Horses in Mongolia, from seasonal pastures to imperial post roads

How people cared for, equipped and travelled with horses

Long before the Mongol Empire, herding communities relied on horses for part of their food supply and mobility. Animal remains and equipment reveal some of the changes in that relationship. Later texts and objects show the networks, duties and people that kept horses moving.

1. Third millennium to late second millennium BCE

   Herders add mare’s milk to the resources of their herds

   Human dental calculus, the hardened deposits on teeth, can preserve proteins from food. A study published in 2020 found dairy proteins in remains from several parts of Mongolia. It documents ruminant milk consumption around 3000 BCE, followed by mare’s milk around 1200 BCE.

   Ruminants such as cattle, sheep and goats were therefore providing milk before the earliest horse-milk evidence in this study. Horse keeping became part of a pastoral way of life already involving several animals. The proteins identify a food source; they do not reveal a particular recipe for a fermented drink.

   In the Late Bronze Age, horse heads were deposited around stone monuments in northern Mongolia. Archaeozoology, the study of ancient animal remains, allows researchers to examine their age, treatment and marks on their teeth. Those horses also preserve evidence of early care.

   Source: Wilkin et al. — five millennia of dairy consumption, 2020 · Taylor et al. — Origins of equine dentistry, 2018

2. Around 1150 BCE, then around 750 BCE

   Dental care changes as troublesome teeth meet new bits

   Researchers found signs of human intervention on poorly positioned milk incisors dating to around 1150 BCE. Herders had tried to alter or remove an awkward tooth in young horses. The mouth provides a place where particular acts of ancient animal care can be recognised.

   Another practice appears in the studied remains around 750 BCE: removing the wolf tooth. This small first premolar sits in front of the larger cheek teeth that grind food. Its position can bring it into contact with the bit, the mouthpiece used to convey a rider’s signals.

   The authors connect the emergence of this practice with jointed bronze and iron bits. Their interpretation links a change in equipment to new problems of contact inside the mouth. The evidence reveals people adapting horse care to riding, many centuries before Chinggis Khan.

   Source: Taylor et al. — Origins of equine dentistry, 2018

3. Fourth to early fifth century CE

   An Altai birchwood saddle reveals an elaborate construction

   A cave burial at Urd Ulaan Uneet in the Mongolian Altai yielded a saddle made from several pieces of birch. Leather ties held together a structure painted red and edged in black. Its construction gives a tangible view of the craft involved in equipping a horse.

   A rigid frame held the seat’s shape, unlike a simple pad placed on the horse’s back. The study places the saddle within changes to riding equipment in East Asia and earlier traditions, including those of the Xiongnu period. Its design belongs to a history of successive assemblies and adaptations.

   Radiocarbon dating of a sample from the saddle gives a range of 267–535 CE. The estimated central date around 420 is not a known year of manufacture. Attachment points lead the researchers to suggest paired stirrups, although the saddle’s stirrups have not survived.

   Source: Bayarsaikhan et al. — saddles and riding technology in the Altai

4. From 1206, during the thirteenth century

   The Mongol Empire’s armies depend on riders and their mounts

   Chinggis Khan, also known as Genghis Khan, founded the Mongol Empire in 1206. His armies and those of his successors conquered vast areas of Eurasia. Mounted archers fought on horseback, and riders’ mobility was a central part of those campaigns.

   Riding, shooting a bow and moving as a group required training, equipment and horses that were cared for. Surviving armour also shows the need to protect a rider while allowing movement. Behind a battle lay grazing, water, care and the work of people preparing the animals.

   That military power accompanied violent conquests for the populations attacked. Horses had other roles within the empire too: they carried orders and connected centres of authority. Those communications required an organisation of their own.

   Source: International Spy Museum — a Mongol rider’s equipment · Rubin Museum — a Mongol messenger’s authority tablet

5. Thirteenth–fourteenth centuries and later continuities

   Post stations provide messengers with fresh horses, food and lodging

   A messenger could not expect one horse to cover every stage of a long journey without rest. The imperial post-road system allowed travellers on official business to change mounts and obtain food and lodging. Communication depended on a chain of places prepared for their arrival.

   An authority tablet called a paiza or gerege made the holder’s right to request those resources visible. The object presented by the Rubin Museum dates from the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. It connects a message, the authority sending it and the horses that people had to supply.

   Maintaining the stations imposed work and demands for resources on local communities. Historian Christopher Atwood explains that post-road duties continued in Mongolia and Tibet into the mid-twentieth century. The network relied on residents’ labour as much as on the speed of their mounts.

