Yakutia is the northernmost and coldest part of Russia. The air temperature in winter reaches – 60C. At this temperature, most animals are unable to survive. Therefore, the population of this region with animals is not large. The first settlers and pioneers of this region were the Yakuts. Since most of the year in Yakutia is covered with snow, farming is difficult. Therefore, the leading industry was cattle breeding. But where did the Yakuts get such horses so that they could live in such an area and withstand such temperatures? Historians assume that the first settlers who came from the Baikal region brought with them horses that lived in the middle steppe. But in the conditions of the middle steppe, the horses got enough food for themselves to survive, but further north, the conditions were more severe, and the horses could not get enough food, and many horses died. Therefore, the Yakuts introduced an innovation; at that time, they began to feed their horses with hay. Thanks to this, animals were able to quickly gain a fat layer, which provides thermal insulation properties.
But there is a second assumption about the appearance of Yakut horses. In 1878, a Chersky researcher found the remains of a large white wild tundra horse on the Yana River. This type of horse is believed to have existed during the time of the mammoths. After this, the assumption arose that the first settlers who arrived from the south crossed their own and wild horses. The result was a species of horse capable of adapting to these living conditions. Also, when adapting to the conditions of the North, the hair coat of horses changed, so the hair of adults reaches 10 centimeters.
Features of Yakut horses
Horses of this breed have unique characteristics. A horse can easily tolerate large changes in temperature, since in summer the temperature reaches +40C, and in winter the thermometer readings drop to 60 degrees below zero. Horses are also not afraid of insects, such as gadflies, mosquitoes or midges. These insects in this area are dark in the summer.
If in the summer herds of horses calmly graze on young green grass, then in winter it is problematic to get food. Horses have to rake a thick layer of snow with their hoofs and look for remnants of grass underneath.
Yakut horses have great endurance. On average, the working capacity of one horse is 20-25 years. But even after this period has expired, the horse is able to work under light loads. Another great feature of this species is their small stature. The height at the withers of an adult is 135-140 centimeters. But even with such a small stature, the horse is capable of doing hard work. Horses have a wide build and at the same time have quite heavy weight 400-450 kilograms.
To survive the winter, many changes occur in the horse's body. The most important thing in winter is energy. Therefore, in horses, in winter, energy consumption for work is clearly reduced. internal organs. Thickening of the skin is also observed. The thick fat layer in the subcutaneous tissue is being adjusted. Lengthening and thickening the hair of the coat.
The color of the horses is mainly gray. But there are also individuals with an agouti-type color, when only the top coat is colored. But the color of the horse changes. So very early time the coat turns gray and it happens that at the age of 3-4 years, the horse is completely white.
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Horse breeding in Yakutia
Horse breeding in Yakutia is the most important industry for the Yakuts. For the Yakuts, horses are, first of all, a source of meat and milk. Since in these habitat conditions it is difficult to grow other types of household species. Horse meat is highly valued and considered a great delicacy. Residents use the milk of Yakut horses to make a national drink, kumys, which has highly nutritious properties.
The skin is used for tailoring warm clothes. In sewing hats, collars, shoes. After all, the skin has good thermal insulation and water resistance, which is very important in northern conditions.
In agriculture, horses are used for cargo transportation, haymaking, horseback riding and other types of work. There is no need for large investments in caring for horses. Since horses spend all their time outdoors. And when a foal is born, it is not brought into a warm stable, but left in the cold. Since a newborn must get used to cold conditions from the first minutes of life, otherwise it may have a bad effect on his health, even being unable to survive in extreme cold. But even today the Yakut horse is not one hundred percent domestic, since more They spend their lives on pastures, and do not need a roof over their heads or the warmth of stables. But in given time Unfortunately, the number of individuals decreases every year. And Yakut horse breeding is disappearing as a craft.
In the agriculture of Yakutia, the main territory of which is taiga, which turns into tundra and forest-tundra, horse breeding occupies one of the first places. The Yakut horse is perfectly adapted to local conditions and was largely formed due to the harsh climate.
Origin
The Yakut horse breed received official status quite late, only in 1987. By origin, it is considered aboriginal, bred through folk selection.
