What Makes a Good Horse? Insights From the Tibetan Horse Treatises
Observing its eyes, they bear a likeness to a rabbit—similar, though not truly a rabbit. Observing its throat and neck, they resemble a flying crane—similar, yet not truly a crane.
— From "The Treatise on Horses: The Silver Mirror" (རྟ་གཞུང་དངུལ་དཀར་མེ་ལོང་།): མགོ་བོ་མི་ལེགས་ཆེ་ལ་རིང་། རྣ་ཅོག་མི་ལེགས་སྦོམ་ལ་ཐུང་། མིག་ཕོར་མི་ལེགས་སྐམ་ལ་སྦྱར། མིག་འབྲས་མི་ལེགས་ཆེ་ལ་འབུར། （……） མཇུག་སྙིང་མི་ལེགས་རིང་ལ་སྦོམ། མཇུག་མ་མི་ལེགས་ཐུང་ལ་ཆུང་། པགས་པ་མི་ལེགས་མཐུག་ལ་གོག། སྤུ་ནི་མི་ལེགས་འཇམ་ལ་ཐུང་། Large and long is the head, a sign of poor quality; thick and short are the ears, likewise poor. Dry and closed are the eye sockets, while the eyeballs are large and bulging—both faults.
In the traditional Tibetan study of horses, herding and evaluation are interdependent: one patiently raises, then carefully trains, then judges and selects. A skilled herder must therefore have a certain level of skill in evaluating horses. As 'The Treatise on Horses: The Zur-luk Tradition' (རྟ་ཡི་འབྱུང་ཁུངས་ཅོག་རོའི་ལུགས་སུ་ཡི་གེར་བྲིས་པ།) states, a poor horse's tail hair is long and rough, its tail short and slight, its skin thick and old, and its coat short and soft.
In guiding their practice, they may depend on oral knowledge passed down through their families—such as related songs or chants—or on simple manuals whose content comes from classical equine studies dating to the Tibetan imperial period. Whereas horse herding is concerned with the herd’s overall scale and survival rate, horse evaluation focuses on a differentiated classification system and anthropomorphic extended descriptions.
Without the practice of horse evaluation serving as the foundation for final decision-making, the subsequent arts of horse taming and equine medicine would lack any basis for discussion. The French Tibetologist Madame Anne-Marie Blondeau (1935–) observed in her writings, "Observation is to elucidate the connections between principles and meanings.
Madame Blondeau is among the earliest scholars to research Tibetan horse science. With Mademoiselle Marcelle Lalou (1890–1967) as her supervisor, she completed *Les documents de Touen-houang sur l'élevage et la médecine des chevaux tibétains* in 1966, and it was published in 1972. That work examines the Dunhuang Tibetan manuscripts PT.1061–1066, which today are well recognized for their bearing on Tibetan horse science.
By tracing and analyzing specialized terminology, Madame Blondeau's research in Tibetan horse science—particularly horse evaluation and equine medicine—integrated the horse evaluation knowledge from classical texts (as explained in the general introduction to Tibetan horse science) with various localized horse evaluation practices.
Consequently, in interviews, besides expressing gratitude to her husband, an expert veterinarian, Madame Blondeau also proposed the vision of compiling a *Dictionary of Tibetan Horse Science* in the future. In traditional equine classics, the study of horse evaluation typically comprises three parts: analysis of horse breeds (see Tibetan Horse Studies: Part IV), practical knowledge based on observation and experience, and symbolic analysis that transcends the species of the horse itself.
Drawing on Tibetan myths about the origins of excellent horses, the breed analysis (རྟ་རིགས་འབྱེད་ཚུལ་) frequently links to the "five-source horses born from eggs" (see Tibetan Horse Studies: Parts II and III). Consequently, this section offers a local narrative basis for later general knowledge in horse assessment, rather than a scientific examination of horse types and origins.
Beyond the breed analysis mentioned earlier, some classical texts also follow a tradition of classifying horses by region, including Menyu horses and Turkic horses. In symbolic analysis, evaluating horses is not meant for practical use; rather, the horse serves as a fixed cultural symbol, with metaphors and other devices employed to explain cosmic principles and the philosophy of survival on the plateau.
