ISBN 1590480287

ISBN 1590481453

California Desert Trails, J. Smeaton Chase - Imagine all the soft places of the world, the green valleys, the soft beaches, the tranquil islands, the cool mountains.

Now imagine you are on horseback in one of the harshest deserts in the world – riding alone for two years!  That is what famed British naturalist J. Smeaton Chase did.

He mounted up and rode into the Mojave Desert to undertake the longest equestrian study of its kind in modern history.

Chase was no newcomer to equestrian travel.  In 1910 he rode from the Mexican border to Oregon, then penned a delightful book called ‘California Coast Trails,’ which recorded his impressions of the pristine beauty observed during that ocean-front ride.

Then in 1916 the amateur naturalist headed his horse inland in search of the secrets of a sun-drenched landscape few had explored.

The resulting book, “California Desert Trails,” is one man’s love affair with the Mojave Desert.

For Chase possessed the rare talent of seeing beauty where others perceived only serpents and sand. He found wisdom in unconventional places, with crazy hermits, wise Indians, and fellow wanderers adrift in the desert. Traveling slowly as he did on horseback, Chase was also able to observe the animals and plants that inhabited this dangerous, but delightful, world.

The result is a book unlike any other in the history of equestrian travel.

ISBN 1590480260

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To the Foot of the Rainbow, Clyde Kluckhohn - He had a chance, a rare chance, to leave behind the smoky, crowded streets of New England and journey out to the still unspoiled American West. He had a chance, a rare chance, to forget that he was born to ride a desk, not a New Mexican bronco. He had a chance, a rare chance, to turn his back on convention and schedules, wrist-watches and bills, misspent romance and a thousand other heart-aches.  He opted instead to climb up on the back of a untried horse and ride off in search of equestrian adventure. 
He had that chance, and he took it!
His name sounds ungainly today. “Clyde Kluckhohn”. Yet he was no cartoon character. This was a young man in search of adventure and a dream, to ride through the stony wastes of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico in search of a geographic legend, “The Rainbow Bridge.” Native American myth stated that somewhere in the rocky wastelands of Navajo-land stood a gigantic, unbelievable arch of pure red stone. No white man had ever seen it. No white man had ever ridden near it. Young Clyde Kluckhohn, the Yankee horseman, determined to do just that!
Thus “To the Foot of the Rainbow” is not just a exciting true tale of equestrian adventure. It is a moving account of a young man’s search for physical perfection in a desert world still untouched by the recently-born twentieth century. Amply illustrated with period photos, it remains a classic tale of a daring man, his trusty horse, and their brave struggle to discover a legend.    Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble

ISBN 1590480724

Forty Million Hoof Beats, Frank Heath - Everyone harbors a dream. Perhaps it is to leave the bills behind, see what is over the next hill, or even seek for adventure. Frank Heath, the author of “Forty Million Hoof Beats” did all that and more.
A former cavalryman during the First World War, Heath not only knew about horses, but more importantly he understood the rigors involved in undertaking a great equestrian journey. That is why he took a deep breath before announcing to the world that he was going to ride to all 48 states within the continental United States.
Most people would spend vast amounts of time and money to acquire a horse for such a stupendous undertaking. Heath did neither. He traded a horse he had on hand for a ten-year-old mare named Gypsy Queen. According to the horse trader, the mare Heath acquired was a Kentucky Morgan. Yet fancy pedigree aside, the little bay mare could cover ground like a fast moving windstorm.
Mounted on Gypsy Queen, Heath set out in 1925 to see his vast country. The journey lasted more than two years, during which time the two travelers shared a long series of hardships, becoming inseparable companions in the process. In 1927, more than 11,000 miles later, Frank and his Gypsy Queen mare finally rode into Washington DC. The unlikely horse and her cavalryman rider had touched every state in the Union. One man’s dream had been achieved.
Long considered a classic equestrian travel tale, “Forty Million Hoof Beats” influenced three generations of Americans to follow Gypsy Queen and Frank Heath onto the high road of adventure. This marks the first time in more than 50 years that this once famous book will once again be available to the public.  Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble

ISBN 1590480333

On Horseback in Virginia, Charles Dudley Warner - A prolific author, and a great friend of Mark Twain, Charles Warner made a witty and perceptive contribution to the world of nineteenth century American literature when he and Twain co-authored “The Gilded Age”, the book that gave the era its name.

