Chinese Equine Odyssey (“An extended adventurous voyage or trip concerning horses”)
“Quite simply ten or twenty years ago this trip would not have been imaginable. China wasn’t open for business and I was up to my eyes raising my family.” Megan Lewis has a beautifully understated way of delivering home truths which is both stark and endearing at the same time. “What I want to do is see China through the ears of the horse – horseback is such a good way to find out what a place is really like” “ In my mind I’ve wanted to do a long horse ride since I was a child”
Megan and I were chatting in our kitchen. Before us we had a large World atlas that my Father had left to me. It is a big thing – A2 sized for those technically minded – and each page covers a significant area. So far we had moved over 5 or 6 of the sheets and we were still in China and I was still hearing of names I’ve never heard of before. In the general scheme of things China is BIG geographically, culturally and every other which way. Megan seemed to have the hang of it – in her mind you get the sense she has already travelled over every mile already many many times before. She seems knowing of what to expect – what surprises might be in store both for her and her equine entourage, what pitfalls exist, what terrain to see, what climate to encounter – she seems totally calm about the whole thing it has to be said.
Megan’s Odyssey is to travel by horseback from Beijing to London – arriving in London just in time for the 2012 Olympics. It is a distance of 10,000 miles. She started by the sea in China at the start of the Great Wall in autumn last year. She and her team start the third phase in two weeks time.
Normally in this type of article I would now list the provinces and countries that Megan will visit along her way. List them rather as a proud stamp collector might show off an impressive collection but I’m not going to do that (partly because they are names I’ve rarely heard said before) partly because somehow they don’t seem important in this instance.
You see Megan is an adventurer – a female Dr Livingstone and don’t presume either. She lives and breathes travel and this trip is an extension of this deep seated side of her persona. While the goal is London the challenge is China. China this massive country about which we (“The West”) know so little. Who are the people who live in it? What are their values? What are the horses like? How are they treated? How does this culture all fit together? In this scenario the mere names of the places she visits along the way seem well “insignificant” compared to an understanding of how many native breeds of horse there are along her route – What are their temperaments? Shoe or no shoes or recycled rubber tyres? How will the saddles fit? How do you cross the Gobi desert and keep your horses fed?
This is a trip of epic proportions and I’ve been truly impressed at the amount of preparation Megan has put into this. I’m really looking forward to reading of Megan’s adventures as this journey unfolds.( read all about it here on Trot on TV through her group) I’m really looking forward to learning more about China and her people and horses. Most of all I’m looking forward to learning more about these places with unpronounceable names!
Good luck Megan from all of us at Trot on TV!