The physical and external characteristics of Yakut horses were largely influenced by the harsh climate, which involves long, cold (up to –60°C) winters and short, rapid summers (with temperature changes up to +40°C). Taking into account that breeding and keeping animals in local conditions has its own characteristics, only the strongest and fittest survive, from which the breed is then reproduced.
Yakut horses are free-grazed all year round. Considering that in winter, for about 7–8 months in a row, they have to forage under the snow, the technology is called herd-tebenevka. Additional feeding of horses is not practiced. Concentrated feeds are given to pregnant mares or young animals, and even then they are fed in small quantities.
According to historical evidence, the Yakut horse appeared on the territory of its modern habitat no earlier than the 17th century. together with the first Yakuts-yasakopayers who moved here from the Baikal region. Along with the rest of their belongings, they brought herds of Baikal horses. After serious acclimatization and natural selection, the modern appearance Yakut breed.
True, there are versions that the Baikal horses mixed with the Late Pleistocene wild horses. The bolder ones claim that there was no crossing. According to their version, modern representatives of the breed are direct descendants of indigenous Late Pleistocene horses.
They can't stand criticism. Immunogenetic analysis revealed a direct relationship between the Yakut horses and the Baikal horses.
Description and characteristics of the exterior
The Yakut horse has an exterior that is completely adapted to environmental conditions. Frost resistance is ensured by long, up to 15 cm, wool and a thick, warm undercoat. The need for long-term foraging (searching for food under the snow) - with strong, stable hooves.
In terms of body type, Yakut horses are very close to Mongolian ones. One of the differences is that northern animals are taller and larger.
In herds, bay, brown, and gray colors are predominant. From time to time you can meet the mouse or savras.
Stocky, short-legged horses with a fairly large head come in several types, depending on the habitat and human participation in the formation of herds:
- Northern. Considered original, common in the northern part of the region. At the withers they reach 1.42–1.43 m. The oblique body measurement is 1.5–1.56 m. The girth of the chest is no less than 1.87–1.9 m. The pasterns of stallions are large - up to 22 cm. mares are more graceful (up to 20 cm). A six-month-old foal weighs about 100 kg; after two years it gains no more than 165 kg. Adults usually weigh 500 kg.
- A common southern breed, not crossed with other breeds. It is smaller in size than the Northern one, although it is not genetically different from it.
- Southern. It has characteristic features inherited from various factory breeds, the blood of which was used to improve Yakut horses. Larger than the usual southern one.
The presence of different types is due to the fact that horse breeding in Yakutia does not stand still. Active selection is being carried out based on Yakut horses. On at the moment a new breed has already been registered - Mezhegekskaya.
Use and character traits
Hardy and quick-witted animals are distinguished by their ability to quickly navigate when running over rough terrain.
The Yakut horse forms an important part of the economic system of Yakutia. Ripening quite late (at about 6 years), horses retain their working capacity and continue to reproduce up to 27 years. The breed is used simultaneously in two directions:
- Traditional for the whole world: as riding horses. The Yakuts have a reverent attitude towards them. Horses are protected by organizing horse competitions. As a rule, such animals are not used for other purposes.
- Meat and dairy. In the northern climate zone, horses are the main source of milk, which has dietary properties: low-fat, low in protein and rich in lactose. According to the latter indicator, it is comparable to human milk. Horse meat is no less tasty. It is considered a local delicacy: soft, fatty, tender, with a characteristic “marbling”.
Yakut horses, intended for mass production of meat or milk, are never used as draft or riding horses. Maintenance is profitable: only young animals or pregnant mares are specially fed for a short time. The herds provide their own food.
At the moment, the breed is assigned high hopes on the restoration of ecosystems of the Pleistocene period, the so-called “mammoth tundra steppes”. The Yakut horse showed independence and quickly adapted to the conditions of the Pleistocene Park. The herd released in the nineties showed the validity of the experiment. For each breeding stallion there are up to 24 foals and mares.
Not the most graceful, large and short-legged horses, in terms of their importance in a person’s life, can give a head start to their more beautiful athletic brothers. The breed may not have high aesthetic characteristics, but it is a guarantee of the survival of people in the taiga zone. The famous kumiss and horse meat products are in demand even abroad: a large flow is exported to Asian countries.
