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Post by pohjanpoika on Jan 20, 2011 12:47:03 GMT 3
The Mongol horse is of pony size, and so are most horses used by nomads. Why the choice of the small horse? During the time of the mongol empire they beat all kinds of people and had acces to all kinds of diffrent horses but still they kept their own steppepony. The Europeans of the time breeded for as big and strong horses as possible and it might not have been such a interesting alternative for the mongols as I guess they wanted to be as mobile as possible. But they sure had acces to many arabic horses, wich is not a very big horse, its very fast and got great stamina. Still they did not seem to make anything of it. . (As far as I know atleast) or did they? They wanted to be mobile? Can it have been that the mongol horse that also got great stamina is calmer than the warmblooded arab that spoke more easily and is known to be a nervous horse and is probably harder to train for war? I would think both have great mobility and the arab even more speed. Or maybe the arab just cant take the weather in Mongolia? I always wonderd why they dident take lots of diffrent horses home to experiment with, as it was such a big part of their life. Anyone has any knowleadge or ideas about this?
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Post by Temüjin on Jan 22, 2011 19:45:46 GMT 3
that's a good and vaild question actually, but you need to take some factors into consideration. first, the Mongol horse was small, but it was readiyl available to the Mongols in large numbers and the Mongols were used to them. the concept of interbreeding of races only started some centuries later in europe, when europeans tried to combine the advantages of Arabian horses with the heavier native european horses, which resulted in the baroque horse. of course later they also came in contact with the arabian horses in the middle east, which resulted in the Turkmen horses, though i'd need to look it up when exactly Turkmens like the Akhal Teke were recognized as a separate breed. basically, i think there was no need for the Mongols to change their horses, because the horses they had were already the most adapt to their native Steppe lands.
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Post by H. İhsan Erkoç on Jan 23, 2011 17:47:05 GMT 3
Turkmen horses were actually introduced to the Middle East during the Seljuk period and the Akhal Teke appeared much later. Too bad the horsebreeding culture largely died out in Turkey
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Post by pohjanpoika on Feb 2, 2011 18:20:06 GMT 3
They must have been curious at the new breeds as horsemen. Even if it would be hard to keep every warrior with new horses if they had found a better option for their warfare the elite could ride them. It must be so that the Mongol horse were the best choise for them. The arabian horse dominate the distance competitions today, but at that time I dont think any armies horses were so well trained as the mongols. How does the horsesport look like in todays turkey? Is it big there becuse of your nomadic history?
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Post by H. İhsan Erkoç on Feb 5, 2011 4:39:57 GMT 3
Unfortunately no, it is an expensive sport and it is usually the economically better individuals who do horsebackriding. The ancient culture has largely died out in the countryside as well, though I heard some areas still have that. Surprisingly, the Yörük nomads of Turkey also do not have much horse herds, they have turned more on goat and camel breeding. The last big horse breeding nomadic Turkish group in Anatolia, as far as I knew, were the Atçeken Yörükleri who lived between Ankara and Konya; they paid their taxes to the Ottomans as horses instead of coins. The Atçeken Yörüks are still around but I guess they aren't into horsebreeding much, though I'm not sure.
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