Ulaanbaatar
Winter Horse Festival 2017 takes place
PoliticsUlaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The third annual Winter Horse Festival 2017 took place in Altanbulag soum of Tuv aimag with some extraordinary performances and competitions on February 18 and 19. The festival was attended by a renowned traditional wrestling champion, MP A.Sukhbat who is also a native of Tuv aimag.
During the event, horse-breeders from across the country have gathered together in one place with over six hundred horses and amused the audience with astonishing performances. Among them was a jaw-dropping performance of men snatching lasso pole (uurga) from the ground on a galloping horse in which the foreign audience gave special attention to. And another outstanding show was a horse rodeo where B.Tumen-Enkh, a brave horseman of Altanbulag soum won the competition by successfully restraining a ferocious horse. Excited by these performances, tourists from over 10 countries were charmed by Mongolian tradition and culture of horses.
Two major events on the second day were a short-distance horse race and 'bankhar' dog race. Due to the high-risk of danger in a winter race, the horse race was organized among the adults only. Also, bankhar dog race drew lots of attention from the public. By luring the dogs with trapped foxes and wolf, ten dogs have chased the cars that are speeding 50-60 km per hour. These were only a small part of this spectacular festival.
Tuv aimag, which locates 52 km from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, has the most horses in the country with over 27 thousand horses and 291,983 livestock as of 2017. The incredible development of animal husbandry in the area was one of the main reasons to hold the third Winter Horse Festival.