When the first horn grows on the black bull, frost comes to the taiga. When the black bull becomes two-horned, real winter comes...
The taiga is emptying. Birds fly to the “other side” of the Earth, where, as expected, everything happens the other way around and spring comes. Other taiga inhabitants, those who are slow to move, like bears, or small and wingless, like chipmunks and marmots, fall into a long winter sleep. Only those who have made provisions for the snowy season are awake - housekeeper voles, pikas, squirrels, and even predators - wolves, foxes, sables. Ungulates are content with food that in other times they would not even look at: lichens, bark, pine needles, branches.
Only one animal continues to nibble the grass. In winter, in the taiga, in the polar and subpolar haze, at the very cold pole. This amazing creation - Yakut horse.
Horse? Somehow this way of life does not fit with its entire history, which unfolded, excluding its very beginning, in the vast expanses of prairies and savannahs. Yes and modern horses, both domesticated and wild, inhabited the steppes and other grassy landscapes. We can say that the steppe nurtured a horse - one-toed, long-legged, with a flexible neck and powerful “horse” teeth. And the horse raised the steppe with its various grasses, being a kind of hybrid of a lawn mower and a fertilizer application machine.
Could people without horses be able to populate the endless Yakut taiga?
Let's say it was still possible to raft on kayaks, plows and sloops, fortunately the rivers in Siberia are like the autobahns in Germany. To set up a booth or a prison - there was also enough forest. How to continue to live? Plow, hunt, establish communications with other settlements, especially in the long, by no means calendar, winter? A cow, of course, is good - it gives milk and meat. True, in the taiga micro-meadows the cow breed was reduced to an appropriate scale, turning into something like a dog with horns. And you won’t be able to release such a creature into the forest to graze freely: not only will the first wolf you encounter, it will be eaten by a sable.
Whether it’s the sylgy (Yakut horse)! You can sew anything from its shaggy skin - from sera (waterproof high boots), necessary in the swamp-lake-river country, to warm mats and runners for fast skis.
Long and strong horsehair is an almost ready-made net and seine, snares and bow strings, lassos and light strong hair bags, even women's jewelry and hats. If necessary, you can roll felt boots and weave them from horse wool: it is in no way inferior to sheep wool. Hoofs were once used to make plates for armor. And sylgy is kumiss and amazingly nutritious and healthy meat, including all the insides - from the tongue to the rectum. The Yakut horse is even called a “pharmacy on hooves”: its meat is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which actually remove cholesterol and help with anemia, tuberculosis, and sclerosis. You can plow on it and hunt (with a horse you can get up to a dozen sables a day, without it - at most four). One animal contains an entire civilization!
That’s why the main Yakut holiday, Ysyakh, was dedicated to her. On this day, siri-isit - fur made from rawhide, smoked horse hide - is brought to the carved hitching post - a kind of altar. Kumys is extracted from fur - the drink of the light gods of Heaven. This is what the organizer of Ysyakh did - the divine ancestor Elley and his son, the white shaman Labynkha Suuruk. He raised a bowl of koumiss and hayakh (sour butter) in honor of each deity and sprinkled the koumiss with a spoon tied with white horsehair. “For the sake of the kumis of old mares, let’s unite, not excluding the girls!” - Siberian explorer Alexander Middendorf wrote down a prayer song a century and a half ago. And all this in order for “the yard to come to life, a rope to stretch out, and many foals to be tied up...”
The foals will be born in May, when the snow in these parts has not yet melted.
The mares lift the newborn and prop him up so that he does not catch a cold on the frozen ground. Soon he himself will learn to stand on his thin legs and sleep until it gets warmer, standing up like all Yakut horses. Young animals quickly gain weight: in six months up to 200 kilograms - half an adult horse. In the fall, free life ends for a short time - horse breeders, armed with long sticks with a loop, go out to catch them.
