Kyrgyz Horses

The Kyrgyz horse is bred mostly for food. However, some are trained as riding horses and used in games. Riders are from 16 to 40 and there are teams with coaches. We saw several games shortened for us.

The field is wet as it has been raining on and off. The temperature is about 55 and it is midday. The red shirts versus the yellow shirts will complete to throw the carcass of a goat into a round brick container at their end of the field. We bought the goat and it was killed this morning and the horns removed. You might see it on the ground under one of the red shirts. The first team to score three times wins.

This young man score one of the red shirts two goals. There is a lot trying to unhorse each other in the scrum. Horses are driven into the horse of the guy with the goat. But this time the goat is covered with mud and bit difficult to see. At the end of the game the goat is given to the winning team and becalmed the main attraction of a feast for that team.

This is the referee. There are rules against going out of bounds, but it did seem to have any other rules, much mashing of flesh of horses and people.

This is one one of our own, a man named Floyd from Wyoming who when our guide asked if anyone wanted to ride said “yes”.