Mongolia by Horseback: Traveling with Genghis Khan's Descendants

For much of the year, Mongolia covers up under a thick layer of snow and ice, lacerated by glacial winds that make its frigid expanses as uninviting to potential visitors as they are punishing for the thousands of nomads who call the country's wilderness their home.

But for a few months each summer, that freezing grip disappears long enough for the warm, green bustle of life to return to the enormous steppes, sweeping hills and rushing streams of Mongolia's sub-Siberian outback.

It's during this brief period that outsiders can seize the opportunity to strike out into the far reaches of Mongolia's pristine heartland. Once there, they will experience the kindness and unhesitating hospitality of its nomadic inhabitants and partake in the centuries-old, equestrian-based culture that the nation's traveling horse breeders embody and honor as part of their daily activities. Our group of 10 riders did just that for two weeks in August, when we swapped our modern French routines for full immersion into the lives and passions of our Mongolian hosts....