In 1887 Warner combined his urbane wit with a love of adventure travel when he penned “On Horseback in Virginia.” Always a keen observer, the roving author set out on horseback to investigate a great, rugged stretch of southern Appalachia. The extended equestrian journey took Warner from Virginia, through North Carolina, and into the remote hills of Tennessee.

Additionally, the book contains a second narrative account of Warner’s equestrian adventures in the Old West. This time he saddled up and rode from El Paso, Texas to Mexico City, Mexico.

Both tales comprise a book full of meaty descriptions told by one of America’s premier nineteenth century storytellers.  Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble

Ride the Wind, Miles Abernathy - 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.

Saddlebags for Suitcases, Mary Bosanquet - The year 1939 was a bleak and gloomy time in England. Fire and darkness loomed on the horizon as war with Nazi Germany drew ever closer. In the midst of this national angst young Mary Bosanquet had a revelation. She would toss off college in London, board a steam-ship, voyage to Vancouver, Canada, then buy and ride a horse alone more than 2,500 miles  to New York city. Simple enough!  
She could ride, had a grand total of eighty English pounds to fund the one-woman expedition, and figured horses would be cheap out in the Wild West of Canada. Besides, she reasoned, if the world really was going to self-destruct, she wanted a memorable adventure, “such as befell heroic voyagers”, before the global ship sank.
If it was adventure the young English adventuress wanted, she got it!
Bosanquet rode through the mighty Rockies, was wooed by love-struck cowboys, chased by a grizzly bear, feasted with lonely trappers, was adopted for the winter by a family of Irish farmers, and even suspected of being a Nazi spy, scouting out Canada in preparation for a German invasion. And through it all she had Jonty and Timothy, her whimsical and charming horses.
If the three inseparable companions sought to put the news of Europe’s descent into the madness behind them, then their eighteen month journey through the silent mountains, dreamy forests, and mighty plains of pristine Canada provided the sanctuary they sought.
Illustrated with photographs taken during her remarkable trip, Bosanquet’s story is as heart-warming today as the day it was written.   Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble

Please go to Barnes & Noble or Amazon.co.uk.

Two Thousand Miles on Horseback: Kansas to Santa Fé in 1866, James F. Meline - The Old West was populated by a host of colourful characters including gunfighters, cowboys, buffalo hunters, sod busters, and at least one cavalry officer with the eye of an eagle and a penchant for fine writing. Colonel James Meline was an educated New York journalist, turned pony soldier, who had fought for the Union during the recent Civil War. With the country lulled into an uncomfortable peace, the fifty-four year old Meline decided to partake of one last mounted adventure before he hung up his spurs.  Lucky for the history of equestrian travel that he did.

The resultant book, “Two Thousand Miles on Horseback” is a beautifully written, eye witness account of a United States that is no more.

Meline was no fool. He sensed that the great American wilderness was about to be tamed. Setting out from Fort Leavenworth in the summer of 1866, Meline observed a nation on the move. In his first week in the saddle Meline counted 680 wagons heading west. Moreover, he warned, “the iron rail will soon clamp East and West, leaving no room for adventure or personal freedom.”

Yet before that dire prediction became a reality, Meline participated in one of the greatest equestrian adventures of the time. 

He noted everything from the price of pistols to the practices of Pawnees. Border land barbarities too hideous “to write in English,”  horses struck dead by lightning, forlorn graves, summer days so hot they drove men mad – Meline faithfully recorded the details of prairie life seen during his ride to Santa Fe.

Once he reached fabled New Mexico the saddle-borne scribe fell in with Kit Carson. What followed was a three day marathon interview wherein the legendary frontiersman regaled the cavalry journalist with tales of fighting the Navajo, hunting gigantic grizzly bears, and eluding capture by Indians.

Then, with his notebooks full, Meline headed home, experiencing a storm on the way that was so cold that “even my memory froze.”

Winter Sketches from the Saddle, John Codman, with a Foreword by Brandon Schrand!  - The author, a sea captain by trade, spent his leisure hours on land riding his mare, Fanny.  
A self-confessed "septuagenarian,” Codman was never shy about sharing his horse-based opinions.
Walking, Codman said, was a “solitary entertainment” and the bicycle he dismissed as being “unnatural.” Thus it was from the back of his horse that the old sea captain sailed over the land of his birth.
This once-famous book, “Winter Sketches from the Saddle”, was first published in 1888. It recommends riding for your health and describes Codman’s many equestrian journeys through New England during the winter of 1887.
“There is no greater pleasure than to find myself on a horse,” Codman wrote.
The next best thing is to read his classic book!   Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble