Why thru-riding horseback rider Gillian Larson believes women should go on more adventures

Today.com - Full Article and video

Gillian Larson became the first solo thru-rider of the Pacific Crest Trail in her 20s. Here's why she wants more women to "feel free in our environment."

May 27, 2021, 12:52 PM PDT / Source: TMRW
By Erica Chayes Wida

We are all works in progress; even the successful women you see owning it on Instagram faced stumbling blocks along the way and continue to work hard to stay at the top of their game. In this series, we're sitting down with the people that inspire us to find out: How'd they do it? And what is success really like? This is "Getting There."

Through the deserts, backcountry and treacherous mountain passes of the West Coast is a trail. It stretches 2,650 miles from the Mexican to the Canadian border. And in 2014, Gillian Larson became the youngest documented woman to ride it alone on horseback.

Thru-riding is the term for the people who mount their horses and see the country in its wildest places by riding long-distance trails. Some of the most famous in the U.S. include the Pacific Crest Trail, or PCT, and the Continental Divide Trail. Larson, a native Californian who's just 29, has ridden both in their entireties, amassing more than 10,000 miles. She first did the PCT at just 22 years old, becoming the youngest woman to do so, and again in 2016.

Some may recognize the trail from the Reese Witherspoon film, "Wild," based on the 2012 memoir by Cheryl Strayed, who thru-hiked 1,100 miles of it.

Larson is an equestrian with a masters in biology who was raised about 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles in Topanga Canyon, California. And while she's accomplished a groundbreaking feat and is being recognized for her achievements, which includes starring in a documentary short film by Firestone Walker, she remains humble and eager for her next quest...

Read more and see video here:
https://www.today.com/tmrw/why-thru-riding-horseback-rider-gillian-larson-believes-women-should-t219701

How to build a trustworthy trail horse

EquusMagazine.com - Full Article

Three seasoned trail riders offer strategies for overcoming the most common spoilers of the great-outdoor horseback experience.

EQUUS
UPDATED:MAR 10, 2017 ORIGINAL:MAY 20, 2008

Ah! A nice, relaxing trail ride on a pleasant summer day: What could be better to break the tedium of ring work and soothe the stresses of show training? Just head for the hills, the woods, the rolling meadows on horseback, alone or in congenial company, and all your troubles will melt away. Yeah, right... until your horse refuses to cross the creek or runs in terror from an innocent boulder or takes up a bone-jarring jig that puts you both in a lather for the duration of the ride.

When horses and their riders are unprepared for the out-of-arena experience, a simple walk through the woods turns into a series of frustrating or frightening confrontations. The disconnect between expectations and reality often begins with the choice of mount.

"Most people don't select horses for trail riding," says Montana horseman Dan Aadland, an avid backcountry rider and author of several books on the topic. "I get tired of hearing, 'Well, she's not good enough for the show ring, but she'll make a good trail horse.' Why should trail riding be relegated to a secondary job for a horse? If you want to trail ride exclusively, buy a horse who excels at it, not one who can't do anything else..."

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Equus Magazine

Woman trekking across Nevada stops in Nye

PVTimes.com - Full Article

By Daria Sokolova Special to the Pahrump Valley Times
May 25, 2021 - 11:34 pm

After taking a year-long break due to the pandemic, Samantha Szesciorka is riding her horse across Nevada again to discover the state and promote wild horse adoption and public land preservation.

This year, Szesciorka is making her way from Las Vegas to Carson City with her horse Sage and her dog Juniper for the first time and making several stops in Nye County. She arrived in Las Vegas from Reno where she lives – a week before starting her ride on May 1.

“I like the challenge, but it’s just a fun personal project. I like getting to know Nevada on horseback, because it’s just a slow immersive way to see the state and see parts of it that many people don’t get to see,” Szesciorka said in a phone interview with the Pahrump Valley Times...

Read more here:
https://pvtimes.com/news/woman-trekking-across-nevada-stops-in-nye-99562/

The Performance of Endurance Horses

FEI.org - Full Article

18 May 2021
by Alison Lincoln

Alison Lincoln is a rider, author, coach and freelance groom with a degree in Equine Sports Coaching

Alison Lincoln looks at the importance of energy supply, training and recovery for long-distance horses... Competitive Endurance rides are a test of the athlete’s ability to safely manage their horse’s stamina and fitness while coping with the varying terrain, distance and weather conditions on the course.

At elite level, rides can be up to 160km (100miles) long and split into 3-6 loops. That’s exactly the distance we’ll see this weekend when the Longines FEI Endurance World Championship is held in Pisa, Italy.

At the start of Endurance competitions and at the end of each loop all horses must pass a veterinary examination before being allowed to continue. If a horse fails any of these ‘vet gates’ then their result is classified as FTQ (failure to qualify).

Research at international level events show that fast riding speeds in the early stages of a ride (loops 1 and 2) and when riding in large groups is a significant risk factor linked to negative outcomes for horses and tends to be followed by a sudden drop in speed in the following loop.

In both cases, it’s likely adrenalin takes over causing combinations to get ‘carried away’ and end up travelling at speeds they haven’t trained for or aren’t capable of maintaining for any length of time.

