In July of 2021 I received an email from a stranger that started like this:

“Hi Sea!!

Thank you for being such a badass. Being able to see you accomplish what you have, to be reminded of just how possible it is, is no small thing. I am floored by your courage & bravery. 😀

Two years ago at eighteen, I embarked on a similar long-distance journey; I spent nine months walking across America solo, from Delaware to California, and near the end of my trip, somewhere in the deserts of Utah, I think, I knew my walk wouldn’t be enough. That I’d miss life on the road too much, and be drawn to wander again. 

So I thought “well, maybe one day I could horseback ride across america, too …” and I’ve been nurturing that idea in my head ever since. Watering it here and there til it blossomed into a full-blown dream of mine. And now I can’t shake it!”

That’s how I met Gin. Her walk across America (youngest woman to do so unsupported – meaning no support vehicle or other assistance set up in advance) was followed by unsupported bicycle rides across the USA in both directions. Now she wanted to embark upon a similar adventure on horseback. As a member of the Long Riders’ Guild, I’d made a real commitment to share what I’d learned with future Long Riders and do what I could to help them make their dreams a reality. As we corresponded, Gin admitted that she’d never actually ridden a horse before. So – that was obviously going to be the first step. After consulting with Karen (my friend, landlord, writing mentor and fellow horse enthusiast) I invited her to come to Lopez Island and learn at least the basics of how to care for and ride a horse, with time to ask me any and all questions about Long Riding – or anything else, really. Because of her previous adventures, I wasn’t much worried about the rest of it.

We didn’t have a proper lesson horse, but Karen’s horse, Ready, was past twenty and starting to slow down a bit so he was chosen as Schoolmaster. Gin showed up in August of 2021, fit right in, worked hard, found jobs on Lopez to save money for the ride, spent time every day with Ready and became a friend to me. I started her out bareback, old school, like Karen and I had learned to ride (but with a helmet!) and within a few months she could maintain a sitting trot around the arena in both directions without breaking gait. Since most of Long Riding happens at a walk, that seemed like a reasonable goal. She was still very green. Before she left, she made sure that at the end of the Long Ride we’d pick her up from the coast and her horse could come live at Karen’s place. We said yes to that and off she went.

Soon, Gin was heading back to Pennsylvania to begin the search for the horse that would carry her from the Jersey Shore to the Oregon Coast. We all assumed that she’d find some quiet, dead broke QH, maybe 12 years old, all been there, done that. But nope, not Gin. She chose a mustang gelding who had never been touched and named him Finley. She found people to teach her about ground work and basic training. They had a grand adventure crossing the USA, met several other helpful Long Riders as they passed through (Pam in Ohio, Michael in Nebraska) and eventually Finley came to live on Lopez Island. Gin is now crossing Australia on a Brumby named Fable having corresponded with several Aussie Long Riders as she planned that ride. If you want to know more, her blog is www.ginandfaith.com – she’s an amazing writer. That’s also where you can find a link to her facebook of the current ride.

Meanwhile, mustang fever is apparently contagious, and I found myself bringing home a mustang who had already been started. I renamed him Temekin. He’s from the Warm Springs HMA and was DNA tested as 2/3 Criollo (with a healthy dose of Welsh pony!) Delving back into Long Riders’ Guild history, Aime Tschiffley rode from Buenos Aires to NYC with a pair of Criollo horses back in 1925-8. The breed is known for endurance, thriftiness, hardiness, strong wills and taking no shit. I was still dreaming of my own wilderness Long Ride. If you look carefully at this picture, you might have an inkling of what happened next.

Yup. I knew better, but we’d been spending all our time together, things were going so well, and then I decided to see how tall he is, got out the floppy, white measuring tape, uncoiled it near his left front leg and BAM! Lightning fast, Temekin registered that tape as a snake and killed it for me. I’m sure in his mind he was protecting us both.

Unfortunately, my foot was under the “snake.” I called the EMTs, narrowly avoided having to get in a helicopter to go ashore to the ER – but now I couldn’t walk at all for two months and I’d lost confidence in myself and my ability to handle this amazing, powerful horse. The healing powers of the human body are nothing short of miraculous when they want to be and eventually the bone fragments found each other and formed a proper toe bone again, my toenail grew back and I was physically fine, but not all all sure I wanted to be 100 miles from civilization alone with this particular horse. I’d lost my nerve, and it didn’t grow back nearly as fast as my toenail.

Gin came back to visit Finley in May of 2024, on her way to solo kayak the Yukon river. When she finished that trip she returned to Lopez and settled in again. By this point, we had somehow accumulated 9 horses on the property and in lieu of rent she started listing horses and saddles for sale. Horse after horse moved on to good homes, but not Temekin. We were being very particular about where he went since he’d been through several homes on the way to us and that hadn’t done him any favors – he was obviously not suited for a beginner, not a husband horse, not a horse I’d particularly trust with kids, he needed a person of his own, a job he was interested in – honestly, I was still quite convinced that this horse was meant for Long Riding, I just needed to find the Long Rider who was looking for him.

