The Great Gear List (And Other Expenses) |
| Written by Amber Friday, 15 January 2010 |
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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 Related ItemsWe won't be getting far without these. We'll be buying them in Karakol at the start of our journey. Probably from the local animal market (where they should be having spring sales when we arrive) but possibly from the population in Karakol. We need two riding horses and a pack horse. From the scanty information on the internet, and what we learned when we were there, the price for a decent riding animal (always a stallion, mares are highly valued and not used for riding) was around 35,000 Kyrgyz som, or 860 Australian dollars. Nowhere near as cheap as in neighbouring Mongolia, but a fair price for these beautiful animals. It could take us several weeks to find the right horses, even with good help from Ecotrek, the horseman's cooperative who operate there. Despite the fact that saddles are argued about more than anything else by long distance riders, we actually reached a decision about what we wanted to take pretty early in our planning. It needs to be safe, and most importantly, it needs to be a good “general” fit. We won't have the luxury of fitting a saddle to a horse, though we know how important it is. We'll most likely be taking Australian saddles with replaceable gullets – with luck this will minimise part of the problem inherent in matching horse to saddle, instead of the other way around. It's very easy to stay in these saddles, even when things go bad, quickly! This is particularly important for Doug, who will be leading the pack horse. And, though I know it will horrify purists, we're leaning towards synthetic, rather than leather. It's cheaper, lighter, easy care, doesn't have that awkward “wearing in” period and though it's not as long lasting, we're pretty sure it will make it through 6 months. I've changed my mind a dozen times at least about the most suitable saddle pads for this trip. Because of the nature of fitting horse to saddle noted above, we'll need pads that can really help relieve pressure. They must be easy to keep clean and because they'll be used almost every day for 6 months, they must not carry bacteria and they must be resistant to wear. For the moment, I'm settled on thick wool fleece cloths. You can buy fleece pads in Australia cut specially for stock saddles that have been treated with anti-bacterial agents. While I'm concerned about two things – that they might flatten and become hard and that they may be too warm for hot days – they also have a lot to recommend them. They shouldn't rub or break hairs and they should provide decent cushioning. Wool naturally dries quickly and is pretty easy to clean – that's why sheep wear it ;) They will be comfortable for the horses, breathe well, and wear well. I hope. To be honest, the jury is still out and I'd love to hear more from people in the know. This is a no brainer. Every man and his dog seems to recommend the adjustable steel pack saddles by Canadian company Custom Pack Rigging. The Long Riders Guild is doing a 10 year equipment stress test on one. Apparently you can even fit them on camels if the need arises. We won't be taking anything else. Custom Pack Rigging offer both options with their pack saddles. While the idea of the hard pack boxes, which can be used as camp tables and chairs among other things, appeals to me, my preference is for the soft Duradon panniers which are less likely to do damage to the horse in case of an accident. They are certainly big enough for our requirements, and apparently waterproof. They should be easy to load and attach, since they are made for using with the pack saddles. Another big debate – do we need a harness that includes breaching for the pack horse, or can we make do with a crupper, breastplate and double girth? In most of the pictures I've seen of horses using the modern pack saddles, they are using them with harness. I'd rather make do without, because a harness is heavy, bulky and complicated, but I can certainly see the benefit in security for the packs. I think my decision will come down to the weight of the packs. If we can keep the packs light and well balanced, we probably won't need the harness. I'm also concerned about how a harness might restrict the horse's free movement on difficult trails. I'd love to know what others think on this question. Can we compensate for the lack of a harness with careful packing? Small Panniers for Riding Horses We also need small panniers for lightweight objects like clothes, and things we need close to hand on our riding horses. If possible, it would be good to find ones that can be put over the horses shoulders, rather than behind the saddle. I might be crazy, but I did think that there might be a cheap option here (Ortlieb's waterproof panniers cost nearly $200 a piece). I was actually thinking of using