and a new name.The result is that this is not a simple travel tale. It is the remarkable story of a woman's transformation and the magnificent Cossack stallion that went on to become the symbol of the international Long Riders' Guild.

For thousands of years we have travelled on horseback but until now no one has shown us the way.The Encyclopaedia of Equestrian Exploration is the most extensive study of equestrian travel ever created.The three-volume series offers every conceivable type of advice about equestrian travel such as how to plan a route, how to choose a travelling companion, how to find a road horse, how to load a pack saddle, how many miles to travel per day, how to feed and shoe your horse, how to cross rivers, how to negotiate borders, how to survive in traffic, how to deter horse thieves, etc.Enriched by nearly a thousand images, the books contain the wisdom of more than 400 Long Riders. The Bibliography includes knowledge gained from more than 200 titles dating back hundreds of years.Volume II consists of The Challenges. This volume contains the most comprehensive investigation of equestrian travel problems ever compiled. Geographic difficulties include mountains, deserts, rivers, jungles and quicksand. Riding in extreme heat and polar cold are examined. Solutions are provided for manmade perils such as bridge crossings and tunnels. Information is provided on how to safely transport horses by ship, plane, truck and trailer. Modern ordeals such as hostile bureaucrats and aggressive motorists are scrutinized. The decision to carry firearms is carefully considered. Problems involving cultural traditions and the hiring of guides are resolved. Traditional concerns, including dangerous animals, poisonous insects and equine medical emergencies are fully documented. Special chapters contain extensive examinations regarding sore backs, colic and how to deal with equine mortality while travelling.Created after decades of study by CuChullaine O’Reilly, the Founder of the Long Riders' Guild, the Encyclopaedia of Equestrian Exploration is filled with the indispensable knowledge needed to resolve problems, overcome hardships and avoid dangers while travelling. The three volumes are not about one country or culture. They represent the collective wisdom of humanity’s travel on horseback. They are books of marvels that include precious stories, valuable ideas, forgotten history and endangered practical knowledge.

Think of all the clichés that come to mind when you consider the romantic word "Hawaii." Palm trees, hula dancers, sun-drenched beaches, an untouched tropical culture. Now interject a group of hard-riding Mexican vaqueros chasing herds of imported wild cattle across the lush green mountain sides. Throw in a crew of Yankee swindlers and missionaries bent on conquering  the island. Bring on board the local king, who is trying to preserve his realm from outsiders, and you will begin to understand the equestrian kingdom of Hawaii circa 1872. It was into this equine maelstrom that Isabella Bird had wandered by mistake. Bound from New Zealand to San Francisco, Isabella had come ashore at Hawaii on an impulse. What she discovered was not what she had been expecting. Soon after cattle were introduced onto the island, they went wild and could not be managed by islanders on foot. The King therefore enlisted the aid of imported Mexican vaqueros, who brought with them not only their horses and saddles, but also their sense of equestrian panache. When Isabella Bird landed she discovered a still untrammelled tropical paradise. However, the once pedestrian Hawaiians had taken to the saddle with a vengeance. The islanders rode - everywhere - and the clergyman's daughter soon joined them. Having never ridden astride because of the English cultural taboo, Isabella was reluctant to cast aside her native equestrian traditions. When she did, the greatest female equestrian traveller of the Victorian age came to life. This book recounts the first of Isabella Bird's remarkable mounted adventures. Though she went on to explore the Rocky Mountains, Japan, Persia, and Tibet on horseback, Isabella first stepped into the saddle and onto the pages of Long Rider history in Hawaii. This classic account of thrilling equestrian adventure tells the story of one woman's discovery of both her own soul and the wide world beyond.

This is quite simply the most important book ever written in the English language by a military man on the subject of equestrian travel. It was designed to be used by the United States cavalry. Yet it differs from traditional manuals in that it has says nothing about drills and everything about horse journeys. If you want to learn how to properly pack and ride a horse over extremely long distances, then you are holding the cavalry man's sacred text in your hands. At the dawn of the 20th century experts were busy predicting the imminent demise of the horse. Mankind's most historically influential comrade would make way for the automobile, cynics said. Yet the young author of this remarkable volume disagreed with the critics. No machine of steam and steel, of cog or cam, no vapor-fed motor, no craft propelled by batteries or boilers would ever successfully displace the horse from our on-going needs, advised Boniface. Part text book, part history book and all inspiration, "The Cavalry Horse and His Pack" is the lasting tribute to the great horseman and talented writer who foresaw the day when horse travel would once again flourish and a book such as this one would be cherished by unforeseen generations of Long Riders, cavalry students and horse lovers.

Once they were famous from the Atlantic to the Pacific. If you had asked any American school children in 1911 who Bud and Temple Abernathy were, they would have given you a look of disbelief. "Everyone knows the Abernathy Boys," they would have said. And they would have been correct, because the mounted adventures of the little Long Riders from Oklahoma Territory had taken the United States by storm. On their first equestrian journey in 1909 the tiny travelers, aged nine and five, encountered a host of Old West obstacles, including wolves and wild rivers, when they rode more than 1,000 miles from Oklahoma to Sante Fe and back - ALONE! The following year the intrepid brothers set their sights on New York City, which they reached after a month of hard riding. Along the way Orville Wright offered to take them up in his new-fangled airplane and President Taft gave them a warm welcome when they reached the White House. Kids envied them. Women adored them. Grown men pulled hair from their horses' tails to keep as souvenirs. This public frenzy culminated when Bud and Temple rode their Oklahoma ponies alongside Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders in a victory parade witnessed by more than a million cheering New Yorkers. Even though they were only six and ten years old, Temple and Bud Abernathy were a national sensation. In the summer of 1911, they did the impossible. They rode nearly 4,000 miles, from New York to San Francisco, in only sixty-two days. Once again, the Abernathy Boys had made a historic ride without any adult assistance and accomplished an equestrian feat which has never been equaled. Now this superbly-written version of their remarkable story, penned by a member of their family in 1910, has been reissued in conjunction with the creation of a life-sized statue being raised in honor of the world's youngest equestrian travelers. "The Abernathy Boys were mounted heroes whose memory deserves to be cherished by a new generation of children and horse lovers," said Basha O'Reilly, a Founder Member of The Guild and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, who rode from Russia to England. This new edition celebrates the equestrian legacy of Bud and Temple Abernathy.