Modern Pilgrimages: A Conversation with Kate Pilcher of Globetrotting on the pleasures of world-wide adventures on horseback. People of the middle ages would embark on a pilgrimage for many reasons… some spiritual… some more commonplace, looking for a kind of medieval holiday, often in company with their horse. But such an association with the horse on grand adventures is not just a characteristic of the medieval age. It is also very much alive today.