The Long Rider

[Barbra Lidder]

Bernicestated often how she had lived an extraordinary life. She loved horses, adventures, being outside and meeting all of you who were part of her Lady Long Rider journey. Her family is so thankful for the encouragement, support and love you provided.

My age reply had a 10 year variation. A gun? Yes. Fear? Yes! Some of the questions filling my anxious mind each evening at 4pm were; How far will I go, what will happen, will I make it, where will I sleep, will I find water? Pandemic or not people will face a bombardment of questions whether your long ride is motherhood or being a teacher, a truck driver or student. Such thoughts were disastrous for me, at least I felt an erosion of myself with such thoughts.

Perhaps it came from the many extreme situations, always alone, so little money and the many snowstorms I survived. I came to learn that happiness does not come from an outward experience. Happiness is an inward experience, an expression of ones own human nature. No person, no comfort, no animal is responsible for my happiness or joy, anger or sadness. I could no longer yo-yo back and forth at the whim of others who ridiculed me with laughter or generously showed me kindness. For nearly fifteen years I lived in a tent, in every kind of weather in every kind of terrain. Living in every season with only my dog and horses adding to my existence. Only by finding peace in the absence of so much did I discover what mattered.

I rode year after year, camping at the door steps of the poorest of poor, knocking on the doors of the well to do. Never looking down on anyone, never looking up to anyone. It was a cornucopia of experiences, a hugely enriching time in my life. I came to realize that life without fear was freedom. I finally came to know the quality of life is determined not by the clothes I wear, what kind of home I live in or what kind of vehicle I traveled with. My quality of life is determined essentially by paying attention to what is inside of me. It comes from making the conscious choice to live fully in joy and appreciation making my way ever so slowly down a simple beautiful path.

Too many lives have been lost from the Covid-19 virus. Hardships for those already pressed against a wall of inequality has been exaggerated. Nearly everyone has been affected in one way or another. I have followed the news reports watching the loss. Watching essential medical workers placed in peril. Watching a nation straining from incompetent leadership. It has been heart wrenching, all of it.

But this time is also a wake-up call. A time to ask yourself what is important? How can I take better care of myself? How much do I need? What kind of life have I been living? What kind of life do I want to live?

It was a rainy morning when I drove to interview Bernice Ende, known as the Lady Long Rider. On my way, I thought of only one question: Why? What would motivate a woman to leave the safety and comfort of home and ride horseback around the country?

Ende has an advantage over folks in cars as she can see and hear much better than they can. She knows when trucks are coming long before they see her, giving her time to move out of the way. She covers 30 to 35 miles a day, moving along at a fast trot when she can. Bernice has ridden more than 21,000 miles with Essie and 11,000 with Spirit.

Bernice has been doing these long rides for 12 years now. The current ride is an 8000 mile, two-and-a-half year round trip, from the West coast to the East coast and back again. The day we met, she had her final 1000 miles ahead of her, and then she would be returning to her home in Trego, Montana.

Things are much better now. Ende has sponsors and a great website where people send donations. She gives frequent talks to many organizations. She has been invited to speak at Harvard University about her great aunt, a 1917 graduate. Not surprisingly, Bernice is considering riding there.

Kim Roe grew up riding on the family ranch and competed in Western rail classes, trail horse, reining, working cow, and hunter/jumper. She trained her first horse for money at 12 years old, starting a pony for a neighbor.

Kim is the editor of the Northwest Horse Source Magazine, and also a writer, photographer, and poet. She owns and manages Blue Gate Farm in Deming, Washington where she continues to be passionate about helping horses and riders in many disciplines.

It marks the first time in modern equestrian history that like-minded men and women are combining efforts to preserve a hitherto unmarked heritage and provide an international forum to discuss our mutual love of horses and travel.

With Members in more than forty countries, every major equestrian explorer alive today belongs to The Guild, including Hadji Shamsuddin of Afghanistan, who rode a thousand miles through that war-zone, Jean-Louis Gouraud of France, who rode 3,000 miles from Paris to Moscow, Claudia Gottet of Switzerland, who rode 8,000 miles from Arabia to the Alps, Adnan Azzam of Syria, who rode 10,000 miles from Madrid to Mecca, and Vladimir Fissenko of Russia, who rode 19,000 miles from the bottom of Patagonia to the top of Alaska.

