If the long, dark nights are getting you down, dive into one of these equestrian adventures — taking you from southern Bulgaria, to Mongolia and everywhere in between
Vagabond: A horseback adventure from Bulgaria to Berlin, by Jeremy James (pictured, above)
The blurb: The journey starts when the author Jeremy James buys two horses from gypsies at a fair in southern Bulgaria. He and his long-suffering friend Chumpie then set off on horseback, winding northwards to Berlin, on the way encountering an array of local characters from all walks of life.
Long Trot: John O’Groats to Land’s End with a horse, by Grant Nicolle
The blurb: In 2007 Grant Nicolle, formerly a captain in the King’s Troop RHA, embarked on a challenging adventure to travel the length of the UK with a horse. He bought a horse, Marv, in the January of that year, undertook preparatory training and detailed planning, before setting off from John O’Groats in the spring. This is the story, told mostly in diary format, of that adventure.
Price: £16.50
Horse & Hound Newsletter
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
Whether you're keen to improve your core strength, lungeing techniques or posture, take a look at these equestrian training books
A Standard Journey: 5 horses, 2 people and 1 tent, by Jackie Parry
The blurb: They rescued five horses from an unknown fate. They sold everything they had. With daring inspiration, Jackie and Noel trained the confused horses, and forced their own unfit bodies to meld into one team. Life became horses, endurance and camping: all seven reliant on one another as they trekked along part of Australia’s majestic Bicentennial National Trail.
The blurb: Rosie goes backpacking around the world in search of horse-training secrets. This is the story of her journey, across three continents, exploring horsemanship in radically different settings.
The Last Secrets of the Silk Road: Four Girls Follow Marco Polo Across 5,000 Miles, by Alexandra Tolstoy
The blurb: After leaving Edinburgh University, Alexandra Tolstoy set off on an eight-month, 5,000-mile journey by horse and camel across remote Central Asia — encountering wild stallions, facing bouts of illness, as well as finding love…
Horse & Hound recommends that a regulation hard hat is worn at all times when mounted
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.