   Source: Rubin Museum — a Mongol messenger’s authority tablet

6. Later twentieth century and early 1990s

   Collectives and then privatisation change the organisation of herding

   During the socialist period, herding collectives organised production and some of the services needed by livestock keepers. FAO describes seasonal mobility continuing within this system. Animals still moved between pastures, supported by arrangements for transport, fodder and labour.

   From 1992, privatisation transferred most livestock to households and changed access to services and markets. Owning horses did not by itself solve questions of water, feed reserves or movement. Families still needed to coordinate their work with the resources available to them.

   This history helps explain why pastoral nomadism also involves social organisation. Animals’ routes depend on the environment and on the people who maintain a water point, arrange a move or provide fodder. Ownership has changed, while those practical needs remain.

   Source: FAO — Mongolian pastures and livestock keeping, 2005

7. From 1992

   Conservation programmes bring the takhi back to Mongolia

   Przewalski’s horse, or takhi, disappeared from the wild in the late 1960s. Animals maintained in captivity made it possible to prepare for its return. Reintroductions began in Mongolia in 1992, including at Hustai, and developed across several sites.

   Returning the horses involved more than opening a fence. Teams had to transport animals, allow them to acclimatise and then monitor their groups, reproduction and living conditions. At Hustai, takhi conservation forms part of managing a natural area and its other species.

   Takhi are distinct from herders’ domestic horses. A herd visible on the open steppe is therefore not necessarily a group of Przewalski’s horses. This distinction also explains why livestock censuses and conservation monitoring address different questions.

   Source: Hustai National Park — takhi reintroduction and conservation · IUCN — the return of Przewalski’s horse, 2018

8. Twenty-first century

   Passing on pastoral knowledge while facing difficult winters

   Families pass on knowledge of pastures, routes and animals through everyday work. UNESCO’s inscription of Mongol nomad migration as intangible cultural heritage in 2024 recognises these practices, in which every move requires preparation by the household.

   The winter of 2023–2024 also showed how access to resources can break down. During a dzud, extreme cold, snow or ice prevent grazing animals from finding enough food. People’s movements and access to services can be interrupted too.

   Understanding present-day herding therefore means considering both the horses and the resources available to their keepers. Local knowledge, water, reserves and the ability to move all interact. The annual census records an outcome of pastoral life, without describing every condition behind it.

   Source: UNESCO — Mongol nomad migration, inscribed in 2024 · WHO — the 2023–2024 winter dzud

Keeping horses across seasonal pastures and household activities

Horse populations are spread across different environments. In the 2025 census, Arkhangai, Töv, Dornod, Övörkhangai and Khövsgöl have the highest horse counts. An aimag is a Mongolian province; the chart compares these five provinces at the same time and for the same animal category.

Source: NSO — livestock census, table DT_NSO_1001_021V1

Organisations behind the figures, programmes and living traditions

Livestock counting, agricultural policy, conservation and cultural heritage involve different organisations. Their publications offer ways to investigate the particular question that interests you.

The NSO publishes counts by animal, year and area

National Statistics Office of Mongolia — NSO

The National Statistics Office makes livestock census results available through its 1212 database. Tables allow users to select the animal, year and geographical level.

To compare Arkhangai and Töv, select horses and the same year, then check the unit, thousands of head, before interpreting the values.

Source: NSO — livestock census, table DT_NSO_1001_021V1

The agriculture ministry brings sector publications together

Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry

The ministry publishes sector information and provides access to national statistics. Its statistics section gathers bulletins that include livestock production.

Readers can find annual or quarterly publications and distinguish the date of publication from the period covered by their data.

Source: Mongolia’s agriculture ministry — statistical publications

Hustai’s teams support the return of the takhi

Hustai National Park

The park presents its reintroduction programme and monitoring of Przewalski’s horses within a protected natural area. Conservation also involves the habitat and the park’s other animals.

Its accounts explain acclimatisation and monitoring after transport. A population figure then needs a report specifying the date and area of the count.

Source: Hustai National Park — takhi reintroduction and conservation

The heritage centre documents skills and their transmission

National Center for Cultural Heritage — NCCH

Mongolia’s National Center for Cultural Heritage documents practices and the people who keep them alive. Its resources describe makers, practitioners and teachers.

Its account of airag explains the equipment, preparation and customs associated with mare’s milk, giving substance to the name of the drink.

Source: National Center for Cultural Heritage — airag practices

The Mongolian horse and some local populations

Mongolia’s domestic horses include populations shaped by their environments and uses. Publications distinguish several local breeds or lines, using somewhat different names and categories. The examples below provide points of reference; takhi belong to a separate history of wild-equid conservation.

