N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7 4 3 (Continued on page 95) the scattered local herders. “I remember sit- ting in a herder’s hut and crying to an old Mongolian woman. She didn’t speak a word of English, but she sat there and listened to me, comforted me,” Herbert says. H erbert joined a field of 40 experi- enced riders whittled down from hundreds of applicants. Armed with GPS systems, they were released into the Mongolian wilderness to forge a path along the network of support systems that stretched across a swathe of virtually unin- habited land. “Someone told me that only one percent of Mongolia is inhabited,” Her- “I quit college and the competition circuit and moved out to Wyoming. I guess you could call it my quarter- life crisis.” lished by Genghis Khan in 1224. Riders tra- verse over 600 miles of vast, uninhabited steppes, mountains, rivers, and forests. The Mongolian mounts they ride are quite dif- ferent from the thoroughbred jumpers that Herbert trained and rode in competition at home. “They’re semi-wild. Nine times out of ten, your horse would have a bucking fit as soon as you put the saddle on its back. Then you have to endure another round of bucking once you mount.” Like Khan’s postal messengers of the 13th century, rid- ers change horses every 25 miles, camping out under the stars at night or staying with "My experience in Mongolia continues to inspire my art," Herbert says.Pictured: Monglia,Opus III.