Within Tibetan horse physiognomy, common horse evaluation knowledge—considered its most central component—is grouped into three categories: body evaluation, voice evaluation, and nature evaluation. Through body evaluation, a horse’s physical traits are discerned, with macro-level bodily structure exposing micro-level distinctions, thereby enabling classification of horses into upper, middle, and lower grades, or alternatively four grades.
By examining a horse’s nature, one can perceive its mental state; a horse with a stable soul (བླ་/བླ་གནས་བརྟག་པ་) can quickly interpret its surroundings, adapt its rapport with humans, and display strengths in the social division of labor. In turn, assessing its voice reveals its physical condition, since its calls are used to judge its vitality and its divinely granted fortune or misfortune.
Drawing from a synthesis of various classical texts, the category of body evaluation can be classified into ten types (or possibly more). These include examination of the head, skin, hair (with distinct terms for hair on different body parts), teeth, bones, tail (which is specifically subdivided into four items), upper body, hooves, hoof shell (རྭ་; this does not refer to horns), and lower body.
Of the body-evaluation principles mentioned earlier in classical texts, priority is given to four aspects: head, hair, skin, and hooves (including the hoof shell).
Tibetan horse evaluation commonly describes horses by drawing on the physical traits of other animals. This approach is clearly demonstrated in the practice of hair evaluation (སྤུ་རིགས་), where it is stated: "Hair that is coarse and long, resembling deer hair, and hair that is coarse and short, resembling tiger hair, are rated as the two superior types among horse hairs; hair that is soft and long, resembling fox hair, and hair that is soft and short, resembling weasel hair, are rated as the two inferior types among horse hairs; and hair that is neither coarse nor fine, resembling donkey hair, is rated as the medium type among horse hairs.
This system can convert abstract concepts into widely recognizable general impressions, thereby enabling comparison and evaluation of quality, even though such analogical methods may not be fully comprehensible to modern people. (Note: Knowledge graph of plateau animal imagery)
In horse evaluation, the assessment of skin (པགས་པ་དབྱེ་བ་) serves as one example: "skin that is thin and loose, like that of a mouse, or thin and loose like a stomach filled with milk—both are judged as medium; skin neither exceptionally thin nor noticeably thick is deemed inferior." The primary focus of horse evaluation, to a considerable degree, centers on underscoring the qualities of the "Heavenly Horse" (གནམ་རྟ་) or the "Fine Horse" (རྟ་མཆོག་), driven by the human aspiration to turn legendary divine creatures into practical, earthly mounts.
Thus, the call of a superior horse—pleasant and melodious—is like that of a lark; the call of a medium horse—urgent yet rhythmic—is like that of a donkey; and the call of an inferior horse—snorting and short—is like that of a domestic pig. While conducting meticulous examinations of a horse's physical features, discerning sages also took delight in setting out a systematic 'framework for evaluating excellence and inferiority' (བཟང་དཔྱད་/ངན་དཔྱད་), which naturally encompasses the evaluation of both voice and nature.
In Tibetan horse studies, those who are familiar with the subject understand that variations in a horse's internal energy are expressed through its call.
People believe that a fine horse, apart from possessing distinctive traits—with horse herds thought to have a complete and intricate social system—also mirrors humans in its understanding of the world and its pursuit of inner spirituality. This belief is reflected in the saying "Horses, humans, and dogs share a common consciousness" (མི་རྟ་ཁྱི་གསུམ་ནི་རྣམ་ཤེས་གཅིག་པ།). In terms of vocalizations, a wise, gentle fine horse uses its calls to guide its owner away from various dangers, whereas the calls of an inferior horse only point out basic bodily needs like "hunger.
Given this, in written accounts that evaluate nature, people still emphasize the wisdom and awareness inherent in horses (see Tibetan Horse Studies: Part IV), while also attending to the human–horse bond and the practical functions assigned to horses once classified—for instance, obedience training that contradicts their instinctive nature. Horses are never treated as mere "tools"; instead, they are "collaborators" who confront challenges together with humans.
To observe a horse is to observe humanity itself. Across thousands of years, people have cast their own happiness, grief, and moral assessments upon these beings that move between earth and sky, expressing a vision of life. "Superior horses attract the wise, inferior horses attract the foolish." This article has been translated from SuolangWangqing's blog.