For these four women, life as equestrian nomads means home is wherever the horse trailer is parked.
Picture packing your belongings, loading up your horses, and hitting the road permanently—with the freedom to travel and ride whenever, wherever, and for however long you want.
The dream and romance of living on the open road has long had a pull on the imagination, but nowadays such a complete change of lifestyle isn’t so simple. But for various reasons and at varying stages of life, some horse people have sold their homes, loaded up their four-legged friends, and never looked back.
Different challenges confront the modern equestrian nomad, and the successful long-term travelers have learned to confidently cope and adapt along the way to enjoy a rich, simple life and rewarding existence with their horses.
“It takes a special type of personality to become comfortable with this kind of uncertainty,” one nomad says. “You have to roll with the punches, be flexible. But it’s worth all of it.”
From Stress to Success
Having raised her kids in Oregon and worked in a high-stress real estate job for 42 years, Covid was the final straw that booted Dannie Walker onto the road.
“I’d already been going through job burnout, and then Covid hit,” she says. “And I thought, I’m either going to die of a heart attack behind a desk, or I’m going to die facing my fears. So I said, I’m going for it. I’m going to live my dreams.” Now 66, Walker has been on the road since 2022 with (currently) two horses and four dogs.
Job burnout prompted Dannie Walker to hit the road with her two horses and four dogs. Photo by Dannie Walker
Walker used to carefully plan her destinations for the seasons, but now she’s comfortable simply going where she wants to go, either alone or by meeting up with horse friends. She studies maps in the evenings and contacts forestry departments in the area.
Most of the time, she “boondocks,” aka camping off the grid. Walker is confident and competent being out in the middle of nowhere as long as she has access to water for her animals. She uses a vital water filtration system, cooks outdoors on her Weber propane grill, and enjoys French press coffee every morning from her trailer stovetop.
Dannie Walker loves riding and enjoying the outdoors, staying active, and bonding with her horses. Photo by Dannie Walker
“I went through a huge identity crisis,” she recalls. “Went through depression. My family thought I was nuts. But I love to ride. It’s healthy for me to stay outside and stay active. I love the bond that I get with my horses. I love that it allows me to come back to me. I don’t get to see my grandkids as much, but I live a blessed life. I live in abundance. I have everything that I could ever possibly want.”
Freedom Overload
Originally from Germany, Elaine Sherer, now 56, originally started traveling with her husband and horses in 2022 after retiring and selling everything. Eight months later they split up, but after overcoming the shock, Sherer couldn’t stop wandering. She and her best companion Chuck, an unregistered Tennessee Walking Horse, have visited all but the Northeast region of America so far.
“The more I kept going and the more I met people, the easier it got. And I realized that it’s just where I’m happiest,” Sherer says. “I always was an extrovert, so my travels have become much richer and more fun. I love meeting different people and seeing how they live their lives. Sometimes I just tag along on a day in the life of someone I meet. I get to have very deep personal talks with people, and it has been so rewarding.”
Sherer is an extrovert who loves meeting different people and seeing how they live their lives. (Shown here on Mackinac Island, Mich.) Photo courtesy Elaine Sherer
Chuck has become a dependable trail horse.
“He’s not afraid of anything anymore,” she says. “And even if he is, he trusts me. I call him ‘the ordinary horse doing extraordinary things.’ He has a heart of gold, and he will do anything and adjust to any situation.”
Elaine Sherer and her best pal Chuck, an unregistered Tennessee Walker, have traveled all over the U.S. (Shown at the Washington Monument in D.C.) Photo courtesy Elaine Sherer
Hearing about an intriguing place and eyeing the weather conditions helps Sherer determine where to go. She is opportunistic about her camping, whether a fancy campground or boondocking, and she uses solar power and a backup generator. Having Starlink for high-speed internet has become indispensable.
Sherer is considering offering coaching for others who want to travel solo with horses, as well as getting back to her real estate profession. She’s made valuable connections while traveling, but she isn’t ready to settle anywhere for longer than a few months.
“The best part of my lifestyle is absolute freedom overload,” she smiles. “I figure whenever I have the desire to settle back down, that’s the time to live that life. I don’t have that just yet.”