Also try to catch a horse! After all, she is a territorial animal: the permanent area of one school (a small herd of a leader, seven to nine mares and foals) occupies from 25 to 30 square kilometers. “When the time comes to separate the foals, we look for schools by following the tracks. If the tracks are covered up, sometimes you have to search for ten days,” says horse breeder Grigory Okhlopkov from the Dayar-1 base in the Khomustakh nasleg (district) of the Namsky ulus.
The Yakut horse is not afraid of frost, neither is the predator. The maned, long-tailed leader will stand up for himself and his school. Not every seasoned wolf will dare to fight with him. But a young, inexperienced person would get hit with a hoof on his wide forehead and would not climb again, if, of course, he remained alive at all. Only in a pack of wolves, hungry at the end of winter, attack forest horses. And then the usual annual damage from gray predators does not exceed four mares per 80 heads - this is the economy of one horse breeder.
The stallions fight fiercely among themselves: a whole school is at stake! They dig their teeth into each other until they bleed; pieces of skin fly. The mares that are docile leave with the winner. And those with a temper can stay with the defeated leader and leave for the third. True, there are different stallions: sometimes he drives such a harlot as if he were a rival...
A string of shaggy horses squeezes through the impassable tangles of snow-covered willow bushes and finds a suitable clearing - in the summer there was a lake, swamp or alas (a purely Yakut phenomenon - the result of a forest fire on permafrost). The school lines up with its heads towards the undercoat, its rumps towards the open area and begins to rhythmically... nibble the grass. The horse uses the edge of its front hoof to break the crust right down to the ground and scoop up the snow for itself: under the snow, the stems of sedge and other wild grasses are preserved.
Here's the food. In the fall, on such a diet, a horse eats better than in the summer, when myriads of midges, midges and gadflies descend on the taiga. In Yakutia, there is a legend, quite plausible, that horses themselves came to people, fleeing in the smoke of fires from biting creatures. Snow is also suitable for horses to drink in winter: put a little of it in your mouth with your lips, wait until it melts and swallow. If you come across a shallow hole or ice, you can drink water for future use: carefully, through the lip, in very small sips, the horse strains out the icy moisture. Then he warms it behind his teeth and slowly swallows it. And so many, many times.
In the 18th century, there were more horse breeds in Yakutia: to create 35 postal stations on the Irkutsk-Yakutsk highway in 1772-1773, by decree of Empress Catherine II, 33 peasant families were sent here with horses from the central provinces of Russia. In fact, they were exiled for 25 years: they were selected from serfs who disobeyed their masters. They were not allowed to leave the station. To this day, along the left bank of the Lena there are strong huts and bathhouses of the sovereign coachmen. Also monuments to horse civilization: without horse mail, the 2,731-verst (2,895 kilometers) transport artery would never have come to life.
The mail went strictly according to schedule, even on February 5, 1891, when the thermometer in Yakutsk not only fell, but fell out, due to the absence of a mark of -64.5 ° C, the mail cart departed at the appointed hour. “What kind of entertainment is there on such a long journey? - recalled the writer Ivan Goncharov, who was returning through these places in 1854 after circumnavigating the world on the frigate Pallada. - When you arrive at the station: “Hurry, hurry, give me a piece of wine and a mug of cabbage soup.” All this is frozen and transported in solid form.” Even in the summer, food was served the same way, because it was stored in ice-barns installed at the permafrost outcrops. “This one was cut down by my ancestors 150 years ago,” says Anatoly, a descendant of the Dobryantsev coachman family, First Deputy Minister of Nature Protection of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), pointing to a mossy frame made of larch logs on a hillock near the former Zhura station. “It still works.”
When the black bull's first horn falls off, it begins to get light. When the black one loses its second horn, spring comes. And then the black bull is driven out white horse, and summer comes.
National Geographic Magazine May 2011
The Yakut horse (Yakut Sylgy or Sakha Ata) is an indigenous breed of horse common in Yakutia. The breed was bred by folk selection under the strong influence of natural selection.
The life of the Yakuts is unthinkable without a horse, this unique, extremely unpretentious and hardy animal. She is an irreplaceable companion and faithful friend for them, giving them everything they need for life.