More often than not this leads to an FTQ classification due either to lameness or fatigue. Fatigue is more than just tiredness, it’s the muscles’ inability to continue to work and occurs primarily due to the depletion of energy stores or the build-up of lactic acid. (You know that burning feeling after you’ve stacked a barn full of hay? That’s lactic acid build-up)...

Read more here:
https://www.fei.org/stories/sport/endurance/performance-endurance-horses

Book Interview: a horseback adventure recalled, 30 years on

IrishExaminer.com - Full Article

Hilary Bradt speaks with Isabel Conway about 'A Connemara Journey'.

SAT, 15 MAY, 2021 - 13:00

- A Connemara Journey: A Thousand Miles on Horseback through Western Ireland has just been published by Bradt Guides. - See www.bradtguides.com and www.hilarybradt.com

Ask veteran explorer and travel guide writer Hilary Bradt why it took her over 30 years to publish “the most important adventure of my life, the one that changed me forever” and she has a great excuse. A string of guide books, tour-leading in remote parts of the world, plus running a successful business accounted for only part of the hold-up.

She had galloped through the rough manuscript, helped by detailed diaries and tape recordings, committing a rich tapestry of human encounters, sublime Irish landscapes, places of historic interest and the odd tall story heard during her epic 1,000-mile solo horseback journey through parts of Connaught and much of Munster back in 1984 to the page in a few weeks. Then Hilary lost her manuscript.

The co-founder of Bradt Guides – today with over 200 titles the world’s largest independently owned travel guides publisher – was fulfilling a childhood ambition to do a long-distance horseback ride which brought her to Ireland, giving free rein to her adventurous spirit and two Connemara ponies...

Read more here:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-40289600.html

Searching for the Big Five on a Horseback Safari

FEI.org - Full Story

16 May 2021
Words by Sophie Baker

Sophie Baker enjoys the wonders of South Africa with some delightful horses...

I’m seated on an expansive riverside deck overlooking the South African bushveld.

My riding helmet, atop the table, rocks back and forth ever so slightly as a gentle breeze does its best to pierce through the midday heat. As I wash down a bite of homemade orange cake with a sip of coffee, Gerti Kusseler starts the safety briefing.

First up; a form stating that if I don’t follow instructions carefully, I “might get eaten.” Not by her husband, Phillip Kusseler, head guide and the other half of the dynamic German duo. But by the lions and elephants we're going in search of – on horseback.

I’m at Wait A Little, South Africa’s only horseback safari that offers guests the opportunity to see the Big Five from horseback: lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo, and leopard.

They say that Africa gets under your skin, and into your blood. You see, once you’ve set foot on her soil - like it or not - Africa is in your veins...

Read more at:
https://www.fei.org/stories/lifestyle/my-equestrian-life/horseback-safari-south-africa-wait-little

Horse & Rider Podcast Episode 39: The Ride - Gillian Larson

Horse & Rider Podcast - Listen

This episode of The Ride is brought to you by Soft-Ride Comfort Boots. Nichole and Michaela sit down with Gillian Larson (@thru_rider) to talk about her trail riding adventures. Gillian was the youngest woman to thru ride the Pacific Crest Trail on horseback–and she has done it twice. She was the first person to thru-ride both the Pacific Crest and the Continental Divide Trail—eventually accumulating more than 10,000 backcountry wilderness miles. Listen to this inspiring episode. Then check out Gillian's short film here!

Listen at:
Horseandrider.com/podcasts

For Good Endurance in Horses, Feed for the Right Gut Bacteria

Thehorse.com - Full Article

A French study is the first to connect the gut microbiota with the mitochondria in horses, or any other species.

Posted by Christa Lesté-Lasserre, MA | Apr 9, 2021

The feed horses eat can fuel their muscle power in more ways than you might think. According to a new study, muscle cells create energy based not only on available nutrients but also what the microorganisms in the gut—which vary according to what horses eat—tell them to do.

“There are some kinds of bacteria in the gut microbiota that favor the production of energy at a (cellular) level and which, consequently, could enhance performance,” said Eric Barrey, PhD, DVM, the Integrative Biology and Equine Genetics team leader at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRA), in Jouy-en-Josas, France...

Read more here:
Thehorse.com

Equestrian Adventuresses Horse Podcast Ep 127: Living & Riding in Mongolia

EquestrianAdventuresses.com - Listen

by utetonia
April 28, 2021

On today’s episode Ute talks with Julie Veloo, Equestrian Adventuress from Canada who made Mongolia her home more than ten years ago. Together with her husband, Julie runs the Veloo Foundation, operating two kindergartens for underprivileged children in Ulan Bator. Julie learned to ride at the age of fifty only after she came to Mongolia in what she calls an 35 00 Acres-Open-Arena on Mongolia horses. Today she has ridden more than 37 000 km all across Mongolia. She organises the annual Gobi Gallop endurance ride as a charity event for her foundation and she is planning the longest charity horse trek in history criss-crossing Mongolia in 2022.

Having lived in Mongolia for so many years, Julie shares her insights into Mongolian society and culture with us and talks about its people and horses which will make you want to pack your bags and book the next flight to Mongolia!

Listen:
https://equestrianadventuresses.com/2021/04/28/horse-podcast-ep-127-living-riding-in-mongolia/