Horses and mountains

If you will ask me - what is the connection between mountains, climbing and horses - I tell you a very simple thing. Most mountain routes, from easiest to very difficult, cannot be accomplished without the help of these irreplaceable participants in the mountain expeditions.

Without these graceful four-legged helpers, none of our programs in Altai or in any other mountains would be safe or even successful

Since the most ancient times, man has had two faithful friends and helpers, without whom it would have been impossible for our entire human world to originate or survive.

It is difficult to name a more socialized and sociable animal than a horse.

Two creatures that have walked the same path with man since the very beginning of human history are the horse and the dog. No other living creature in this world is connected with us by such long and unbreakable bonds of friendship and love. Without a horse it would be impossible to imagine any achievement of the past, not a single victory, not a single battle.

King Karl Johan and his faithful four-legged friend in front of the façade of the royal palace in Oslo, Norway

And without a dog, a person would be defenseless in the face of his many enemies - both from the human world and from the world of wild nature. The validity of my words is confirmed by the fact of numerous references to horses and dogs can be found in the sacred scriptures - in the Koran, the Bible and the Torah. As well as the frequent use of images of these animals on the ancient coins, along with images of gods, Caesars and emperors.

Roman coin from the 2nd century BC depicting a deity, an altar and a dog

Stories about the selfless devotion of these animals to humans, about self-sacrifice, about the purest and deepest love, have always inspired artists to be creative and provided subjects for creating the most piercing works of art.

The famous composition of the sculptor Klodt in St. Petersburg on the Anichkov Bridge

...The world has changed, we began to forget about our old and faithful friends. The rhythm of our life and modern technologies dictate and impose on us completely different tasks, values and speeds.

Behind which the pleasure of life is getting lost, accumulate dissatisfaction and fatigue.

Neither work nor survival in the wild would be possible without this furry friend

The inability to enjoy simple things is the most serious, although not obvious, problem of modern man.

In the turmoil of our world, very few people can remember how joyfully a horse meets its long-awaited human friend.

At dawn, half-wild horses came to greet us in the mountains of Georgia

Or how crystal splashes scatter at a watering by a mountain river from the contented snort of a thirst-quenching horse.

Or how endless feather grass fields float past the saddle, along which the wind drives the waves, as if across the sea.

Horses are enjoying freedom in a wild pasture in the mountains of Peru

For those who appreciate peaceful silence in this frantic pace of life, these moments are priceless. No engine noise, no jostling, no struggle for every tiny piece of space. Only endless mountain expanses, eternal snow on the horizon broken by steep ranges and the slight creaking of the saddle in time with the horse’s measured step.

Horses talking about something know only to them at the foot of Mount Kazbek, Caucasus, Georgia

When it gets dark, a light piece of fire will dance in the darkness, and from above there will be only an endlessly starry sky, not illuminated by the city lights, full of mysterious star life.

The upper reaches of the Tyzyl River in the Elbrus region is one of the few places in Caucasus that can still only be reached on horseback.

Horse riding route 'Scythian Trail' in the Elbrus region, North Caucasus

Nature here has retained its wildness and inaccessibility, pristine beauty and harsh splendor. Time has stopped its course at the foot of Elbrus, where, gradually rising to the eternal snows, endless gentle grassy hills alternate one after another.
Blooming in the spring, and in the fall - as if plush, burnt out under the summer heat.

Dawn in the east side of Mount Elbrus - the eternal calm and grandeur of the Caucasus Mountains

But these magics places keep not only the purity of nature. Some even more fragile and almost lost substance has been preserved here - the simplicity of human relationships, naive sincerity, which is the first to disappear with boorish, selfish and commercial treatment.

Over the 20 centuries of development of human civilization, there has never been a replacement for man’s faithful four-legged companion - the horse

The simplest hospitality, a glass of fresh milk offered by the weary hand of a shepherd. Leisurely conversation under the light of a dim lantern in a remote shed - all that directly touches and makes to resound the deep strings of the human soul.

Literally in that there is the greatest value of such travels, far from extreme records and sports competitions, from the acute feeling of being “on the edge”.

Author of text and photographs, mountain horse riding routes, mountaineering, rockclimbing and iceclimbing programs - Alex Trubachev

MCS EDIT 2023

Horses and mountains

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