The Guild is an academic, not a commercial, endeavour whose mission is to protect, preserve and promote the ancient art of equestrian travel. It has mentored or equipped Long Riders on every continent except Antarctica.

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If you are searching for advice on how to make an equestrian journey, the Encyclopaedia of Equestrian Exploration contains the practical wisdom gained from more than 400 of the most knowledgeable Long Riders.

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Additional information can be found in the Horse Travel Handbook, a cavalry-style manual that is small enough to fit into a saddlebag and contains the most critically important information that a Long Rider may need to consult while travelling.

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Have read your first book, really enjoyed it. Looking forward to your second book.i pack each summer, but to do a long ride, one must have no obligations like Leite or Bernice. Anyway, still interested.

When Filipe Masetti Leite was a child, his father, Luis, read Tschiffelys Ride as a bedtime story to the impressionable little boy. Originally from Brazil, the family had resettled in Canada, where Filipe grew up and attended university. After obtaining a degree in journalism, Filipe faced a difficult choice. Should he get a job, marry his girlfriend and settle down to the type of predictable life which his friends had chosen? Or should he consider undertaking the equestrian journey which his father had longed to make but had been unable to attempt due to family obligations?

The Long Riders is a 1980 American Western film directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the Best Music award in 1980 from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for this soundtrack. The film was entered into the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.[4]

During the years following the Civil War, banks and trains become the targets of the James-Younger gang, who terrorize the Midwestern United States. The band of robbers is led by Jesse James and Cole Younger, along with several of their brothers. After getting antsy during a bank robbery, Ed Miller opens fire and kills the clerk, resulting in a shootout where Jesse is wounded. Jesse dismisses Ed from the gang; his brother Clell remains.

Mr. Rixley, a detective from the Pinkerton's agency, is assigned to capture the outlaws. Rixley doggedly remains on their trail, accidentally killing a Younger cousin and the youngest James brother, and losing several of his men in the process. Due to his errors, the Pinkertons back off. Jim Younger, who initially courted a girl named Beth, is disturbed to find her engaged to Ed. At Frank and Jesse's younger brother's funeral, he convinces Beth to leave Ed and she eventually marries him. Clell Miller suggests the James-Younger Gang ride north in September 1876 to rob a bank belonging to "squareheads" in Northfield, Minnesota; word is out about them and the town has been warned by the Pinkertons.

The holdup goes wrong: the bank's vault has been set on a timer and cannot be opened. A cashier and another citizen are shot and killed. While trying to escape, the gang is fired upon by the townspeople. Two outlaws are killed, Clell is fatally shot, Frank is hit in the arm, and all of the Youngers are badly wounded.

The surviving gang members temporarily make camp in the woods. Jesse decides to continue running, leaving the injured to their fate when a posse catches up to them. Though reluctant and threatened by Cole, Frank joins Jesse and they ride off. Jesse informs Frank he intends to strike up a new gang when they return to Missouri, but Frank is clearly reticent. The James brothers return home to Missouri and the Youngers are captured. Rixley interrogates the Youngers in prison, but they refuse to give up Jesse.

Bob and Charley Ford offer to give up Jesse, who has asked them to join his new gang, for money. Rixley recruits them to assassinate Jesse for $15,000. They have dinner at Jesse's house and, while he adjusts a hanging picture, Bob kills him. Upon learning of his brother's assassination, Frank James turns himself in on the condition he can take Jesse home to be buried. Rixley complies with Frank in custody.

It also features an uncredited appearance by Ever Carradine,[citation needed] daughter of Robert Carradine and niece to David and Keith Carradine. Additionally James Keach's son, Kalen Keach, is cast as Jesse's son Jesse E. James.

In 1971 James and Stacy Keach played the Wright brothers[1] in a television film called The Wright Brothers (1971). This gave James the idea they should portray Jesse and Frank James in a film together. James started off by conceiving a play about the James brothers, Brothers, which Stacy financed and produced.[5] Brothers was a folk opera; the script was credited to Barry Litvak as writer. Christopher Allport provided the music. James Keach played Jesse and Marion Killinger played Frank. It was produced by the Edmund Bananas Ensemble.[6]

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