Frequently Asked Questions

You can apply by email or phone. As soon as the required number of people has gathered, I will ask you to confirm your interest. I will then send you an application form, and by completing it you will be signing up for the expedition.

You must be able to ride approximately 30 km per day without muscle pain after riding. This means that your body must be used to riding.

The ride is therefore suitable for people who either have their own horse or ride daily, or for enthusiasts who understand that they need to train at least 4 times a week on the horse for a while before the ride to let the muscles get used to it :).

We cover all terrains in the saddle, so the ability of covering some kilometers on foot is not necessary. We also ride the steep hills and steep descents in the saddle, the horses are used to it. Exceptions are terrains that cannot be safely climbed from the saddle (gaps, bridges, ledges), but we encounter these really minimally during the ride, on average we walk for about ten minutes over the whole ten days.

If, on the other hand, you need to stretch your legs and walk for a while, you certainly can, there will be plenty of opportunities to do so every day.

There are no other physical demands on the ride, you may be eighteen or eighty. I can say from personal experience that some seventy year olds have better physiques than some twenty year olds.

Because of frequent questions, I am adding information about beginners on the expedition. We only take beginners or your beginner partners if they demonstrate a knowledge of a nice, balanced trot (so the horse doesn’t suffer from a rider fluttering on his back) and if they have trained horse riding responsibly for about a month before the ride (“I’ll take an painkillers and somehow it will work out” is not an option, I would like all participants to be physically able to cope with the ride and feel good during their holiday).

Everyone buys their own flight tickets. If anyone needs help with the tickets, I’m happy to help. It is best to buy airline tickets about two months before departure, however the earlier they are bought, the cheaper they usually are.

Payment for horses is made at the start of the ride (usually) in USD directly to the horse owner/local agency.

Payment for guide services is made in advance against an invoice.

I send photos or videos of the horses to participants in advance of the expedition. The horses are quite tall and well fed and should be comfortable with the normal weight of a foreign rider. If you are 200 pounds or more, be sure to tell this ahead, we will try to find a massive horse for you as well. Some horses are gaited, they can do one or two gaits in addition to the normal walk, trot and canter. We usually also have spare horses available in the (very unlikely) event of an injury to one of the horses.

I send participants photos of their saddles in advance of the expedition. In Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, these are common Uzbek shepherd saddles. It is possible to bring your own gel pad or lamb wool for the saddle seat. Or you can use a local blanket for the saddle seat (it will be available for everyone).

If anyone has a problem with the local saddle, there is the option to take your own saddle, but only a “universal” saddle that fits “most” horses, ie. McClellan, military (this will most likely fit, but we can’t guarantee 100 percent, it may be that this won’t fit either… Unfortunately, we are not able to remotely fit any western or english saddle to local horses, the saddler will not be on site and we want to avoid the possibility of the horses as much as possible). I would recommend relying on a local saddle – when you use something to sit on it is quite comfortable 😊 .

What I recommend bringing your own are leather straps to tie things to the saddle (“saddle strings”). Also, if you want long stirrups, your own leather stirrup straps. And if you have and want to, you can also bring your own cushioned stirrups (ideal if you have knee or ankle problems).

In Turkmenistan, we use first class German show jumping saddles, which are always tailored to the specific horse. It is not possible to take your own saddle to Turkmenistan (nor is it necessary, theirs are a couple of grades better than the regular saddle you might probably use).

Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan: we carry all our stuff with us on the horse. It is therefore necessary to pack minimally so that all items fit in a horse bag.

Shepherd’s bags will be available on site. If they are made of camel hair, they are visually beautiful. They do have one major drawback, and that is that they are put over the entire saddle seat (you put the middle of the saddle bag on top of the saddle). So, they are not comfortable for the rider when things are bulkier (they move the rider’s leg forward), but it is a tradition and they are stylish. Locals gallop with them and will ride any distance. I rather not recommend them for foreign riders, you will have your center of gravity and feet elsewhere than you are used to.

If you have your own quality saddle bags, and want maximum comfort, I recommend taking your own saddle bags. You tie these on with your own leather straps by the loops on the back of the Uzbek saddle. There is also the option to borrow saddle bags from me, I have bought new local saddle bags in Kyrgyzstan, which I can possibly also lend.

I recommend you take your own front saddle bags, I don’t have those to rent (getting good quality canvas front saddle bags is probably an impossible thing, I always destroy them while riding :)) ) and there are none locally.

Bandalier. You can make a waterproof “bandalier” up behind the saddle, for example, out of your clothes, sleeping bag and celta/tarp. Or I recommend you buy a boat bag or a cycling cylindrical handlebar bag. ATTENTION. There MUST NOT be hard objects in the bandalier, they will lay on the horse’s spine and after a few days an injury would develop on the spine. There MUST NOT be any hard objects in the bandalier, it is lying on the horse’s spine and after a few days an injury would develop on the spine. I’d rather write it twice then treat the horse once 🙂 .

Turkmenistan: There are no saddle bags available on site. Personal items like passport, wallet, cell phone, snacks are recommended to take on the horse in your own waist bag, running backpack or similar bag. Other items are carried by an escort vehicle every afternoon.

Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan. The food will be transported by a packhorse. It will be led by the owner of the horses. We ask everyone to fit their own gear into their own saddle bags so that the packhorse really only carries food:) It will not be possible to load your excess items on it. If someone has specific requirements and needs a packhorse just for themselves, I offer the option of hiring a packhorse, but with all the responsibilities that entails (e.g. you will lead the packhorse throughout the ride, which is fun but also an extra worry at times).

We will cook on the fire, for breakfast it will be e.g. tea, coffee, biscuits, bread, cheese, sausages, eggs. For lunch we will have food prepared in the morning, which we will bring with us. For dinner we will cook local food in a cauldron on the fire using local ingredients. For example, we can have risotto plov or different variations of stewed vegetables with potatoes in the cauldron. We will always bring food for everyone for about three or four days and then they will bring us fresh food for the next part of the ride. The food will always be one type. If anyone has food allergies, please let me know so we can cook everyone a meal without that food. It is pretty hard to find vegetarian food in general in Uzbekistan, so if anyone is a vegetarian, please let me know and we will try to work something out. For vegans I recommend bringing your own food, I can’t guarantee a 100% vegan yet nutritionally rich diet unfortunately.

We will be riding an average of about 25 km per day, which is about five or six hours in the saddle in the local terrain. On flat ground it can be thirty kilometres, on a pass with a really big elevation gain up and down, we can do as little as ten kilometres in the same time as a normal day. Some days we can go up to 45 kilometers in the saddle, so you need to be physically prepared for it:) If the horses or we are tired, we can include a rest day in the middle of the ride (e.g. with a short ride around the camp).

There are no compulsory vaccinations. The recommended vaccinations are: hepatitis A+B and typhoid. Some may also recommend rabies, here opinions vary from doctor to doctor (however, in Uzbekistan I have not yet noticed any problem with aggressive herding dogs, like in other countries). If you are going to get vaccinated before you leave, I would recommend starting to address your vaccinations at least two months before your departure. The same place can probably prescribe you travel medication such as antibiotics. Hepatitis and typhoid can possibly be vaccinated together on the same day, so you can get it the day before departure in case of an emergency, but I definitely don’t recommend it:)

Before departure, I recommend you start taking probiotics, at least a week in advance, twice a day and continue taking them regularly throughout the trip. It’s very effective and will prevent most digestive problems on the road.