compression dry sacks – like the ones made for kayaking. These are extremely light and waterproof and I'm pretty sure I could rig them to stay flat against the horse's shoulders. They can be compressed to have minimal bulk and best of all – they're marvellously cheap. So cheap that I can buy one and test out my theory without needing to dig deep. I'll let you know if it pans out... Halters, Bridles, Reins, Leads & Pack Ropes Thankfully Australia is blessed with good ropes in abundance. It won't be difficult for us to find marine rope headwear and leads for the horses. Marine rope is light and easy to care for, easily adjustable and hard wearing – perfect for our purposes. We've decided on traditional bridles with bits, despite them not being as good for long horse journeys as hackamores. I never saw a single Kyrgyz use a hackamore, so I'm worried that the horses won't respond well to one, though I'm certainly open to being told I'm wrong! Edit!: I've changed my mind already about this. Having read further on bitless bridles I've decided that there's really no excuse for not being kinder and with a bitless bridle we won't have to worry about damaging the horse's mouth if we do get into trouble. We'll be taking Australian NoBit bridles which use pressure distributed along the side of the face, instead of just over the bridge of the nose. Girths, Breastplates & Cruppers Another one I've been around the mulberry bush on! I'd love to have mohair girths for their strength and comfort for the horses but I'm still looking. We'll definitely get a mohair girth for the pack saddle – we can buy them from Custom Pack Rigging. Likewise with the breastplates (or breast collars, as I've heard them referred to). I've been admiring mohair breast collars. On the other hand, these are only available as a three point design and I can see the benefits in the 5 point leather variety. They might also be too heavy to be practical. All Kyrgyz horses are equipped with breastplates and cruppers. Coming over a pass the drop on the other side can be heinous (I remember a few times looking down slopes I was pretty sure would send me tumbling straight over the horse's head, despite best efforts) and a crupper will be an important piece of equipment. I really want to make the right decision for the horses. And trudging uphill for days on end – a breastplate has to be strong and not rub anywhere. We'll be using endurance stirrups – there are so many good ones on the market. For strapping I wanted to use webbers – reduced bulk and easy adjustment – but I'm not sure about wear. Will webbers really last as long as traditional stirrup leathers? Or will the t-bars break? Are they secure? We'll have to hope they have some at riding school we can try, or find a decent review. For the horses and for us. Available everywhere, handy and light. No question that we need to take these. My number one concern is securing the horses at night. Too many times during our stay in Kyrgyzstan we saw men humbled by hobbled horses. We even saw a hobbled pony outrun a mounted man. Sometimes the sun was already hot by the time the horses had even been found in the morning. We will be taking hobbles. I'd love to be able to hobble instead of tether the horses, or perhaps rotate tethering one and hobbling the others. However, I suspect that unless we're willing to risk losing them, we'll have to curtail their freedom even more :( I found picketing kits available on the internet that include a steel picket with a d-ring on the top and 30 foot ropes with a bull snap on one end and a hobble on the other. These ropes can probably double for all kinds of other purposes during the day. Unfortunately anything other than ground pickets are not suitable for Kyrgyzstan. There are very few trees, so a highline or tree tether would be useless... Doug doesn't want to take rugs. He thinks Kyrgyz horses are used to being cold and they are a waste of space and weight. I totally disagree, and we haven't thought of a compromise yet! I simply won't leave a horse that carries me all day to get cold or wet at night. I think a good rug will help our horses to conserve energy and ward off illness. He thinks they'll take too long to get on and off. I think they'll be useful for throwing over other gear when the horses aren't wearing them. Kyrgyz horses do wear rugs, but they are made from hessian – the only material that is usually available to make them from. I think if we can provide the horses with high quality technological fabrics to keep them warm then we should. I'd like to get them all medium-weight rugs, but I'd also like to hear from experienced long riders on this question – does anyone take rugs, or am I quite mad? Brush, sponge, hoof pick & small medical kit including antibiotic & antibacterial creams & powders. You might be thinking we've left something important off here - horse shoes! Well, you can read more in our logistics section about this.
