Between the Ears Expeditions

11/10/2024

Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬 Hard to sum up in photos and words but we’ll try! We started in Bishkek with its distinct Soviet influence and navigated the local bazaar’s labyrinth of dried fruits, honey, dried balls of sour milk (kurut), horse gear, and military-grade outdoor wear.

Then we travelled south, almost to the border with China, to help a local family with their seasonal livestock move. We rode below snow-capped peaks to a turquoise alpine lake ringed by sheer rock walls, sipped whiskey and tea on our breaks to fend off the chill, and dined each night with the shepherd’s family on thick rugs laid out on the ground with a lavish spread of candies, breads, and fruits to accompany the meal.

We explored some of the country’s best known lakes, slept as a group in yurts where we could hear the horses meandering by in the night and calling for their friends, and witnessed rich traditions of the Transhumance, eagle hunting, saddle-making, and horsehair rope braiding.

It’s not often a trip feels so completely immersive, pushing us to the next level of connection with the land, the culture, and each other. This is an experience for those with a thirst for authenticity, who shrug and grin when the plan changes (it will), and who can smile while riding beneath a pristine night sky and pushing sheep into the dark abyss of the night after 9 hours of riding.

Dates for spring 2025 coming soon! Follow along here or DM us your email to be added to our mailing list!

16/07/2024

Spend six days riding across the sweeping mountain landscapes of Patagonia, fall asleep under the stars next to your Criollo horse grazing, and completely immerse yourself in local Argentine culture.

There are only three spots left to join us for a pack trip in Patagonia in 2025, January 20-27th. DM or visit our website for more information and to snag your spot!

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10/07/2024

Only two spots left to join us in Kyrgyzstan Sept 27 - Oct 8! This is an exciting opportunity to join one of our scouting rides, best for those ready to jump in with both feet to the experience.

We’ll stop at ancient cultural sites and remote yurts on our drive to the south, before spending 5 days riding with local shepherds and their livestock through rugged mountains and vast valleys. This experience gives a snapshot of Kyrgyz society, a blend of nomadic and post-Soviet culture, and the remote, wild beauty of the country.

DM for more info!

21/06/2024

Only two spots left to ride with us during our 2025 Argentina season!

Join us January 20-27, 2025 for a weeklong pack trip. Riding alongside gauchos who live and breathe the land, we cross through remote mountains, cool off in clear rivers, and eat together around a fire each night.

DM or click the link in bio for more info ✨

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21/05/2024

Magical moonlit nights at camp in Patagonia

We have just a few spots left on our January 20-27, 2025 ride in Argentina. DM or click the link bio for more info ✨

09/05/2024

Kyrgyzstan ~ join us in September for a unique opportunity to ride with Kyrgyz shepherds bringing their livestock and yurts down from summer grazing.

Kyrgyzstan’s long history of nomadic cultures continues to this day, with families moving their livestock and yurts between alpine pastures in summer and lower valleys in winter. The Transhumance is an annual event, usually only done by locals, that covers 100 km over three days riding through vast valleys and towering mountains. On this scouting ride, we’ll stay in yurts with local families and camp with shepherds along the way, sharing a piece of their daily life.

The five days traveling between the capital city, Bishkek, and the riding site near Kel Suu Lake include stops at ancient ruins, museums, and historic sites along the Silk Road, as well as exploring on foot!

* 12 days (Sept 27 - Oct 8, 2024)
* Ride up to mountains passes at 11,100 ft, through vast valleys, and alongside towering mountains while accompanied by local shepherds and guides
* Visit ruins from the 11th century and stops along the ancient Silk Road
* Stay in local guesthouses, yurts hosted by local families, and tents while moving livestock

This is a trip for gritty adventurers who are happy in demanding situations, open-minded, and flexible. The riding is not fast but days are long and weather unpredictable at altitudes up to 11,100 ft. Expect snow, wind, and the unknown! There is an option for non-riders. Come with an expedition mindset and curiosity for Kyrgyz culture and you won’t be disappointed!

