What is a Good Horse? ▎Tibetan Horse Studies
"Dharmapala; Dorje Drakden"
Mid-18th century, Collection of the National Gallery of Canada
Detail: A Roaming Black Horse as the Mount
མིག་ཕོར་ལ་བལྟས་ན་རི་བོང་འདྲ། རི་བོང་འདྲ་སྟེ་རི་བོང་མིན།
མགྲིན་པར་བལྟས་ན་ཁྲུང་ཁྲུང་འདྲ། ཁྲུང་ཁྲུང་འདྲ་སྟེ་ཁྲུང་ཁྲུང་མིན།
Eyes like a rabbit, resembling yet not a rabbit;
Throat and neck like a flying crane, resembling yet not a crane.
— Excerpt from "The Treatise on Horses: The Silver Mirror" (རྟ་གཞུང་དངུལ་དཀར་མེ་ལོང་།)
"Vertical Rectangular Dual-Symbol Prayer Flag / Wind Horse Flag"
First half of the 20th century, Collected by John Driver
Held at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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་།
A poor head is large and long, poor ears are thick and short;
Poor eye sockets are dry and closed, poor eyeballs are large and bulging.
(...)
Poor tail hair is long and coarse, a poor tail is short and small;
Poor skin is thick and aged, poor hair is soft and short.
— Excerpt from "The Treatise on Horses: The Zur-luk Tradition" (རྟ་ཡི་འབྱུང་ཁུངས་ཅོག་རོའི་ལུགས་སུ་ཡི་གེར་བྲིས་པ།)
"Panoramic View of the Holy City Lhasa"
Early 19th century, Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum
Detail: Mounted Attendants and Musicians on Fine Horses
Patiently raising, then carefully training, followed by judgment and selection—in the traditional Tibetan study of horses, horse herding and horse evaluation are interdependent. A skilled horse herder must possess a certain level of expertise in horse evaluation. They sometimes rely on orally transmitted knowledge within their families (such as related songs or chants), while other times they turn to simple manuals (whose content originates from classical equine studies formed during the Tibetan imperial period) to guide their practice. If horse herding focuses on the overall scale and survival rate of the herd, then horse evaluation centers on a differentiated classification system and anthropomorphic extended descriptions. As noted by the French Tibetologist Madame Anne-Marie Blondeau (1935–) in her writings, "Observation is to elucidate the connections between principles and meanings." Without the act of horse evaluation as the foundation for final decision-making, the subsequent arts of horse taming and equine medicine would lack a basis for discussion.
"Mr. Rolf A. Stein and Madame Anne-Marie Blondeau"
1995, Paris
Photographed by Victoire Rouis
As one of the earliest pioneers in the study of Tibetan horse science, Madame Blondeau, under the guidance of Mademoiselle Marcelle Lalou (1890–1967), completed her work *Les documents de Touen-houang sur l'élevage et la médecine des chevaux tibétains* in 1966 (published in 1972). The text discusses the now well-known Dunhuang Tibetan manuscripts PT.1061–1066 related to Tibetan horse science. For Madame Blondeau, the study of Tibetan horse science, particularly horse evaluation and equine medicine, focused on tracing and analyzing specialized terminology, thereby integrating 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.
"The Man at the Horse Racing Field"
2005, Photographed by Barbara Hind
Collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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. The analysis of horse breeds (རྟ་རིགས་འབྱེད་ཚུལ་) is derived from Tibetan myths concerning the origins of fine horses and is often associated with the "five-source horses born from eggs" (see Tibetan Horse Studies: Parts II and III). Thus, this section does not aim to scientifically analyze horse types and origins but rather provides a localized narrative foundation for subsequent common knowledge in horse evaluation. It should be noted that, in some classical texts, in addition to the aforementioned breed analysis, there exists a tradition of distinguishing horse breeds by region (such as Menyu horses and Turkic horses). In symbolic analysis, the study of horse evaluation does not serve practical purposes but rather treats the horse as a fixed cultural symbol, employing metaphors and other techniques to expound upon cosmic principles and the philosophy of survival on the plateau.
