Long Rider Glasscock Visits Nevada

Gene Glasscock, 70, of the Long Riders Guild reached one of his goals on Monday, November 29, 2004. He visited the Nevada Capitol in Carson City. There he received a proclamation signed by Nevada Governor Kenny C. Guinn. With Reno CBS channel KTVN filming, Glasscock stood with one of his two trained wild horses, Tosi, as the proclamation was read by Steve Robinson, natural resources advisor to the Governor.                    

The proclamation notes that Glasscock made his way through Nevada with "two, wild American mustangs...as he completes the rugged, western portion of his journey across the United States." Glasscock entered Nevada near McDermitt, having visited the capitol of Boise in Idaho. He spent a couple of days in Winnemucca, prior to setting off to Lovelock. Then, he and some supportive Nevada riders crossed the 40-Mile Desert and arrived in the Fallon area. Off to Silver Springs and Stagecoach where he stopped for Thanksgiving dinner. On Saturday, November 27, Glasscock ran into snow in northern Nevada, from six inches to a foot of snow, depending on where one was.

He and his animals stopped outside of Carson City on November 28, then made the trip into Carson City to visit the Capitol – number 36 for Glasscock. After an evening in Genoa, the oldest settlement in Nevada, Glasscock began the climb which will take him by Lake Tahoe and Echo Summit on his way to Sacramento, California. Glasscock and his two adopted wild horses were joined on much of the Nevada journey by several horsemen, including some members of the local Backcountry Horsemen and the Least Resistance Training Concepts group. Glasscock intends to travel 20,253 miles and visit 48 capitols as he recreates an historic trip.

Glasscock is visiting each state capitol in the lower 48 states by horseback to gain support for The Philips Fund, a scholarship fund that provides under-privileged young adults from Paraguay the chance to attend college in Florida. He is accompanied on his 20,000 mile journey riding Tosi and Buddy, two gentled wild horses.

In the 1980s, Glasscock became the only person known to have traveled from the Arctic Circle to the Equator on horseback. In September 2002, the Texas-born equestrian traveler set out again – this time to recreate the Overland Westerners' amazing equestrian journey that was conducted from 1912 to 1915. Today, at age 70, Glasscock is the oldest person known to make a journey of this magnitude.