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Kyrgyzstan

We are in for a feast prepared for by a local family. Lunch was of local dishes and excellent.

Three children of the family that we had the pleasure of them preparing lunch for us. Kids are awesome no matter where in the world you are. They are all curious.

We were in for a treat when we stopped at this location. This group of horse riders is about to demonstrate for us the nommadic games of Kok-Boru, horse polo.

Here we see a rider attempting to pick up a bag left on the ground while riding his horse.

All the games are on horseback. Young men from their village demonstrate examples of "Horse Wrestling",

Two riders compete with one another to try and wrestle each other off the horse snatching up a dead goat from the ground while the horses gallop at top speed.

This version instead of a ball they use a headless goat which you see laying on the ground in the foreground.

Here you see a rider picking up the goat from the ground and begin the journey to the end of the field and score a point.

The object of the game is with the headless goat and using that as the object to score into the opposing team's goal.

The effort to wrestle and carry this off demands great strength and skill as the two teams face off against one another.

These games are typical to the Kyrgyzstan culture dating back centuries.

Kok Boru is a time-honored tradition among the nomadic tribes of Central Asia.

The object of the game is to pick up the goat carcass from the ground, race it down the field.

Then throw it into their own teams Kazan, a round container that acts as a goal at one end of the field.

In doing so, the team earns a point.

There are 3, 20-minute rounds to each game.

Much of the game revolves around a face-off scenario where a player from one team defends the goat and the player from the other team attempts to grab it off the ground.

Once a player picks up the goat, the excitement escalates quickly with horses racing, turning and stopping all along the field

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