We didn't pick Kyrgyzstan out of a hat, or with a dart and blindfold. Not only do we already know it's a great country to travel in, with friendly people, fascinating history and spectacular scenery, it's also possibly one of the world's best places to travel by horse over long distances.

Lonely Planet website readers voted Kyrgyzstan the 10^th best destination for travel in 2010, but there was no doubt about it being our number 1 choice for 2011.

Firstly, water and good grazing are plentiful. These have to be the first considerations for anyone planning to travel by horse. Amazingly, for a landlocked country, there's more water than you can poke a stick at. We'll be beside rivers, lakes and streams for almost all of our time in Kyrgyzstan.

There's also the horses themselves. They are famously hardy, sturdy-footed and strong. What we didn't know until we spent some time with them is that they also have excellent temperaments, they're smart and eerily obedient. I found myself wondering more than a few times if they were reading my mind, rather than my cues. Kyrgyz riding horses are trained to respond to voice as well as legs and reins. They can be mounted from either side and seem to have an excellent fast walking pace. Useless for the race track, they're the perfect long distance ride.

The horse is still the most common form of transport in Kyrgyzstan. That means that they are a common sight on the roads and Kyrgyz drivers know to look out for them. It also means there are plenty of superb horsemen around who can help us out if we get into trouble, and if we need equipment repaired or replaced, it's not going to be impossible to find. Feed for horses is as readily available as people food.

There are no fences in Kyrgyzstan. The full ramifications of that fact are pretty hard to grasp for people who come from countries where everything is fenced. It means we can pretty much choose our own path. Apart from military installations and border zones, there aren't “off-limits” places and we don't have to stick to a few disconnected trails. We're not going to have to deal with big towns or cities or suburbia. It's one giant playground for would-be-explorers.

And if that wasn't enough to recommend it, Kyrgyzstan is just cool. It lay at the heart of the silk road for a thousand years. Our friends don't know where it is. They don't have a lot of advertising or cell phones or signs telling you not to step on the grass. The people are diverse and you can roll back the centuries with minimal imagination.

The land of horses and free riders – that's where we want to be.

We've been researching equipment since we first decided on a long ride. Thanks to the Long Riders Guild for their excellent equipment review pages, and also to the hundreds of horsemen and women whose stories I've read and pondered on when deciding what needed to go on this list. Thank you as well to all the contributors to Trail Space – reviews are essential when buying gear you can't test yourself.

Of course, taking too much can be worse than missing a vital piece of equipment. Not only do the horses need to carry it (and us) we'll need to unpack and repack it almost every day. We also need to get it there!

None of this gear is cheap, nor is it easy to find. Much of it will need to be imported from the States or Canada and the postage costs alone are enough to make a rich man's wallet weep. If you can help us out with second hand equipment, or you're willing to sponsor us, you'll make us very happy.

Here are all of my ponderings on equipment, and other expenses:

Horse Care & Riding

We've both done plenty of horse riding, and Doug has owned horses in the past. I also spent an entire summer helping to care for the horses in a racing stable in western Queensland. That said, neither of us have any veterinary qualifications or experience treating ill or injured horses. We haven't had formal riding training. Neither do we have any experience leading a pack horse, or with unbroken journeys of more than a week on horseback. Those are pretty serious deficiencies, and we know it. We have no intention of letting our ignorance and inexperience lie however. The preparation has already begun.

Visas

Information about longer stay visas in Kyrgyzstan is not easy to come by. Tourist visas are for 1 month and last time we easily extended ours for an extra month in Bishkek. Obviously that's not going to cut it for this expedition. I think the answer is a “private” visa which we should be able to obtain through a travel agent, provided we can find one who is willing to make an application to the Department of Foreign Affairs (or Internal Affairs, every website I've found has a different opinion) on our behalf. If that fails we'll need to call on the help of our Kyrgyz friends. In the worst case scenario we'll need to punctuate our trip with short detours to Tashkent or Almaty (probably the latter) while we arrange new visas. I really hope that will not be necessary.

Tajik visas up to 30 days and GBAO permits are easy to arrange in Bishkek, last time it took us only 5 days to get one, so we'll be doing this as soon as we arrive in Kyrgyzstan, or possibly before we leave.

Food

As vegetarians, travel in Central Asia is extraordinarily difficult in terms of food. We're not going to let that dissuade us. Thankfully, we'll be mostly self-catering, and purchasing vegetarian food is less complicated than trying to explain vegetarianism to a Kyrgyz nomad. We will be taking a firmin that describes our dietary habits as best we can, which should hopefully avoid some awkward situations. Most of our preparation will involve working with the lists we've created of foods that we know are available fairly readily in Kyrgyzstan, and limited supplies of things we can take with us to create recipe books for one pot meals utilising the ingredients.

If you're wondering why you or your company should consider sponsoring us on the Kyrgyz Horse Expedition, here are a few great reasons:

1. Excellent real-life endurance testing for your product

2. As many high quality professional photos of your product or service in use as you can poke a digital stick at

3. Full HD digital video of the product or service in use on the expedition

4. If we can do so truthfully, as much bigging-up and promoting of the excellent qualities of your product or service as possible on the Dreaming Track

5. Advertising space on the Dreaming Track

6. Mentions of the assistance of your product or service in any publishing we do external to the Dreaming Track, including interviews by any media organisation

7. We'll wear your ads!

Please contact us if you are even remotely interested in sponsorship and let us convince you it's worthwhile :)