Following Your Passions
It’s a big enough decision to sell everything and become a nomad with your horses, but to do it with a child takes a leap of faith that you’ve made the right decision. Michelle Murphy and her daughter Scout, now 17, started traveling with their animals when Scout was just 8. The quest for improved mental health, in addition to the fact that Scout had already traveled with her mom around the world since age 6, made it an easier choice.
Michelle Murphy has been on the road with her 17-year-old daughter, Scout, since she was 8. Scout has enjoyed experiential learning throughout their travels. Photo courtesy Michelle Murphy
“I knew how happy traveling made us,” Michelle says. “And my background is in search and rescue, so I’m comfortable being somewhere [new] and finding my way. Doing it in the U.S. seemed like it wasn’t really going to be that hard.”
Another motivating reason was to help Scout recover from a severe riding accident.
“It caused me to be nervous,” says Scout. “We bought Joker because I needed a horse that was going to be really solid.”
After planning for a year and taking a six-week trial run to test out their rig setup, the duo pulled onto the road with their four horses (they now travel with three) and three dogs to see America on horseback. Not unexpectedly, Scout regained her riding confidence and became extremely competent, riding thousands of miles around the country.
Michelle has traveled the world and has a background in search and rescue, giving her an adventurous spirit. Scout is now living her dream of becoming a Mustang trainer. Photo courtesy Michelle Murphy
While most children spend much of their formative years in classrooms, Scout’s education was “unschooling,” a form of opportunistic, organic experiential learning in the great outdoors while on horseback.
The Murphys cite examples of spending a week in Monument Valley with a Navajo guide, learning the Navajo culture; studying the history of the Centennial Trail in South Dakota; experiencing ranching and Native American life in Texas; and learning about old logging history in Wyoming and early European-American history in Tennessee.
“It also allows Scout to follow her passions, instead of someone else’s idea of what kids should be doing,” Michelle says.
Scout’s long-time dream, ever since Michelle took her to a Mustang Makeover at age 8, was to gentle Mustangs. Serendipitously, in 2021, Hannah Catalino contacted the Murphys for traveling advice. When she heard about Scout’s passion, she offered to mentor Scout in the art of gentling Mustangs at liberty.
After a very intensive program, Scout combined those techniques with her mom’s mentoring as a 40-year horse trainer to develop her own method of gentling and training Mustangs by herself. The invaluable and unique exposure Scout’s Mustangs get as trail horses in every kind of situation with the Murphys makes them near-bombproof. Scout has gentled, trained, and placed five Mustangs with the right people in their forever homes.
Additionally, Scout is a published author, commissioned artist, guide, and barefoot trimmer, and she can figure out how to approach and solve any problem that comes their way. All are the direct result of this nomadic equine lifestyle that the Murphys have lived for eight years.
Rig Setup
Finding the rig that suits you perfectly develops over time. Walker has opted for a 35-foot three-horse living quarters trailer with a slide out, pulled by a 2023 Dodge Ram 2500 short-bed.
Sherer has a horse box that’s on her truck, like most equestrians drive in Europe. Behind that, she pulls a 40-foot travel trailer that she lives in.
Michelle and Scout Murphy have a truck, a cabover camper with four slides, and a four-horse bumper pull.
Elaine Sherer’s rig can be a challenge to maneuver and fuel up at all but large truck stop gas stations. Photo courtesy Elaine Sherer
Equestrian Nomad Life: Just Do It
Equine nomads acknowledge there can be detriments to traveling full time with their horses—truck breakdowns, living without running water, washing clothes in buckets, using composting toilets—but those are relatively simple problems to have and work out, and are outweighed greatly by the benefits of complete independence.
Finding a farrier, veterinarian, mechanic, or a supply of hay is often a simple matter of asking the network of people they’ve met for recommendations. Sherer uses camping apps to find water sources.
“In all of these years, any time we’ve had that kind of trouble, somehow we’ve always been exactly where we needed to be, and the right person was there to help us,” Michelle says.
While full-time roaming with your horses is not for everyone, these travelers encourage you to try.
“Don’t overthink it,” Sherer says. “Just get out there and do it. There are Walmarts everywhere if you forget something.”
Michelle agrees.
“My advice is, do what you can with what you have where you are. That means don’t wait until you’ve learned it all—just go do it, because you’ll never learn it all. We’re always learning. And when we first started, our comfort zone was much less adventurous than it is now.”
This article about equestrian nomads appeared in the September/October 2025 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!