DM or link in bio for more info!

29/04/2024

NEW RIDE — join us for a scouting ride in Kyrgyzstan this September! The trip includes five days riding with Kyrgyz shepherds to prepare and bring their livestock down from high summer pasture near Kel Suu Lake. It’s rare to participate in this annual event, usually done only by locals, and lets you experience the way of life of these remote shepherds.

Stay in family yurts, camp while moving livestock, and spend up to 8 hours a day in the saddle. We’ll ride up to 11,100 ft elevation. It might be sunny, it might snow and hail, and you will feel the rawness and beauty of the land. This is immersive, gritty, and requires the type of traveler who leans in to new and demanding experiences.

In addition to riding, we’ll spend five days traveling between Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, and the riding site in the south near the border with China. From hiking through narrow canyons to exploring remote valleys, touring ruins from an 11th century empire, and stopping along the ancient Silk Road, the non-riding tour days give a multi-dimensional look at Kyrgyzstan as a whole.

As always, this trip is about horses in the context of culture. Horses play a vital role in Kyrgyz culture — as a mode of transport, a source of milk and meat, and part of the national sport Kok-boru. This 12 day tour will let you come to know something more of Kyrgyzstan — historically, culturally, and personally through shared experiences with the local shepherds and their families.

- 12 days (Sept 27 - Oct 8, 2024)
- Help shepherds bring their livestock down to winter pasture
- Ride tough and agile Kyrgyz ponies
- Witness the country’s stunning snow-capped peaks, vast valleys, and striking blue lakes
- 5 days riding, 5 days traveling through the country with cultural and hiking stops along the way, arrival and departure day in Bishkek
- Riding level: comfortable spending up to 8 hours/day in remote wilderness. The overall pace is slow with a few opportunities for faster riding. (Note: there is a non-riding option for guests who want to accompany the vehicle moving gear)
- Accommodation in local hotels, guesthouses, yurts, and tents (all shared)
- $2,490

DM or link in bio for more information!

15/04/2024

“Experiencing Patagonia between the ears of beautiful criollo horses, while accompanied by a wonderful group of people from all over the States, led by knowledgeable gauchos and created and planned by Amelia and Lauren — it was a trip like no other!

It was great from the first evening enjoying a dinner of asados in Bariloche with everyone around the table laughing and sharing stories to the last day of loping down the dusty trail with smiles and dust covered faces. Each day of the ride brings something new — riding from lush valleys to mountain forests, enjoying waterfalls and cold plunging in alpine lakes, traversing mountain trails and walking through clear, beautiful streams, to quiet riverside campsites sleeping under the stars and nights cozied up under down blankets in yurts.

Evenings are spent around the fire together, enjoying an open flame cooked meal. Maté is passed around and laughter fills the summer air. There is a deep appreciation shared between the group for this beautiful place and an awe of its horses.

The gauchos share their culture and knowledge openly and every day spent traveling over the 100 miles on the back of a criollo horse will have you falling in love with them even more. Lauren and Amelia have created a space and experience for adventure seekers and horse lovers to come enjoy the beauty and wonder of Patagonia by horseback.”

Lovely feedback from — January 2024

Only a few spots left to ride with us in Argentina in 2025. Link in bio!

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10/04/2024

Ride with us in Argentina // Northern Patagonia 🐎

We’ve got only a few spots left to join our pack trips in January and February 2025. Riding with local gauchos as our guides, we spend six days climbing up to mountain ridge lines and lagoons, down sweeping valleys, and alongside the rushing Chubut River. Each day starts and ends around a fire with horses grazing and dogs napping nearby. The mountains are home to the gauchos who have stewarded the land for generations. It’s a privilege to step into this way of life and understand the land with the people who know it best, and in the way that they too love best — from the back of a horse.

📍Argentina 2025
January 6 - 13
January 20 - 27
Jan 31 - Feb 7

DM or click the link in bio for more info!

