Mambo

Because Afghanistan has a great horse heritage

• A strong equestrian tradition

Horses arrived in Central Asia almost 10,000 years ago from across the Bering Strait. Since then, the history of Afghanistan has been intimately linked to the horse tradition.

The peoples who migrated from the steppes to Afghanistan domesticated the horse and used it as a mobile weapons platform for combat. Pre-Christian times already knew the people of Afghanistan as Ashvakas, or horsemen, since they raised fine breeds of horses and had a reputation for providing expert cavalrymen. Horsemen played a key role in every single war occurring on Afghan ground. Some say the mounted Mujaheed resistance killed 50,000 Russian during the Soviet occupation. Taliban as well were using horses to make swift moves from one position to the other.

The horse gradually became to play an important role in the political, social and even subsistence activities in the people of Afghanistan. Until very recently, every family owned at least one horse to help with traveling and daily chores of herding. It’s only with the recent decades of war and the sudden development of a new lifestyle that horses have declined in dramatic numbers.

Horses are still worshipped today by the Afghans as worthy and precious animals. The most brilliant and vibrating demonstration of the Afghan devotion to horses still appear in the traditional games of niaza bazi (tent pegging) and buzkashi.


• Fine horse breeds

For a long time, Northern Afghanistan has been breeding stallions of exceptional endurance and speed. Actually a theory goes that the thoroughbred Arab horse originates from Afghanistan! Much later, Tamerlan the Great brought 6,000 mares from Arabia to enrich and purify the local breeds. We can definitely say there is some noble blood in Afghan horses.

The word breed is not really appropriate for the Afghan horses because there is no official classification with characteristics and morphology description. We however commonly speak of Afghan horses according to their origin.

There are numerous tales of amazing feats performed by Afghan horses. These stallions demonstrate the attributes of the finest horses. The Turkmen and the Waziri horses for example are of stunning grace, splendor, endurance and speed, and can easily vie with the famous Arabian and Western breeds.


• A great knowledge

The Afghan horsemen have a vast understanding of the breeding and training techniques. They have been building on experience throughout the centuries and possess complex secrets of hippology. Most of this original knowledge is unknown to western horsemen.


Because there is a strong danger of extinction of breeds and tradition

• Disappearance of the Afghan horses

During the years of war and fighting, horses have been shifted from one place to the other, and today the notion of breed is fuzzier than ever. If nothing is done, it will soon be impossible to distinguish different breeds among the Afghan horses.

Most fine horses have disappeared in war and fighting in the course of the last three decades. In the single battle of Qala-e-Janghi in December 2001, 300 horses were killed in battle.

Domestic horses have been replaced by cars and motorbikes. This change in the lifestyle has made the number of Afghan horses dropped dramatically in the course of the last six years.

On top of that, horses are now being imported from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. These tall and strong stallions, which are crossbreds created in the USSR for agricultural purposes, are used for buzkashi and are slowly supplanting the local breeds.


• Vanishing traditions

As a metaphor for the horse tradition, the game of buzkashi is rallying the interest of the Afghan population but is in danger of vanishing.

In the aftermath of the 2001 events and the fall of the Taliban regime, buzkashi is flourishing again. The mujahideens who used to play the game in exile have come back to the country and spread the game nationwide. While the game was originally a feature of the Turkic people from the northern provinces of the country, today it is played by Hazara in the Central Highlands, Pashto in the South, Tajik in Kabul…

Paradoxically, the genuine horse culture is vanishing. Indeed, the peoples who have recently entered the game are not familiar with the ancient secrets of hippology. The true and original practices of breeding and training horses are actually disappearing and the knowledge of the expert horsemen is being diluted. The equestrian knowledge is oral, and without any documentation work, it will soon be lost.