Kazakhstan revives Kazanat horse breed

The ancient Kazakh breed of horses Kazanat will be revived. For this, a special roadmap will be developed. It has been scientifically proven that the horses were first domesticated 6,000 years ago on the Kazakh land. Our ancestors described such horses as fast, agile, hardy and intelligent. They are real comrades in arms, loyal friends. Those were the horses such as Kulager of Akan Seri, Taiburyl of Kobylandy batyr anf Kubas of Kabanbai batyr. Now the preservation and development of the breed, which is known as ‘Kostanai’, will be carried out at the national level.

“Deputy Prime Minister Yeraly Togzhanov held several informal and official meetings in this regard, and gave instructions to the competent state bodies. The point is to present this breed of horses - as a brand of our country, as indigenous horse breed. The roadmap includes various works, including the intensive selection and restoration of work on the cultivation of these horses,” said Rakhat Zhaksybai, Executive Director, Kazakhstan Ethnosport Association. 

The Kazanat horse breed was revived at the end of the 19th century, and in 1951 it was officially documented as ‘Kostanai’ breed. Then there were about 44,000 species, while today there are 48 of them at the farm. A quarter of them are mares. It is a hybrid of local purebred horse. Foals up to four generations are purebred, only later - they can be crossed with each other. This is done artificially. Now, one more direction - natural selection is proposed. For this, the best will be identified.

“Primarily, we select through sports competitions. For the first time, this year, we held separate closed horse races for the Kostanai breed as part of the competition for the Cup of the Head of State. A DNA test is also carried out there. The horse must have a passport, blood specimen is collected and if 50% of the DNA of the Kostanai horse is found, he is allowed to competitions. About 15 horses participated this year,” added Rakhat Zhaksybai, Executive Director, Kazakhstan Ethnosport Association. 

The competition to determine the best horse has become traditional and every year it is becoming more in demand. The prize fund is also increasing. This gives an incentive to Kazakh residents to grow and increase the number of the breed, the specialist believes. After the first competitions, the price for them increased to five million tenge.

Translation by Saule Mukhamejanova