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28/03/2024

Our first afternoon riding across rolling, grassy steppe, we stopped for lunch at a small farmhouse. The horses of that property idled around the coral and Dominik, our lead guide, looked closer. His favorite mare, Chispita, was there, along with her yearling. He’d last seen her over a year ago, when she was pregnant and turned out to graze in the mountains.

It’s typical here. Rather than rotating pastures and maintaining miles of fence, horses are turned out in the mountain, some sections extending thousands of acres, and gathered when they’re needed. Occasionally a horse goes missing for a few days, weeks, or even months, merged with a neighbor’s herd.

With only four days riding between us and Dominik’s farm, we caught Chispita, cut her bushy-tailed, prancing yearling from the rest of the herd, and carried on. They climbed mountains with us, crossed rivers, and the yearling riled everyone up, following loose and sassily pinning his baby ears and dashing in front of any horse that stood to come between him and his mom.

Once we reached the farm, Miguel trimmed the yearling’s mane, leaving one tuft sticking up. It’s a little sign to other gauchos that this horse has been lightly handled and haltered but is not yet fully halter-broke.

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21/03/2024

Miguel is one of the gauchos we ride with in Argentina. During the winter he braids rawhide, crafting many of the halters, bridles, reins, and lariats we use on trail.

Link in bio to ride with us in Argentina in 2025 🐎

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11/03/2024

The asado is much more than meat slow-roasted over wood fire.

Where we ride, the asado comes from sheep born and tended to in the mountains. The gauchos ride their horses through the snow all winter to clear new grazing paths and each night they call the sheep in from the hillsides to sleep out of reach of pumas.

After the meat is prepared, they eat it down to the last shreds that cling to the ribs, and the bones go to the dogs. Smoked beneath the mountain sky, the asado is part of the cycle of this land.

📸 .ke_w.lks &

07/03/2024

Book now to join our pack trips through the wilderness of northern Patagonia. Link in bio 🐎

Riding alongside gauchos, explore rolling hills, mountain lagoons, and lenga forests atop mountain-bred criollo and criollo cross horses. Fall asleep beneath some of the brightest stars you’ll ever see and taste Argentine wine and asado around a fire. This way of life, deep in the mountains where the gauchos have followed their livestock for generations, is deeply tied to the land. Much more than just a ride, this trip is about sharing culture and connection.

📍Argentina 2025
January 6 - 13
January 20 - 27
Jan 31 - Feb 7

DM or click the link in bio for more info!

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04/03/2024

“We’re only two days in, and already I feel like these precious moments are slipping by too quickly — swimming in icy rivers, eating around the campfire morning and night, the smell of wood smoke, maté, ci******es, horses, boiling coffee, and lamb roasting.

The fire crackles at camp and we circle around it in the growing dark in soft camp shoes and thick sweaters talking, laughing, listening to translated conversations and watching the flames and the first stars come out. We shuffle off to our bedrolls with the quiet nighttime sounds of horses grazing and the dogs curled up and breathing softly.

There’s something magic about traveling slowly on horseback that creates a rare intimacy between people, animals, and the land. I wish I could stop time and hold onto this feeling forever.”

Argentina, January 2024
Field notes by .kai

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22/02/2024

Miguel and Campero on trail. Captured by .ke_w.lks

Argentina, January 2024

31/01/2024

New dates for our Alto Chubut pack trips in 2025!

📍Northern Patagonia, Argentina

Dates:
January 6-13, 2025
January 20-27, 2025
Jan 31 - Feb 7, 2025

Link in bio for full itinerary!

19/01/2024

Exactly one year ago we crossed these mountains on our own long distance horse trek. What a gift to be back sharing these trails and horses with others.

11/10/2023

www.between-the-ears.com/blog-2/3-mindset-tips-to-make-the-most-of-your-pack-trip

3 mindset tips to make the most of your pack trip