The Technical SideThe only GPS mapping software we've found that covers Kyrgyzstan is Garmin's World Maps. It even shows the road running from Chatyr Kol to the A370 via Kashka Suu – something no other map we've found has included. You can see most of the road in Google Earth, but its continuation was still debatable until we found the interactive demo online for World Maps. All we need from a GPS is the ability to run World Maps, long battery life and the ability to increase the memory to store more tracks. Garmin has quite a few that meet these requirements. We actually drank unfiltered water from Kyrgyz & Tajik streams many times and showed no ill effects, but that's pretty unwise when you're on an expedition with no access to medical care and any water greebies will make riding very uncomfortable. There are so many different options for water sterilisation, all of which are susceptible to breaking down, slowing down and generally not working. In the end we decided on Steripen, a technology we've used before in Laos. It's a battery powered light pen that effectively kills almost anything that might upset our bodies. It takes about 2 minutes to sterilise a litre of water. All you need is a clear plastic bottle and to swish the activated pen around in the top of it. If it stays working for 6 months it'll be perfect. While riding we'll be wearing Camelbak's military hydration backpacks. They sit flat against the back and carry 2L of water which you can sip via a hose like any hydration pack. Time saving & comfortable. Fuel is quite simply not to be relied upon in Central Asia. We're likely to be cooking with anything from diesel to kerosene, and who knows what the water content of those will be. In Tajikistan our dear drivers, Koban and Momosaduk, would test the fuel they bought by the bucket from roadside vendors by sticking a finger into the bucket and holding it in the air. If the finger didn't get cold, the fuel was probably mostly water. Usually they did this with a cigarette in the other hand. We talked to a very nice man in our local climbing store who had a lot of experience using both the MSR and Primus omnifuel burners. He sold us on the Primus which is extremely lightweight and comes with its own pot. Welcome to the world of one pot noodles, smelling faintly of alcohol... We're also going to take the advice of one Long Rider and take a mug for everything and leave bowls and plates at home – there's no room for luxuries like kitchenware on this adventure! Choosing a tent is tough. Naturally we need something lightweight, but that won't be the primary feature we are looking for. Neither will warmth, durability, or ease of setting up, though we need all of those. What we need is a tent with a small sleeping place and a large vestibule. The vestibule must be large enough to keep dry and invisible ALL of our gear at night. I figure we need at least 2 square metres of space to fit everything in easily at night, along with ourselves. There are no super lightweight tents that include that much space. One option is to buy a small tent with a large accessory annex. After looking longingly at some of the larger, heavier and practically palatial tents, knowing we are choosing our “home” for a whole half year, this is what we decided. If we can both lose the amount of weight equivalent to the difference between a palace and a hovel and keep it off for several months before we need to buy a tent, then we'll take a palace – and I think that's fair ;) Doug already owns a four season sleeping bag from his Tibet wanderings, but I only own a summer version I bought in Thailand. I froze my toes off sleeping in it, even in Libya. I'll be investing in something super cosy. I'm also going to splurge on self-inflating pillows. In Turkey we bought heavenly sleeping mats – self inflating and quite thick and comfortable. Again, not the most lightweight option, but guaranteed to cushion you from hard rocks underneath. After making severe statements about cutting back on equipment, you might think that all of this sounds a bit over the top. I have a philosophy however, that states that all difficulties can be overcome with a decent night's sleep. If there is going to be one area where I will stretch the rules, it's with sleeping gear. You can't imagine how difficult it's going to be to get Doug to trim down the amount of camera gear he likes to take. Ok, he's pretty good by photographer standards, but it's still a lot. The 4 weeks we spent riding in 2008 left him with blue bruises on his chest from the camera swinging out and back. This time we need to find him a solution that's safe for the camera, but keeps it easily accessible. The smartest option seems to be a waist pack, but it will need to minimise bulk to be comfortable