Pets

The Bashkir is one of northern Eurasia's mountain breeds; similar to the Kazakh, the Adaev and the Dzhabe, and the Buryat of Siberia. All of survive in extreme climatic conditions, living in herds all year round as they have done since before the horse was domesticated. Indeed, horses were probably first domesticated in and around the areas that form the natural habitat of these ponies, lands that extend from the steppes bordering the Black and Caspian Seas in the south, to both sides of the Ural Mountains in the north.

BASHKIR HERDS
The Bashkir, or Bashkirsky, pony evolved in Bashkiria, around the southern foothills of the Urals, at some point in pre-history. It attracted attention during the 19th century on account of its remarkable qualities and the important place that it occupied in the local economy. Breeding centres were set up in 1845 to improve the stock for agricultural purposes, for work in harness and under saddle, and to increase the productivity of the herds in terms of the yield of meat, milk, and other products for which the Bashkir had traditionally been kept.

Despite the harshness of their lives, the Bashkir mares are famous for their milk yield. An average mare will give upwards of 1,500 litres (330 gallons) during a seven- to eight-month lactation period, and the best may produce as much as 2,700 litres (550 gallons). Much of the milk is used in dairy products, but a significant percentage is employed in making kummis, the "fire water" of the steppes, which the former Soviet authorities hastened to extol as having valuable dietetic and medicinal properties.

The Bashkir can be used as a mountain pack-pony, under saddle, and in draught. Their endurance is legendary: a Bashkir troika is claimed to be able to cover 120-140 km (75-85 miles) a day in the snow. Equally, the breed is almost unimaginably hardy, and the herds are well able to live out in deep snow and blizzard conditions at temperatures which in winter fall to between ?30 and ?40?C.

CHARACTERISTICS
Two types of Bashkir pony have been developed ? the mountain type, which is suitable for riding, and the rather heavier steppe variety. The Bashkir, which stands at 1.32-1.42 m (13-14 hh), is a wide-bodied, short-legged, stocky animal, with substantial
bone below the knee; some ponies may have an extraordinary 20 cm (8 in). The neck is short, strong, and fleshy, and the head is often described as "massive". Particular features of the breed are the thick, curly coat and the luxurious growth of mane and tail. Combings from the hair can be woven to make blankets and garments, and American sources claim that such cloth can be used without ill effect by those usually allergic to horses ? a condition, one imagines, not much found in steppe society.

THE AMERICAN BASHKIR
This indomitable universal provider, for all its sterling attributes, can hardly be cast in the romantic role of "mystery horse", yet it is at the centre of a fascinating hippological puzzle (or, perhaps, a colossal leg-pull). The mystery lies in the fact that there are about 1,100 registered Bashkirs (possibly a refined form of the Russian pony) in the north-western states of the US.

The Americans claim that the horses, known in the US as Bashkir Curlies, were first noticed in the Mustang herds during the early 1800s, and the suggestion is that they arrived on the continent with their owners thousands of years ago, across the land bridge that is now the Bering Strait.

That would, of course, have been perfectly possible; in fact, the Native American peoples may have come to North America in that way. However, this theory takes no account of the fact that the land bridges connecting the North American continent to Europe and Asia were swept away during the Ice Age, and that, for reasons unknown, the horse became extinct in the Americas some eight to ten thousand years ago. It was not reintroduced there until the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century.