Racing, mare’s milk and music in Mongolian life

Sources for Mongolia’s horse numbers and equine history

References alongside the text lead to the documents below. Censuses describe animals at a particular time; studies of ancient remains, DNA and cultural practices address other questions. Each note identifies the relevant dates and scope.

1. NSO — livestock census, table DT_NSO_1001_021V1

   National and local table updated on 21 August 2026 and consulted on 12 November 2026. Selected observations run from the end of 1990 to the end of 2025. Source values in thousands of head are converted to animals. The provincial comparison uses the same edition.

2. NSO — 2024 livestock census release, January 2025

   Release dated 16 January 2025, with table 1 on page 1 and provincial information on page 2. Its initial 2024 count differs slightly from the updated table. It documents the release of results, but its early value is not mixed into the chart’s series.

3. Wilkin et al. — five millennia of dairy consumption, 2020

   Research on proteins preserved in human dental calculus. Evidence of ruminant and later horse milk documents consumption in the analysed remains, without revealing the recipes of ancient drinks.

4. Taylor et al. — Origins of equine dentistry, 2018

   Archaeozoological research in PNAS describing intervention on milk incisors around 1150 BCE and wolf teeth around 750 BCE. The authors discuss connections with changing bits. Findings concern the remains examined.

5. Bayarsaikhan et al. — saddles and riding technology in the Altai

   Published online in 2023 and in Antiquity’s 2024 volume. Description and dating of the Urd Ulaan Uneet birchwood saddle. The central date around 420 is an estimate; paired stirrups are suggested from attachments, rather than preserved with the saddle.

6. Rubin Museum — a Mongol messenger’s authority tablet

   Historian Christopher P. Atwood explains the rights conveyed by a paiza and the post-road system. The object dates to the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. The essay also describes the work required of communities supplying resources.

7. International Spy Museum — a Mongol rider’s equipment

   Collection account of a helmet, armour and spear dated 1325–1350. It connects protection, mobility and mounted archery. It is not used to assign a fixed number of horses to each soldier.

8. FAO — Mongolian pastures and livestock keeping, 2005

   J. M. Suttie’s chapter in Grasslands of the world, drawing mainly on observations from the 1990s–2002. It explains seasonal mobility, collectives, privatisation and horse uses. Its historical yields, prices and counts are not presented as current figures.

9. UNESCO — Mongol nomad migration, inscribed in 2024

   Account of movement between pastures, preparation and learning within families. It describes living heritage rather than measuring how many Mongolian households follow these practices.

10. WHO — the 2023–2024 winter dzud

    Publication of 28 February 2024 on extreme winter conditions and disruption to movement and services. Emergency reports covering several animal species are not used as annual horse-loss figures.

11. An et al. — diversity in five Mongolian horse populations, 2022

    Study of 269 horses using 14 genetic markers. It compares Gobi shankh, Tes, Gal shar, Darkhad and Undurshil, with descriptions of their environments. The sample is neither a national census nor disease screening for those populations.

12. Hustai National Park — takhi reintroduction and conservation

    The park’s account of its programme, begun in 1992. Historical information explains reintroduction and monitoring; undated numbers on the site are not used as a current national population count.

13. IUCN — the return of Przewalski’s horse, 2018

    Historical overview published in March 2018 on reintroduction and the sites involved. Numbers in that account describe its own period and are not treated as a 2026 census.

14. UNESCO — Naadam, 2010 decision

    Decision 5.COM 6.32 describes the festival, its three games, songs and transmission. It documents cultural heritage rather than supplying current racing regulations.

15. UNESCO — making airag, 2019 decision

    Decision 14.COM 10.B.24 concerns preparation in a hide vessel and associated customs. It describes cooling, starter culture and churning alongside the social life of the practice.

16. UNESCO — traditional music of the morin khuur

    Account of the fiddle, its connections with the horse and how its music is passed on. Proclamation in 2003 and inscription on the list in 2008 are separate stages.

17. National Center for Cultural Heritage — airag practices

    Mongolian heritage account of equipment, preparation and transmission. It connects the heritage description with the people and activities sustaining the practice.

18. Gunsmaa et al. — injuries among child riders, 2025 volume

    Study in Western Pacific Surveillance and Response comparing 2015–2018 and 2019–2022. Records cover injuries to children riding animals; all incidents cannot be attributed to racing alone. The article is not presented as the law in force in 2026.

19. Mongolia’s agriculture ministry — statistical publications

    Access to sector bulletins and statistics prepared with the NSO, including 2025 and first-half 2026 publications. The reporting period needs to be checked in each bulletin.