to ride in. Camera, video camera, batteries and cards all need to be immediately to hand, or trust me, the boy will cry. Maybe I'll take the video camera and help him out a bit! Digital picture storage & Ultramobile printer We can't take a laptop. Even the tiny, light as air netbooks available these days won't cut it. They are too light on storage, too heavy on power use and too inconvenient. We'll be able to email and access other basic applications on the satellite phone. What we do need is a minimum 500gb storage for Doug's photos. We need a photo storage device that uses little battery power, downloads directly from the camera and confirms that the photos have been copied. The ability to view them is not particularly necessary. Enter the Nexto DI 500GB. It has a built-in card reader or can be used with a USB cable. It takes only 40 seconds to read 1GB from a memory card to the internal HDD. It weighs only 230grams including the HDD. They are reportedly very durable and have a battery life of 80GB (transfer). We've also decided to pack an ultramobile Zink (zero ink) printer. Last time it was heartbreaking to have whole families (3-4 generations) line up outside their yurts to have us take their photos, only to have to explain that there was no way to give them a copy on the spot. Dell and Polaroid both make comparable versions. They take forever to print a tiny (2” x 3”) photo, and you must take all the special paper you'll need with you, but it will be worth it to see the smiles on people's faces. The greatest loss we've suffered while travelling was the theft of our Olympus voice recorder in Vietnam. We recorded all our notes in it, as well as useful conversations (like getting directions) and speeches by guides. Better than a diary! Fits in a pocket! We'll be replacing this before we leave. I really want a Swiss Army travel alarm. It uses a watch battery, so it won't need to be charged. It's small enough to slip in a slim pocket. Apparently you can run over it with a truck and it will still work. It'll probably need to be that tough if Doug wants a sleep in! We'll be getting our own map printing done. The maps we've downloaded are superior to those we found in the dedicated map shop in Bishkek, for our purposes at least. We're still not sure of the best way to carry them – laminated maps are too bulky, but they obviously need to be protected from rain and wear. I read that map cases are usually useless and tend to crack. Any advice would be appreciated. We'll also be buying a Kyrgyz dictionary to take with us – the one thing I really wouldn't leave at home. Communication is most important. Flexible Portable Solar & Battery This is where I get a little out of my depth. I know we need a solution that is light enough that we can strap it on top of the pack saddle during the day. I know we need to store power so we can use it later. I've read enough to know approximately how much power we'll need to generate to charge the batteries for the satellite phone, portable photo storage, printer, head torches & GPS. I think a flexible weatherproof panel like this Sunlinq one: http://www.siliconsolar.com/sunlinq-foldable-solar-chargers-12w-p-16364.html will do the trick, along with one of their lead acid batteries. The panel is only 66cm x 40cm, about 350grams and weather resistant. The battery weighs about 800grams. We may need something more along the lines of their 20 or 25 watt versions, but the idea is the same. Satellite Phone & Network Access It's clear that the best option for a satellite phone network in Central Asia is Thuraya. We'll be buying a small handset like the Thuraya XT, which will allow us to email reports home as well as make emergency calls. You can also buy handy prepaid SIMs for them, which you can top up over the phone. They have 3 satellites that all cover Kyrgyzstan.
Clothes & FootwearWe're going to stay very basic here. Two pairs of jodhpurs each, two silk shirts (for hot or cold weather), silk socks for comfort and breathability and riding gloves. Doug already has wind/water proof gear that he can wear, but I'll need a body warmer and jacket. Two waterproof hats are essential, and I'll be taking my usual headscarves, which are both polite and helpful for making sure my hair stays off my face. We agonised over the benefits of tall boots – because you can wear the waterproof variety in shallow streams without getting wet feet or legs, but decided on all-terrain ankle boots for walking and riding with half chaps. I'm not a morning person, so I'll be taking slip-on sheepskin slippers for early “bathroom” breaks. We'll also take silk pyjamas & underwear – again, a good sleep fixes everything ;) Silk is the perfect fabric – great in all temperatures, lightweight, easy wash and quick dry.