Yakutsk is one of the oldest breeds. The remains of these horses, found during excavations in a layer of permafrost, date back to the thirtieth millennium BC. Many scientists (V.I. Gromova, M.F. Gabyshev and others) believe that the Yakut horse descended from ancient tundra horses, but, thanks to its valuable qualities - high endurance and adaptability to almost any conditions, it did not become extinct, surviving until our days.
The breed of Yakut horses was formed in the conditions of the sharply continental climate of Yakutia, where frosts in winter reach 50–60 degrees, and in summer the heat exceeds 40 degrees. It is noteworthy that Yakut horses are not afraid of not only severe frost, but also annoying blood-sucking insects - gadflies, mosquitoes and midges, of which there is a whole darkness in the Yakut taiga in the summer.
And despite the frost, snow and poor nutrition, she gains more than 400 kg of live weight, of which meat and fat make up more than 80%. The Yakut horse, compared to horses of other breeds, has exceptionally high adaptive qualities, the thickest skin, thicker and longer hair, so it has perfectly adapted to the harsh climatic and poor food conditions of Yakutia. What saves her from severe cold is her ability to quickly build up and deposit a significant amount of fat in the subcutaneous tissue. One of the brightest and purest representatives of the unique Yakut breed is the Verkhoyansk horse.
“And Yakolskaya, sir, is a great landowner, and populous, and with horses,” - this is how the Cossacks described the newly discovered country to the Moscow Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich in a letter dated 1634. This message is the first historical information about Yakut horse breeding.
According to the ideas of the Sakha people, the horse is a sacred animal of heavenly origin. “Dzhesegey ogoto” or “child of Dzhesegei,” the patron god of horses and brave men, is what the Yakuts call the horse. He has long been worshiped and revered; the annual folk holiday Ysyakh was mainly dedicated to Dzhesegei and was accompanied by the traditional praise of the horse and treating everyone to kumis.
Appearance
The Yakut breed of horses is the most frost-resistant, having an undercoat and wool 8-15 cm long. Even in winter, it can feed on grass from under the snow, raking it with its hooves - getting dark. In Yakutia, horses live on outdoors all year round(at temperatures in summer up to +40°C and in winter up to −60°C) and search for food on their own. Each leader keeps his own herd: from 18 to 24 mares and foals; the animals graze in such a family. Compared to similar Mongolian horses, the Yakut horse is taller and more massive. Yakut horses are usually brown, bay and gray, less often savras and mousey.
The Yakut horse, although small in stature, is very broad-bodied and massive in build, with a well-developed chest, on short, bony legs.
Currently, in the Republic of Yakutia, three types of Yakut horses have been formed: the northern original type of Yakut horses (Middle Kolyma, Verkhoyansk horse), the southern, smaller type, which has not been crossed with factory breeds; southern large type, deviating towards factory breeds used to improve the local Yakut horse. In 2011, the presentation was officially announced new breed Yakut horses, "Megezhek" breed in the stud farm named after Stepan Vasilyev (Nyurbinsky district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)).
Size of the Middle Kolyma stallions (cm): height at the withers 139, oblique length of the body 148, chest girth 173, pastern girth 19.7, in mares - 137-145-171 - 18.1. As you move from east to west through the forest zone, you can observe some enlargement of the horses, as well as a greater expression of their harness and properties. The Yakut horse is the smallest among forest breeds. Depending on the habitat, its measurements are somewhat different. Thus, in the northern regions with slightly better feeding conditions, horses are taller, larger, and more bony than in the southern ones. Thus, the height at the withers for horses in the northern regions is 134 cm, the oblique length of the body is 145, the chest girth is 166 and the metacarpus girth is 18.2 cm, and for horses in the southern regions it is 130, 141, 158 and 17.6 cm, respectively.
The weight of six-month-old foals reaches 105 kg, at 2.5 years of age - 165 kg, in adult horses - 228 kg. The hooves are very stable. Yakut horses have a short stride. They gallop along a heavy snow track for 3200 meters in just over 5 minutes; they cover 1600 meters in about 3 minutes. Yakut horses are late maturing, but long-lived: reaching full development only by five to six years, they are often used for breeding and work until the age of 25-27.
