9-12 months-previous Dastan, the son of a Kazakh eagle hunter, rode his pony alongside mine, cantering very easily without having a saddle and guffawing at my attempts to present my fluffy pony some affection — a gesture that the animal wasn’t accustomed to.
Surrounding us was the huge, desolate landscape of the Altai Mountains of western Mongolia. From the grassy valley wherever horses grazed together the river, the rocky, gold-tinted terrain stretched endlessly towards the jagged ridges in the length, with a dusting of snow heralding the arrival of winter.
On horseback with Dastan, I was reminded in some methods of my childhood in Wales, exactly where I put in my times using my pony via the countryside, taking pleasure in the peaceful normal magnificence of my surroundings, always with a sizzling cup of tea waiting for me at the finish of a lengthy working day.
In October 2019, right after practically three several years residing and doing work in northern Iraq, wherever I protected the country’s endeavours to defeat the Islamic Point out, I started functioning on a individual photography challenge that drew on my background and affinity with horses. My intention was to check out the associations concerning animals — horses, in unique — and the folks whose livelihoods count on them.
To get started, I flew to western Mongolia to meet and photograph the legendary Kazakh hunters, horsemen and animal herders.
With the enable of a area guide and translator, I traveled from the town of Olgii, the cash of Bayan-Olgii province, to visit some of the seminomadic herding families who continue to reside off the land in an very harsh surroundings.
Encompassing the westernmost space of Mongolia, Bayan-Olgii is the country’s only Muslim and Kazakh-the vast majority province, or aimag.
Deep in the Altai Mountains, wherever Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia meet, Kazakh people have for centuries created and nurtured a particular bond with golden eagles, coaching the birds to hunt foxes and other small animals.
Alankush, an eagle hunter, animal herder and father of two, claimed that he appears to be soon after his eagle “as if she had been a newborn.”
The historical custom made of hunting with eagles on horseback is historically handed down from father to son at a younger age and is deemed a excellent supply of delight.
“All Kazakhs really like to educate eagles,” explained Alankush. “Now we hold eagles mostly since it’s a common sport.”
Serik Gingsbek, who was 26 when I met him, is a properly-regarded and achieved eagle hunter, sportsman and horse trainer. He talked at size with me about his particular connection with his eagle.
“If my eagle feels terrible, I experience lousy,” he stated. “If she’s pleased, I’m happy. When we go to the mountains, we share almost everything together.”
In modern generations, lots of Kazakh households have migrated from the countryside to city spots, partly simply because of the issues in accessing health and fitness treatment, education and learning, social expert services and employment alternatives. Amid those who have stayed, the historical apply of eagle hunting has furnished an extra source of earnings from the visitors who pay back to see the famed birds in action.
Training and caring for golden eagles is just a single aspect of an animal herder’s lifetime other folks incorporate coaching younger horses, tending sheep, milking yaks and butchering meat.
The every day needs of a common herding family’s lifetime can depart tiny time for added training or the pursuit of individual ambitions absent from property.
In reaction to their physically demanding lifestyles, parents who do the job as herders usually mail their little ones to boarding university in cities and towns, occasionally considerably from household, in the hope that their youngsters will secure a far more cozy future.
In spite of owning lived his complete existence in the mountains, Alankush explained he hopes for a distinctive path for his little ones. “I do not have an education, and I’m not younger,” he told me. “If I were being youthful, it’s possible I’d go to Olgii to do the job — but for me it’s superior to remain in the countryside.”
“Countryside lifetime is pretty tricky, particularly for children,” he mentioned. “That’s why I send out my young children to university. If they finish university, I hope they’ll obtain jobs in the metropolis.”
Paradoxically, these kinds of parental ambitions may perhaps consequence in the eventual disappearance of a society and way of everyday living that has survived for generations.
Outwardly, documenting the common techniques of lifetime in western Mongolia stands in stark contrast to my time invested photographing scenes of conflict and struggling in Iraq. But the two subjects share a prevalent theme: the human battle not just to survive, but to build a far better potential for oneself and one’s family members.
That common wrestle can be discovered in conditions of conflict, profession and forced emigration, just as it can be identified in the conditions of a nomadic individuals subsisting on what numerous would look at meager assets.
And despite the variances in the environment and the scope of the problems faced by the individuals I met, I felt a connection — and shared a prevalent language — with the Kazakh horsemen, through our mutual affinity with horses.
Claire Thomas is a British photographer and photojournalist who focuses on conflict, humanitarian and environmental crises and social troubles. You can observe her get the job done on Instagram and Twitter.
