How good to hear from and I hope that the New Years
is proving to be a happy one for you and all The Guild's comrades in
the North American endurance community.
Yes, thank you, we are aware of the news conference
wherein Mr. Laden, and his wife, expressed an interest in
horses.
However, please allow me to pass on the thoughts which I just expressed to a
very respected equestrian journalist.
Being an ex-journalist I tend to be careful about
what is reported, knowing that mistakes do creep into news
stories.
Yet the main equestrian point buried in the Laden
story seems to be found in this paragraph.
"The couple are planning their
endurance horse race across North Africa, which they hope to
start in March. It is in the planning stages and they are seeking approval of
governments along the route and need sponsors to help pay for the event and
raise money for child victims of war."
So, right away we're talking racing, not
travelling. And that, of course, means that the Ladens should be contacting you
and Ride Camp for help and assistance, and not the travellers and equestrian
explorers at The Guild.
Plus, because the Ladens have not been
in in contact with The Guild, then they
couldn't know that two other Long Riders, Jean Louis from France who rode from
Paris to Moscow, and Hans-Juergin from Switzerland who rode from Arabia to the
Alps, have already expressed interest in riding across North
Africa.
But the problem with this proposed ride, be it done
by veteran Long Riders, or amateur travellers like the Ladens, are the inherent
risks involved in trying to ride across this horse-hostile route. To illustrate
this problem, there are currently two South African Long Riders, Billy and
Christy, who are trying to ride from Tunisia to South Africa. Their
journey has been plagued with problems and demonstrates that
even saying you're going to get your horses across all of those
skeptical international borders is one thing, but getting suspicious border
officials to cooperate is another thing entirely. Billy and Christy are
more than a year behind schedule, already had one horse die from
fever and are currently stuck in Khartoum with two more sick horses. There
is, therefore, no doubt that this is one of the most hostile
political routes for Road Horse and Long Rider, regardless of who your dad
is and what your last name is.
This situation brings to mind the reply I sent to
the lady who wrote to The Guild late this afternoon regarding her dream to ride
from the Pacific to the Atlantic later this year.
While The Guild offered a great deal of
encouragement, and put her in touch with a number of expert North American Long
Riders who had recently ridden "ocean to ocean," we also offered this
warning.
"One last thing. We deal
with the harsh reality of equestrian travel here at The Long Riders'
Guild. This is no pony picnic you're about to set off on. And even though
the calendar says 2008, the hardships awaiting you out there on the long gray
road can't read the date. So we never pull our punches here at The Guild.
If you're making a dumb decision we will tell you, not because we're fond
of you, but because The Guild won't tolerate people recklessly endangering
their road and pack horses."
Being a veteran of the legendary GAHR
endurance race of 1976, you of all people know that even if you're a wise old
Long Rider and endurance champ like Virl Norton, you're still bound to ride
into trouble - even if the countryside is peaceful and you speak the local
language.
What all of this means, is that while Mr
& Mrs Laden have an intriguing idea that incorporates
horses, it is not based on the political, climatic and
geographic realiites of North African equestrian travel. Could it be
done? Possibly. But a lot of luck and a great deal of serious equestrian
preparation. However, while the governments involved will
probably not directly thwart them, they will probably discourage and
delay them until this dream dies in the sands of the
Sahara.
If the Ladens, or a Ride Camp fan for that matter,
was looking for an achieveable equestrian adventure, I would recommend that they
head to Eastern Europe. There they would discover that the former Iron Curtain
has been transferred into a 7,000 mile long horse trail, which runs from
Turkey to the Arctic and is just waiting to be explored.
