Some cool stuff I did in Mongolia

[evcelt]

Some cool stuff I did on our Mongolia trip (in no particular order):

- slept in a ger (actually, 5 different ones, 5 nights in a row)
- herded sheep
- helped milk a cow
- rode a horse for 23 km
- shot a Mongol-style bow (note my new icon!)
- tried airag and arkhi
- ate khuushuur, bansh, buuz, tsuivan, and many other delicious local dishes
- drank

Comments

[evcelt]

Bow: I *estimate* that the pull was 35-45 pounds; the guide didn't know... I had no difficulty pulling it to full draw. The grip for the pulling hand is different- you grasp the end of the arrow with thumb and forefinger (and use other fingers on the string if needed; I definitely did)... I'm not sure if this was a sanctioned variation on Mongolian draw, or a style the guide had worked out himself. Western draw *didn't* work for me on this style of bow. We weren't using thumb rings. Release was on the right side of the bow, and there is no arrow rest on the grip. The arrow had a big blunt target head (the same kind Mongols use in competition) and no fletching (I guess so us ignorant tourists wouldn't ruin it; they use fletched arrows in competition).

Riding- I am going to quote extensively from monsteralice here:
What type of saddles can we expect?
Saddles in Mongolia can vary widely; my sample was limited to a relatively small area near Ulaan Baataar, but the ones I saw had the following things in common: wood or wood & iron support structure (they don’t have a tree, per se, but they are built to keep the saddle off the horse’s spine), high pommel and cantle that are very close together (makes it harder to fall off), metal stirrups with flat bars that ranged from straight to circular shapes, two girths, and some padding for the rider. Multiple layers of felt and other blankets go between the saddle and the horse. I found the saddles very comfortable (I had the wood & iron type for the rides) and I am a fat old woman.

Are the bridles what I am used to?
Based on our tour, you’ll never have to bridle your horse yourself, so it’s a non-issue, but no, they aren’t nearly as complicated as the average English bridle. All of the bridles I saw had been knotted from cord or rawhide, probably by the horses’ owners, and they certainly could be repaired or replaced by any country-living Mongolian with a knife, and I’m not sure the knife is actually necessary. I got the impression that the only part of a bridle that had to be purchased was the bit. Simple snaffle bits were the only type I saw; other than being curved rather than straight, they are what you are used to. The throatlatch is kept quite loose, and rides on the horses' cheeks rather than where the head and neck meet.

Are all the horses trained to neck-rein?
Yes. Most Mongolian horses do the same work as old-fashioned cow ponies, and their riders need to have one hand free.

Is it true that the horses are still half wild? How do they behave?
Some Mongolian horses buck, or like to run away with their riders, the same as horses anywhere, but I didn’t see any of those saddled for tourists. The horses we were given to ride were the equivalent of school horses; calm, a bit lazy, and getting up there in age. Between locals not wanting to trust strangers with their good horses, and having a lot invested in making sure tourists stay out of trouble, you aren’t going to run into a problem horse. I encountered one horse who kicked, but that was it. Our group had a few people who had never been around horses before, and they didn’t have any trouble.

I heard that there is a word in Mongolian to tell a horse to go, but not one to tell it to stop; that isn’t true, is it?
I suppose it is technically true, because the sound you make to tell your horse to stop isn’t a “word”. However, it is not true that there is no way to tell a Mongolian horse to stop. “Go” is something like Tchoo, and “stop” is the sound you make when you blow through your lips imitating a horse.

Two more pieces of advice: Stand to the trot, don’t post, and wear bicycle shorts under your jeans unless you know for sure you can do a 12+ mile ride without chafing.

Travel drama: it wasn't cheap, but we ended up with better flights, a shorter layover on the way in, and more slack to enjoy our day in Ulaanbaatar before the tour began.