Equestrian explorers to meet in Hungary

Two of the greatest living equestrian explorers, Scottish Long Rider Gordon Naysmith and Australian Long Rider Tim Cope will meet on horseback in Hungary at the conclusion of the Cope’s 8,000 mile solo journey from Mongolia to Europe. The pair has ridden from opposite ends of the earth and survived deserts, war zones, mountains and red tape.

After becoming the first person in 800 years to have re-traced the route ridden by Genghis Khan’s mounted warriors, Tim Cope, 28, from Gippsland, Victoria is scheduled to conclude his extraordinary journey at Opusztaszer National Park, located on the edge of the Eurasian steppe, in late September, 2007. There to greet him will be Gordon Naysmith, the only Long Rider to have ever ridden from the bottom of the African continent into the heart of Europe. While that Scottish Long Rider didn’t encounter any of the mounted nomadic culture Cope saw as he rode across Central Asia, Naysmith didn’t lack for adventure during a journey that stretched across 16 countries.

The trail across Africa brought Naysmith and his rugged Basutho horses into contact with the most dangerous predators on the continent – both men and beasts. Naysmith rode through deserts, wars, ambushes with a ferocious determination. He was trapped with his horses on board ship in the Red Sea. He nearly died of thirst in the deserts of Arabia. At one point, suffering from an injury about to turn gangrenous, Naysmith “dressed the wound and gave myself a jab of vitamin B12. Heavy dose for a man but I had to ride on.”

Now this renowned Long Rider has agreed to journey to Hungary to meet Cope on behalf of all the Long Riders from 35 countries.