I emailed CuChullaine at the Long Riders’ Guild and his reply was not encouraging:

“Sea, it makes perfect sense that you would drop me a line to ask who I might know who is looking for a road horse.

And the sad truth is – no one!!!

Because of a variety of factors, the horse travel world that you knew and travelled through has largely disappeared.”

Dang. That was depressing, but I honestly didn’t believe it was true. Yes, the world is changing, sometimes maybe not for the better. But also, maybe change is something we figure out how to creatively adapt to rather than a reason to hang up our chaps, admit defeat and say good-bye to the thing we most love. Gin had successfully crossed the USA a decade after my ride.

Different challenges, to be sure. Every generation faces different challenges and the pace of change is only increasing as we all succumb to technology, but we’re an adaptable species and I believe the world needs Long Riders now perhaps more than ever. But for that year at least, winter was coming with deep mud and shyte weather, I was heading East to spend time with my folks in upstate NY, we’d reduced the herd by 4, we took the rest of the ads down. Reassess in the Spring.

In early June, Karen and I set out on a weeklong camping trip with Finley, Gin’s mustang, and Able, my panda-eared pinto. We didn’t go far, just out to a place called BBQ Flats, a base camp which has delicious smelling Jeffrey Pines, a big, spring-fed water trough and easy day rides. We were testing the waters to see what I could still get away with, considering my disintegrating back and various health challenges. Turns out I can ride gently for about an hour and a half before the pain in my back renders the rest of the ride fairly torturous. That wasn’t encouraging. The horses were doing well, but the flies and gnats were absolutely atrocious at certain times of day. About half way through the week I’d taken Able to the water trough for a drink, I was standing next to him, as one does, and suddenly he swung his head into my torso, trying to dislodge the gnats in his wee ears. It wasn’t even that hard, didn’t knock me over or anything, but the pain was disproportionate to the act and now I had a hard, painful lump between my sternum and my belly-button. During the next few days I experienced dizzy spells and disorientation, I’d reach for the highline to tie up a horse and miss it by inches. This was scary as well as uncomfortable and we went home two days early. I was super, super sad. The writing was on the wall, my days as a horseman were over.

The ads went back up, the mourning commenced. I found a good home for Able and downsized my tack again. But still, there was Temekin, and my pack saddle set-up, my camping gear, my heart. I was getting lots of inquiries about Temekin, answering questions, listening to what they were looking for, just never the right fit. Then, in August, I got a call from a woman named Kari Feeney who had saved the ad for Temekin back in 2024, saw it when it resurfaced in 2025, busy with life and travel, Lopez a long way from Portland, but there he still was – she’d grown up with horses, hiked the AT in 2019, done an extended motorcycle journey in her mid-20’s (17,000 miles through 36 states in 7 months!) and she was looking for a horse to ride the PCT. Within 5 minutes on the phone with her I had a very good feeling about this and mentioned my own Long Ride. By the end of the call I’d said that I wouldn’t sell him to anyone else until she’d found time to come up and meet him.

In late August Kari showed up to meet Temekin. The very first time she went out into the pasture, this famously stand-offish horse walked right up to her, laid his muzzle gently against her shoulder and just stood there, quiet and calm and connected. She was looking for two horses, a riding horse and a pack horse. I had an idea and sent a message to Gin who was half-way across Australia on Fable by that point. Finley was a proven Long Ride horse, had the skills and the temperament, just sitting around on Lopez getting fat and bored, would she consider letting him go on another adventure with the understanding that he’d return to us at journey’s end? Gin asked a bunch of questions and then said yes.

By the time Kari left we’d offered her a free lease on both horses, confident that they’d return in better shape and better trained. Finley needed to return to us, but there was an option to buy Temekin after the ride if she’d fallen in love with him and didn’t want to say good-bye. She bought my whole pack saddle set-up https://custompackrigging.com/ and asked if she could have a few weeks to think about the horses before committing fully since she was heading out for a few weeks of backpacking with friends. We said sure and off she went. By early October she said yes, but would we be willing to let the horses stay on Lopez until late February because she had some trips planned and no sense paying board in a Portland stable on horses she wasn’t around to work with or care for. This would still give her several months to work with them and get them fit for the upcoming ride. We already had plenty of round bales laid in for the year – no problem. Meanwhile, she was in contact with Gillian Larson https://www.gillianlarson.net/ (another Long Rider who has a lot of experience on the PCT) and busy making plans.

I’m typing this from Kari’s spare bedroom in Portland, her husband Andy (a mobile mechanic) just checked out my van to make sure it would make it to Arizona and back and it looks like she’s in very good shape for 238,000 miles. Thank you Andy! More LRG magic and details about my upcoming adventure in the next installment – stay tuned!