Since ancient times, the Mongol people have lived on nomadic and hunting in the vast steppes. For a long time, horses have played an important role in the production and life of the Mongols. The Mongols grew up on horseback, started businesses on horseback, rose on horseback, and showed their ingenuity, diligence and bravery on horseback, and were called "people on horseback" by the world. But horses are not born obedient to their masters, and must be domesticated to become obedient horses. Horse selection, horse training, and horse riding all require corresponding utensils. Today, we will talk about the Mongolian horse riding equipment.
Harness: A harness is required to grab a horse from a herd. It is mainly composed of two parts: the main rod and the lasso. The shaft body is made of tough birch strips to make a lasso tied to the front of the main rod, and the length of the lasso is about 170 cm.
In addition to auxiliary equipment such as saddles and stirrups, horse training and riding also require supporting equipment such as harnessing the horse's head, chews, tripwires, and whips.
Horse head: is the primary tool for driving horses. Including "horse chew" and reins, it contains the meaning of restraint and, therefore, also serves as a symbolic image of moderation. The head of the pitcher is tied from a cowhide knot folded in half and is set on the horse's head. Control the horse with reins so that it cannot run away at will.
Horse chewing: is a necessary tool for driving horses. Its shape and composition resemble a horse's head. It is composed of a chewing head, a nose strip, a chewing ring, and a rein. The reins of the horse chew are woven in half with high-quality leather strips and attached to the left and right chewing rings of the horse chew. The length of the reins ranges from the chewing ring to the front saddle. The use of horse chews to control and control the horse is due to the use of "horsebits", which are composed of two curved iron bars connected in the middle, which are strangled in the horse's mouth and forced to obey the command. The horsebit is connected to the chewing ring, and the horse's mouth is acted on by the reins tied to the ring, and the rider controls the horse's running speed and direction of progress with the reins. According to expert research, the evolution of horsebits has gone through the stages of leather horsebit - wooden horse title - bone horse bit - wildebeest horse bit - bronze horse bit - iron horse bit and so on.
Horse whip: Mostly carefully woven from cowhide. A leather cord is worn on the handle for easy slippage around the wrist. The Mongols always wore a whip on horseback, but except for the occasional whipping lesson for untrained horses when they did not obey the master's orders, they usually only beat or played a whipping posture, and they were just shaking.
Horse tripper: Used to stoop the horse's leg to prevent the mount from going far or running away while grazing on the grass. Horse tripping is made of high-quality cowhide strips and twisted knots.
Horse Sweat Scraper: Scraping horse sweat utensils. Horses sweat from running long distances or galloping, and when the saddle is unloaded, there will be a lot of sweat under the saddle drawer, and if it is not scraped off in time, the horse will get cold and sick. Horse sweat scrapers are generally made of bamboo or wooden planks, shaped like a double-edged sword with a handle, and the sides should be smoothed and rounded to prevent scratching the skin of the horse. The horse sweat scraper is engraved with various patterns and ornaments.
Horse Branding: Printed in iron. The folk use geometric figures, natural scenery, animals and plants, production and living utensils and simple characters as the printing text. Burn the red on the horse's buttocks in the fire as a marker to distinguish one's own horse. The herders on the grassland know each other about the pattern of the horses' imprints, and will notify the lost owners in time if they find that a lost horse has come to their pasture. The one-year-old foal is inseparable from the mare and is identified by the mare. By the spring of the following year the two-year-old horse should be independent, . It needs to be branded. When the horse seal is made, the brand is tied to the hada, and the first mark is personally hit by the owner or invited by the elders in the neighborhood who have prestige and cherish the livestock. When the horse brand is finished, it is packed in a felt bag and hung on the yurt Hana. It should be noted that too hot and too strong when the horse is branded will burn the horse; if it is too light, the mark will fade or even disappear as the horse fades and grows. Therefore, branding must master the temperature and strength. Therefore, the branding must be corrected, not skewed, and the branding pattern is not allowed to be upside down. When branding the last horse, it is also necessary to end with a blessing that "the sealed horses cover the whole grassland, and the horses that have made a record of the stars reproduce."
Photo: Dong Chenyang
Source: Inner Mongolia Museum of Social Education