Essential ExtrasA small compass & sewing kit, toothbrush, deodorant & hairbrush. Forks, spoons & knives. Binoculars, chargers, soap and a couple of plastic containers for food. Our medical kit, which we've taken everywhere and never needed – may it always be so!
Other ExpensesGetting to Kyrgyzstan isn't generally easy. Or cheap. At first we thought we'd need to go through Tashkent, Uzbekistan or perhaps fly Turkish or British airways – both overly expensive and overrated, as well as a long way out of our way – a minimum of 3 flights too. Imagine our joy when we found out Etihad flies from our home city of Melbourne to Almaty, Kazakhstan – a short train or bus ride from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, right from Melbourne via Abu Dhabi. We'll be in Bishkek just 24 hours after leaving home – not bad at all for such incredible distances. Best of all, Etihad offers this flight for only just over $1800 return (at least, they do this year). They also offer special rates on carriage of sports equipment – and we hope our tack will qualify! They are a five star airline, certainly the only one carrying people from Australia all the way to Central Asia ;) We've always gotten our insurance through One Cover, and see no reason to change this time. The cover is excellent (it doesn't exclude horse riding and it does include medical evacuation) and it's cheap. They offer great longer term plans. This year we bought a 12 month frequent traveller plan that covered all our trips and still cost less than covering them individually – for just the amount of time we were travelling. These will be expensive. We only have 2 options for obtaining them – through the Kyrgyz embassies in America or Britain (we are supposed to obtain them through the Russian embassy, but that would be close to impossible). 6 month multiple-entry visas will cost a minimum of $300USD each. We'll also need to find a travel agent in Bishkek who can help us obtain the necessary letter of permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyrgyzstan and invitations from a suitable Kyrgyz person – which will probably be a lengthy and involved process. We'll also need Tajik visas, but those are easily picked up in Bishkek at the start of our trip, or we can get them before we leave. The cost of the Kyrgyz visas could grow depending on the level of difficulty we encounter during the process. There's really no choice except to fork out the cash, be patient, determined and persistent. We'll be hiring translators to put together some documents for us (apparently called a “firmin” - thanks to Basha O'Reilly for this information) that explain who we are and what we are doing in Kyrgyzstan, so that we can remove the language barrier where important facts are concerned. Beyond this, we'll need the help of the Ecotrek cooperative in Karakol to purchase the horses and get us started on our way. We may also hire guides along more difficult sections of the route, hopefully not for more than a few days at a time – in particular for the “Impossible” pass and on the way to Saimaluu Tash.
How much will it cost all together?We've done the calculations over and over, and our somewhat padded budget for this trip, (including everything on this list, expenses over the 6 months and enough to get home with breathing room) is about $30,000 AUD. That might sound like a lot, but it's really no more than it costs us to live well in Melbourne for half a year. On the other hand, we won't be working for that 6 months, unless we can find a publication who would like us to email blog or write a column for them and we need to put the money aside quite a ways in advance. With that in mind, we are looking for help wherever we can find it, particularly with the items on this equipment list. If you have second-hand gear to donate or you can sponsor us, please contact us, we'll be eternally grateful. All said, it's going to be a heads-down year for us. Every spare cent will need to go into gathering the items aforementioned and we'll need to earn a few extra cents as well, if we can. And that doesn't make it even a bit less exciting :) 
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| Last Updated on Sunday, 07 February 2010 |
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Our 2011 Kyrgyz Horse Expedition - 6 months, three seasons, two and a half thousand kilometres on horseback through the mountains of Central Asia. Agony & ecstasy guaranteed.