Have you ever heard saying Mongol without a horse is the same as a bird without a wing?
Horses are played a major role in Mongolia’s history. During the Mongol conquest in the 13th century, horses were the vital reason that Mongols succeed. Even nowadays, horses are a symbol of the country and are used in the day-to-day life of nomads.
Horse riding is fun, especially in Mongolia. Probably Mongolia is one of the last places where you could truly feel freedom on horseback. Horse riding is an expensive activity in many countries and needless to say it’s not fun when it’s fenced off. Mongolia is one of the cheapest places for horse riding activity and most importantly you would be privileged for riding horses across the Mongolian endless steppe.
You may wonder how much does it cost to horse ride in Mongolia? How accessible is it?
Almost anywhere in the country as long you are out the Ulaanbaatar you will see the roaming horses of nomads. The cost of horse riding varies depending on the region. Based on experience it would cost 8 to10$ per hour approximately. Let’s say you’re having a short visit to Ulaanbaatar, and you wanna ride a horse but you don’t have much time. If that’s the case most nearby place where you can ride a horse is Terelj National Park which is only 2 hours of driving to the east where many nomads live and rent their horses daily or hourly basis with a horse guide. You can enjoy a full day of riding in nature with real nomad horsemen.
Mongolian horses are built differently
Undoubtedly horse riding is the best way to explore Mongolia and get to know the nomadic culture as well as the essence of the Mongols. Compare to western horse breeds Mongolian horses are relatively small in body size however their durability and stamina are far beyond the other horse breeds.
Lastly, fun facts of Mongolian horses
Probably Mongolia is the only country where the horses have outnumbered the population. There are 4 million horses in Mongolia and the population is about 3,350,000 by 2021.
Below is a statistic of total livestock in Mongolia by the year 2020.
Total Horse 4093.861
Total Cattle 4732.01
Total Camel 472.934
Total Sheep 30049.428
Total Goat 27720.253
Unit: thous. Heads
SOURCE: Mongolian statistical information cente
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