Application
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Horse. Despite their short stature and stockiness, Yakut horses are often used as riding horses. Not a single Ysyakh holiday is complete without equestrian competitions, and riding horses are never used for other purposes.
Meat and dairy direction. The most widespread. Mare's milk is used to make the traditional national drink kumys, and the meat of Yakut horses is a national dish and is considered a delicacy. A distinctive feature of Yakut horse meat is the so-called marbling of the meat, that is, inclusions of fat in the meat, due to which the meat acquires a special taste and softness, extremely valued by gourmets.
Undoubtedly, the unique taste of Yakut horse meat is facilitated by the fact that only horses that have never seen a saddle or stirrups are used for this. The meat of the Yakut horse is very fatty and high-calorie; its production has now been put into production. In general, this is not surprising, since in northern conditions this is one of the few species of domestic animals adapted for breeding.
The bulk of Yakut horses are concentrated in the valleys of the middle reaches of the Lena River, as well as further north, in the Yana, Kolyma and Indigirka basins.
Yakut horses are hardy and smart, and are good at running over rough terrain.
The Yakut's temperament is lively and energetic, which will certainly appeal to enthusiastic horse breeders.
Currently, in the Republic of Yakutia, three types of Yakut horses have been formed: the northern original type of Yakut horses (Middle Kolyma, Verkhoyansk horse), the southern, smaller type, which has not been crossed with factory breeds; southern large type, deviating towards factory breeds used to improve the local Yakut horse.
Kumis
All over the world, mare's milk is highly valued, from which kumis is made - a fermented milk drink with excellent medicinal qualities. It helps prevent and treat various diseases, including tuberculosis, strengthen immune system human body.
Until recently, kumis was the main food of the Yakuts in the summer. Back in the 18th century, its usefulness and satiety were noted by member of the Great Northern Expedition Ya.I. Lindenau: “That’s why the Yakuts, even in the absence of other food, get very fat from it.”
Foal meat and fat have high nutritional and medicinal properties. The fat of the Yakut horse contains the highest amount of unsaturated fatty acid (59%), as well as large number(up to 24.3%) of the famous alpha-linolenic acid (Omega-3), which has anti-oncological and anti-sclerotic effects. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids help reduce “bad” cells and restore the membrane of “good” cells. A healthy membrane means normal metabolism, normal blood pressure, proper cell respiration, and energy production. A lot depends on the condition of the membrane. In addition, Omega-3 restores the structure and function of the liver, improves immunity, inhibits the development of cancer and prevents the deposition of cholesterol on the walls of blood vessels.
Yakut horse according to modern data scientific research is one of the oldest indigenous breeds in the world. But it gained its fame thanks to its unique ability to survive in the harsh climatic conditions of the Arctic. These small, unassuming horses live in small groups outdoors all year round. Their current habitat is the Republic of Sakha or Yakutia, as well as the forest-tundra zone far beyond the Arctic Circle. As local residents say, their horses are not afraid of frosts even at -70 degrees.
However, for many reasons, the Yakut horse was forgotten for a long time, and the breed was on the verge of extinction. In 1943, a special state breeding nursery was created in the Verkhoyansk region. His goal was to preserve the original species of animals and breed “inside”. It is also worth saying that breeders tried several times to cross “Yakuts” with other factory breeds, but not a single attempt was crowned with success. They say that the purity of this breed is protected by the very nature of Yakutia.
Origin
Very little is known about the origins of this unusual horse. Firstly, in harsh conditions no one ever asked this question. And, secondly, it is very difficult to carry out excavations and research in this region. However, some scientists still decided to find out the truth and today they firmly say that the Yakut horse is very ancient. Presumably they descended from primitive horses of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor.
Research by scientists has shown that the Yakut breed has many similarities at the genetic level with horses of Asian origin. For example, with Kazakh, Arabic, Kyrgyz and even Akhal-Teke breed. Which, of course, you can’t tell by appearance. But the exterior of these animals, as can be seen in the photo, was influenced for centuries by the harsh nature of Yakutia. So the experts’ statements are quite probable.
