How high-ranking horses are buried in Mongolia (7 photos)

Surprisingly, horses in Mongolia are buried better than some people. Of course, when it comes to VIP horses, i.e. celebrity horses.





There is even, don’t be surprised, a special cemetery for them in this country. And every Mongol dreams that his horse will have the right to be buried not in an unnamed place somewhere in the steppe, but in this cemetery, with a gravestone and a full-length sculpture of the deceased animal.

This famous cemetery is located near the city of Arvaikheer, named after the legendary horse that won races for more than 20 years.

It’s interesting that this is a newfangled modern feature, and there is no information about any known ancient cemeteries of VIP horses in Mongolia. Although the ritual of funeral of a horse has existed for many centuries. It’s just that horses were usually buried, like people, just in the steppe under a hill of stones.



In terms of burying horses, what is unusual is the fact that the Mongols traditionally did not bury people in the ground; they either burned the body, or sent it to the bottom of a reservoir, or covered it with a pile of stones. But the horse was consigned to the ground.

The ritual of burying a horse, even a not famous one, is also interesting.

An autopsy is required to determine the cause of death. After this, the heart is cut out, the head is taken away, and the body is burned on a ritual fire under the ritual of the lama.

The heart is pickled in a very strong saline solution, kept there for several days, and then buried. That is, the funeral takes place directly from the heart.

The head is boiled so that all the flesh is separated from the bone, all possible remains are carefully removed from the skull, it is treated with salt and left to bake in the sun.

Well, after that they put it on top of the grave mound.





Now monuments can be erected to horses. And they are buried next to the owner, as you can see in this photo.

A monument to a horse will definitely have its name on a plaque and an image of the horse itself (the monument on the left, in the middle of the frame).



In a cemetery of famous horses, such monuments stand side by side with each other.



In addition, in this cemetery, for especially famous horses, a statue-copy of a horse is made in full size and in accordance with its color.

It turns out that there is a kind of pantheon of several dozen VIP-VIP horses, the most famous champions on separate pedestals, surrounded by hundreds of monuments without statues and thousands of skulls of horses that are quite simpler.



Monuments with figures of the best champions are surrounded by a ring of several thousand skulls of horses that participated in many races, but did not gain any glory.

But as racehorses, they have the right to be buried in this special cemetery. But a Mongol will not be able to bury an ordinary horse here, no matter how much he dreams about it and wants it for his pet...