"The Dwelling Place of the Horse's Soul"
Image Source: Equestrian Classics from the Tibetan Region of Nepal
Excerpted from Petra Maurer's related article (2019)
As the most core part of Tibetan horse physiognomy, common horse evaluation knowledge can be divided into three categories: evaluating the body, evaluating the voice, and evaluating the nature. Evaluating the body enables one to understand the horse’s physical characteristics, using macro physical structure to reveal micro differences, which then allows horses to be classified into upper, middle, and lower grades (or four grades). Evaluating the voice enables one to understand the horse’s physical condition, as its calls are used to assess its vitality and divine fortune or misfortune. Evaluating the nature enables one to understand the horse’s mental state; a horse with a stable soul (བླ་/བླ་གནས་བརྟག་པ་) can promptly analyze the current situation, adjust its relationship with humans, and demonstrate advantages in social division of labor. Regarding the category of evaluating the body, synthesizing various classical texts allows it to be divided into ten types (or even more): examining the head, examining the skin, examining the hair (different terms for hair in different parts), examining the teeth, examining the bones, examining the tail (specifically divided into four items), examining the upper body, examining the hooves, examining the hoof shell (རྭ་; this does not refer to horns), and examining the lower body.
"Blue Beryl Medical Thangka: Properties of Medicinal Ingredients"
First half of the 20th century, Lhasa Men-Tsee-Khang Collection
Detail: Horse Bone
"Blue Beryl Medical Thangka: Properties of Medicinal Ingredients"
First half of the 20th century, Lhasa Men-Tsee-Khang Collection
Detail: Horse Hoof
Among the aforementioned principles of body evaluation in classical texts, the four aspects of head, hair, skin, and hooves (including the hoof shell) are prioritized. Taking hair evaluation (སྤུ་རིགས་) as an example: "Coarse and long like deer hair, coarse and short like tiger hair—these two are considered superior among horse hairs; soft and long like fox hair, soft and short like weasel hair—these two are considered inferior among horse hairs; neither coarse nor fine, like donkey hair—this is considered medium among horse hairs." Tibetan horse evaluation techniques often employ the physical characteristics of other animals to describe horses. While modern people may not fully understand such analogical methods, this system can transform abstract concepts into general impressions familiar to the world, facilitating comparison and judgment of quality (Note: Knowledge graph of plateau animal imagery). Taking skin evaluation (པགས་པ་དབྱེ་བ་) as an example: "Thin and loose like mouse skin, thin and loose like a stomach filled with milk—these two are considered medium; skin that is neither particularly thin nor thick is considered inferior."
"Blue Beryl Medical Thangka: Properties of Medicinal Ingredients"
First half of the 20th century, Lhasa Men-Tsee-Khang Collection
Detail: Horse Dung
"The Seven Treasures: The Dark Blue Horse Treasure"
Mid-19th century, Rubin Museum of Art Collection
To a large extent, the core of horse evaluation focuses on highlighting the virtues of the "Heavenly Horse" (གནམ་རྟ་) or the "Fine Horse" (རྟ་མཆོག་), serving the human desire to transform legendary divine horses into earthly steeds. Therefore, while conducting detailed analyses based on the horse's physical features, discerning sages also took pleasure in summarizing a systematic "framework for evaluating excellence and inferiority" (བཟང་དཔྱད་/ངན་དཔྱད་), which naturally includes evaluating the voice and evaluating the nature. "The call of a superior horse is like that of a lark, pleasant and melodious; the call of a medium horse is like that of a donkey, urgent yet rhythmic; the call of an inferior horse is like that of a domestic pig, snorting and short." For those familiar with Tibetan horse studies, a horse's call is an expression of the changes in its internal energy. A wise and gentle fine horse can use its calls to help its owner avoid various risks, while the calls of an inferior horse merely serve to remind the owner of physiological needs such as "hunger."
"The Inner Stable of the Norbulingka"
1937, Photographed by F.S. Chapman
*The mural on the wall depicts the origins of horses and legends of divine horses.
"Horses, humans, and dogs share a common consciousness" (མི་རྟ་ཁྱི་གསུམ་ནི་རྣམ་ཤེས་གཅིག་པ།); people believe that fine horses not only possess unique traits (horse herds are thought to have a complete and complex social system), but their insights into all things and their pursuit of inner spirituality are also similar to those of humans. Based on this, in descriptions related to evaluating nature, besides focusing on the human-horse relationship and the practical functions of horses after classification (such as obedience training that goes against their innate nature), people still choose to emphasize the wisdom and awareness that horses possess (see Tibetan Horse Studies: Part IV) through some written accounts. Horses are never mere "tools" but rather "collaborators" who face challenges alongside humans. Observing a horse is observing a human; "superior horses attract the wise, inferior horses attract the foolish." For millennia, people have projected their own joys, sorrows, and value judgments onto the creatures that roam between heaven and earth, reflecting an imagination of life itself.
