Buzkashi: Equestrian Sport of Central Asia
23. Apr, 2009 
7 Comments
Pita Kelekna over at This Side of the Pond, the American Blog of the Cambridge University Press, has written about one of the most interesting equestrian sports, Buzkashi.
In case you have been sleeping under a rock somewhere, Buzkashi is a traditional Central Asian (think Afghanistan) team sport played on horseback, which is more or less translated as, “grab the goat.” I don’t understand why Central Asians don’t use balls like polo players, or how the use of a dead goat, emptied of entrails, soaked in cold water for 24 hours to toughen the hide, enhances the sport, but there you have it. It probably has to do with the fact that the goat is a former sentient being. In any case at least the Central Asians are more honest about their “balls” than Americans. It’s closer to its original form (and less “doctored” for emotional deniability than, say, a football, whose pigskin cover has been conveniently removed many steps from the original animal. Nonetheless, some of us know what a football is. Lest any “morally superior” Westerners look down their noses at those “primitive” Afghans, remember: you play ball with the stuffed skin of a pig. You are not that different!
Buzkashi Game
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZpuOn86PYI&hl=en&fs=1]
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Wow – the goat issue aside, the way some of the horses’ mouths are being pulled kind of freaks me out!
But I’m an equine sport wimp – I can’t watch Rolex either!
And I completely freaked at how loud the music was at the Equine Extraviganza a couple of years ago.
i just got this visual of american football being played on horseback! what a fascinating game. i had seen it before, but i still don’t necessarily understand the rules or objectives. those horses are amazing, though they do take a beating…
i always wondered if the origin of the game had anything to do with the way nomadic and pastoral cultures seem to celebrate ‘stealing’ one anothers livestock… it sometimes seems more a pastime than a crime :-\ i remember hearing a gaelic lullaby in which a father promises his son one day he’ll teach him to steal sheep! and all the myths and songs about cattle raids…
my copy of the book has arrived, but i haven’t had a chance to dig into it yet. thanks for turning us on to it!
Hi, nice post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for writing. I will certainly be subscribing to your posts.
Check out Ox Game USA .
Interesting!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk2ypPL6cKU&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]
Ox game play by our cowboys and cowgirls for four years,
it is so great to support our troops in Afghanistan .
glenshee
Now horses would definitely be an improvement to American football, in my opinion.
If you click on the photos above, they will take you sites that explain the rules of the game, and its origins.
I LOVE your historical explanation, though, so if you discover something different, don’t post it here. I’m sticking with yours.
Glad you got the book. Do let us know if Kelekna failed to post anything we should all know about.