Be Professional. Look Cool.
“Our motto as we rode west from Mongolia to Germany, and now… on to who knows where next.”
Our story
Pure, wild and honest; Luisa and Pete are just normal equestrians living out their crazy dreams. They drink, they swear, and keep it 100% real… as that's just how they are. They don't pretend to be anything they're not; a dreamer and a drunk, they ran away from society with its anxieties and expectations, to just ride off into the sunset together. Living poor, happy and totally free; a vegan chef, a hunter and a dog called Jill travelling the world on horseback. They share their love of life, the music they listen to, and the crazy stuff they get up to on horseback. They are neither professional nor do they look cool, proving anyone can do this, and they hope to inspire others to follow and live their dreams no matter how crazy others think they may be!
The Great Ride
Visas, veterinary restrictions at borders, and the coming winter with its -40 Celsius death sentence created a ton of issues for Luisa and Pete right from the beginning of their journey. Luisa had almost overstayed in Mongolia, and Pete was unable to get much more than a few days to cross Russia; so the dream of an uninterrupted ride to Scotland on Mongolian horses was soon dealt a death blow. They opted instead to hitch across Mongolia - an adventure in itself - before crossing Russia and beginning to ride south west from Pavlodar in north eastern Kazakhstan. Luisa, Pete, and Jill covered over 15,000 km, 9000 km of which were on horseback, through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Austria and Germany. The entire ride was filmed on an iPhone and can been seen on YouTube by clicking the link on the button below.
The Horseback Honeymoon
After marrying in June 2022, Luisa and Pete set out on another horseback adventure for their “Honeymoon”. Things got off to a rough start, but the magic returned as soon as Luisa had a more suitable horse under her. Just as before during the Great Ride, all the ups and downs are shared openly and honestly. The Horseback honeymoon took them some 2500km through Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria and to heights as much as 3600m. Again, they recorded the trip on an iPhone, and you can see their highs and lows on YouTube in its entirety via the link below.
The long ride that wasn’t…
After another winter break, this time staying in the stunning, but freezing Bavarian Forest, Pete and Luisa set off with the boys, “Jill stayed behind as she’s a bit too old to keep up” planning to ride east as far as Slovakia and Poland. But, it wasn’t to be. After a week on the road it was clear that Luisa’s young stallion was going to drop weight, choosing to spend the night calling to the girls and pacing about rather than resting. There was only one ethical choice, turn around and get him gelded. We did, and we will be back out on the road as soon as summer eases off a bit. Despite the best gear and fit horses, ethics come first, and we only managed two videos as we rode around the stunning Bavarian and Czech forests.
The search for beers, bears, and bison.
With a freshly gelded horse, it was time to once more hit the road as the first hints of the coming Autumn made themselves known in Bavaria. This time we rode South into Austria, crossing the Alps headed for Slovenia in search of wild bears and bison. We rode to Croatia next, then Hungary, then on into Slovakia where once more we sadly needed to stop for ethical reasons. It’s a ride we are both very proud of, having made some tough calls once more to ensure our horses welfare was always put ahead of our own desires.
“We all strive for safety, prosperity, comfort, long life, and dullness.”
Aldo Leopold.
Doers, not talkers.
The horse community, in particular the Long Riding community, has some very strong personalities in it with equally strong opinions. It is for this reason that Luisa and Pete have decided to do things their own way after having been let down so often by so many. They are not affiliated with the long riders guild by choice, nor any other riding organisation so they can openly and honestly express their opinions without bias. After 780 days together on the road, they got engaged, and then married before riding out again for another 120 day wandering. There’s plans for a hell of a lot more adventures ahead, BPLC is here to stay, and we intend to keep doing exactly what we say we will.
“Everyone you meet always asks if you have a career, are married or own a house as if life was some kind of grocery list. But nobody ever asks if you are happy...”
Heath Ledger.