Yakuts and horses
Of course, in order to most accurately learn the history of this breed, you need to look at the relationship between horses and local residents. The fact is that the Yakuts are very good horse breeders and have been doing this since ancient times. They not only love their horses, but also care about preserving their uniqueness. Horse breeding for the people of the North is a vital industry, without which they simply would not survive in the harsh tundra. They still save on high level its nomadic herd horse breeding.
The Yakut horse occupies a special place in the mythology of the local people. According to the beliefs of the inhabitants of the Republic of Sakha, the patron deity of horses is Dzhesegeyogoto. Moreover, horses are an integral part of many rituals and traditions. For example, a traditional men's holiday is not complete without praising horses and treating everyone to kumis.
Appearance
For many, many centuries, the Yakut breed has retained its original appearance. These are short horses, but strong and very harmonious in their constitution. Height at the withers does not exceed 135 centimeters. As you can see in the photo, they have a medium head with a straight, clear profile, fairly wide ganaches, short neck and low withers. The back is straight, smoothly turning into a wide croup.
A special distinguishing feature is low, squat, strong legs. They allow horses to travel long distances in search of food and easily reach grass from under the snow. The hooves are strong and covered with thick brushes. The same applies to the hair on the body - it is long (8-10 cm) and thick. The undercoat occupies more than 80% of the total coat, like that of sheep or fur-bearing animals.
The bushy tail, as well as the mane covering the shoulders, protect vulnerable parts of the body from severe frost. As for the color, as can be seen in the photo, the Yakut horse has a variety of colors. There are both light horses (gray, dun, gray, red) and dark (bay, roan, mousey, brown). Due to their long fur, animals appear a little lighter in winter than in summer.
Three intrabreed types
In Yakutia today there are three types of horses. They were formed without human participation, but are associated with the action of a diverse climate in different regions of the region. There is also a possibility that in different areas horses naturally crossed with some others native breeds. So, now there is a northern type, a southern large type and a southern small type.
- Northern type - this includes the Verkhoyansk and Middle Kolyma horses. It is believed that this type was formed as a result of crossing the Late Pleistocene horse with local breeds of the Baikal region.
- Southern small type - this includes the descendants of Megin, Lekmin and Suntar horses. It is believed that this type arose as a result of improved conditions for keeping and breeding animals.
- Southern large type - characterized by a more elongated body and high withers. Also, these horses are heavy and capable of performing complex work, which is clearly visible in the photo. Today these horses are bred in the Nyurba region and in Yakutia itself. The weight of some individuals can reach up to 600 kilograms.
Use of Yakut horses
As we have already said, the Yakut horse is very hardy and frost-resistant. This allows the use of animals in the harshest areas of Yakutia. It is best to keep these horses in a herd, where there are from 15 to 24 mares per stallion. Animals in the wild obtain food on their own, but are not afraid to approach settlements in search of hay.
Domestic Yakut horses are used mainly for transport purposes. They have a quick short stride and a fairly comfortable gallop. Animals run 3200 meters along a snowy path in an average of 5 minutes. It is also worth noting that these horses, despite the climate, are real long-livers. On average, the local population uses their horses for up to 27 years.
Valuable meat and milk
Horse breeding for the inhabitants of the tundra is not only an opportunity to provide themselves with transport, but also valuable meat and milk. Traditional fatty dishes help to successfully survive even the harshest winters. Kumis and horse meat, no matter how strange it may sound for horse lovers, make up the majority of the Yakut diet. But such rules are dictated to people by local nature, where vegetation is sparse and other livestock and poultry simply cannot survive.
Uniqueness of horses
The Yakut horse has extraordinary abilities to live at very low temperatures. Her whole body is adapted to this. Firstly, thick long hair, as seen in the photo, is unusual for most domestic horses. Secondly, special fat layer allows you to retain heat in the body for a long time.
In addition, these animals have unique physiological mechanisms of adaptation to cold. For example, in summer the breathing rate of horses is approximately 20 breaths per minute, while in winter it is reduced to 10. And a small, brisk step helps the animal, making rhythmic movements, to warm up while moving.
Photo gallery
Video “Horses in Yakutia”
In this video you can see all the unusualness and special beauty northern horses. How they live in a herd, as well as their relationship with humans, all this will be demonstrated in a beautiful video.
