The North American Budenny Horse Society
Living History: The Horse and War 09/01/2009
 The Golden Horse Quarterly First Edition: Volume 3 / September 1, 2009 The ultimate cavalry horse: undemanding, intelligent, and brave. A cavalry mount was a soldier’s partner upon which he could rely on to make independent decisions while the rider was busy handling weapons in battle. Upon its inception as a tool of battle, the cavalry horse fast became a valuable asset that could turn the tide of wars by bolstering fighting men with tremendous speed and mobility. The danger and greatness of mounted warriors is lost to the modern world, where horses are primarily for sport and leisure. But in ancient times, warhorses were the hottest commodities for hundreds of years. Despite trials of different mounts, horses prevailed in popularity over camels, elephants, and asses. They allowed the Mongol warriors to triumph over the largest empire the world has ever seen. Mounted archers from the north inspired Greek legends of centaurs for their skills as horsemen and fighters. All the great empires and kingdoms had their sources for supplying horses for cavalry and chariot, and the regions most suitable for horse raising became famous for their stock. The Athenians chose their mounts, ancestors of the Andravida, from Ilia. European knights favored the Spanish horses of Andalusia, and Egyptian pharaohs and Assyrian kings both traded for and took in conquest vast herds of Nubian horses. When Piye, the Kushite founder of the 25th dynasty of Egypt, went to subdue the city of King Nimlot, it is said that he rejected his conqueror’s rights to choose from the royal women for his harem. But his affinity for horses did not go without notice. In a translation from a victory stele, Piye reviewed the palace of his opponent and then: [His majesty went to the stable of the horses, and the quarter of the foals. When he saw that they h ad been left to hunger he said: As Re loves me … that my horses were made to hunger pains me more than any other crime you committed in your recklessness...] In American colonial times horses were imported for the use of Spanish conquistadors and English soldiers. The Native Americans took the feral descendants of these and developed their own horse and pony types for hunting and war. The cavalry horse was instrumental in the American Civil War, and had continued use in Eurasia.  After the massive casualties of World War I, the Russian cavalry was heavily depleted and in need of remounts. Horseflesh, like human, does not withstand well to the rigors of gunfire. Marshall Semyon Budenny, a respected Soviet cavalry general, undertook the task with a grand vision of creating the ideal cavalry officer’s horse in 1921. An officer’s horse had higher demands on its potential to survive, and on its endurance to regularly travel the cavalry column with speed. Years before in wars with France, Don horsemen hired by Russia chased the enemy across rivers with limitless daring. Their horses were a steppe breed born and raised on the unforgiving steppes of northern Russia. They were called the Don after the horse culture that cultivated them. This hardy horse became the base stock from which the Budenny sprang. In 1949, the breed was officially recognized. In the Rostov region, government-guided stud farms crossed the mares with Russian and European Thoroughbred stallions to improve on the look, speed, and conformation of the Don. Because foals inherit over 50% of their looks and temperament from their dams, using native mares helped to preserve the integrity of the steppe horse. More minor contributions came from the stocky Mongolian-influenced Kazakh pony; the surefooted horse of the Tien Shan mountains, the Kirghiz; and the Zaporozhian Cossack’s Chernomor of the Caucasus Mountains. The Budenny horse possesses a highly trainable and intelligent mind. Known as one-person horses, they bond with their handler as befitting a breed destined to be a soldier’s partner. The Budenny needed to be easily controllable, sure-footed, brave, spirited and able to make independent decisions for itself so that its rider could be otherwise occupied. Over 80% of Budennys are chestnut with a metallic golden sheen, a factor that has been attributed to the Don heritage and Akhal-Teke ancestry. After the close of World War II and the disbanding of the USSR cavalry in 1953, the Budenny was transitioned into the role of sporthorse. In Russia it is well known as an exceptional showjumper, and endurance races are regularly run to test for the quality of young stock. Budennys have been known to perform well in jumping, dressage, steeplechase, and eventing. The Thoroughbred influence can be marked in some individuals, but generally there can be seen a distinction in the substance of the body and legs. The Budenny also possesses the unique physical attribute of being able to recover faster from hard exercise and with lower pulse rates than the average horse. This makes them exceptional candidates for sport and is testament to the rigorous athletic standards that base stock were subjected to. Research: Robert G. Morkot’s The Black Pharaohs: Egypt’s Nubian Rulers Budenny, http://www.horses.ru/budenny.htm _____________________________________________________________________ Article by Karina Rapp Leave a Reply | The Golden Horse QuarterlyAn e-mail based publication featuring interviews with knowledgeable horsepeople, rare breed profiles and Budenny history. CategoriesAll ArchivesMarch 2010 |
RSS Feed