6. Day, January 27, 2020
Before I start painting my Cossack horse, some history:
There were (and are) two different Cossack tribes in Russia: the steppe cossacks and the so-called "line cossacks"!
The best known steppe cossacks are those of the Don Host, which have bred their horses themselves from an old age. The focus was on endurance (high marching performance), insensitivity to weather and climate, and frugality.
And the Don Cossacks paid attention to equality in their horse breeding!
Almost 90 percent of Don horses (actually their own breed!) Are so-called "foxes", so they have a reddish-brown coat and a mane of the same color ...:
The second photo was my template years ago, when I painted the horse of my Don Cossack Kusma Krjutschkow ...:
The horses of the "line cossacks", however, were completely different! They were called that because they guarded the so-called "line", Russia's southern border in the Caucasus, which was formed by the rivers Kuban and Terek.
The line cossacks formed two armies, namely the Kuban Cossacks and the Terek Cossacks.
And they needed horses that coped perfectly with the conditions in the Caucasus - the plains and high mountains.
The Cossacks did not have to "invent" and breed these horses when they came to the Caucasus - they already existed!
It was the "Karbadine" Caucasian horse breed!
Originally, these horses came from the "Karbada", an autonomous Caucasian principality that was tiny in the old days (until the Russians subjugated it and incorporated it into their sphere of influence), but today the Kabarda together with the neighboring region forms the Republic of Karbado-Balkaria of the Russian Federation...:
The horses bred there were perfectly adapted to the conditions of the Caucasus!
They were extremely efficient and persistent and coped with the hot summers (up to 30 degrees!) on the plains as well as with extreme winter conditions (up to minus 20 degrees!) in the high mountains.
They were undemanding in terms of their feed (the high Caucasus is not exactly known for its lush meadows!), had relatively small but extremely hard hooves (which made them "off-road" on rock, so to speak, without needing to be shod!) and they were extremely sure-footed in the mountains.
A typical Karbadine horse is much more delicate than a western European, well proportioned and of "noble" appearance ...:
The Cossacks in the Caucasus adopted not only the way of life and clothing (the famous "Circassian uniform") from their native opponents, but also their horses and training methods.
The horses were loyal like dogs and perfectly trained for every fight.
During the firefight, they lay down on a "wink" from their rider and offered him cover...
...they had soft passages (i.e. their backs did not swing) and thus offered their rider a good "shooting platform" even at full gallop!
And when it came to close combat, these horses also fought by pushing, beating and biting opposing horses - and also their riders!
Imagine a "red" cavalryman who fights against a "white" Cossack and who has his hands full fighting back the Cossack saber hacking at him. And suddenly his opponent's horse bites him fully in the unprotected thigh!
Such a horse has blunt teeth, so it doesn't tear holes when it bites, but causes extremely painful bruises and bruises!
I know what I am talking about: once in a lifetime a horse bit me"rightely" (in the kidney area when sitting up) - and it literally took weeks until I could walk straight and painlessly and the remains of this "horse kiss", shimmering in all colors had healed!
Certain fur colors, such as those of the Don Cossacks, were of little importance in the Caucasus, but in the field "unobtrusive" colors - black and brown mostly - were preferred...:
On the other hand, more conspicuous molds were ridden for representation purposes - such as in the "Dschgitowka" artists' games.
Well - I want to equip my Cossack, who is standing in the field, with a normal "brown" - and once I went in search of a "horse face" that I like.
I chose this one here ...:
I then picked these colors together ...
... and started painting the horse's head.
Here are the first results ...:
So much for today!
Cheers
