The Long Riders' Guild News Archive

The Long Riders' Guild

The ancient art of equestrian travel is as relevant today, and resonates as deeply in our souls, as it did to Kikkuli, who rode from the land of Mitanni in 1350 B.C. The allure of personal liberty found on a horse has never disappeared. What has changed are the various methods by which a Long Rider's story may be recorded for history.

Kikkuli left the first known travel record by using a small sharp stick to write his story in cuneiform on a small wet clay tablet. As time marched on, so did a Long Rider’s ability to share their story. After Chinese Long Rider Chen Cheng completed his round trip ride to Afghanistan in 1414 he dipped his hand-carved bamboo pen into an ink-pot and then created the oldest known equestrian travel account to be written on paper.

The development of the printing press did more than allow for the creation of Gutenberg’s famous Bible. It also ensured that soon after newspapers were created they began carrying accounts of the wanderings of Long Riders like Charles Darwin.

Throughout the last century monthly magazines routinely published important Long Rider travel stories in a wide variety of languages.

Likewise the history of literature is filled with the titles of equestrian travel accounts, the most influential of which was “Tschiffely’s Ride,” which was first published in 1932.

The dawning of the 21^st century has provided Long Riders with innovative ways to pass their stories on to posterity. Gone are words like “record player” and “typewriter.” They have been replaced with words like internet, podcast and Youtube. Though the terms may be new to some of us these technologies merely repeat the service of their predecessors.

Whether a Long Rider is telling his tale by the campfire or recalling her journey via a blog update, the need to share is the same.

Provided here is the world’s largest collection of Long Rider media accounts. The collection was originally formed thanks to the efforts of two Founding Members of the Guild, Pat Schamber and CuChullaine O’Reilly.

"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.

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, donated 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. It now includes all forms of media currently available to the Guild.

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.