AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF MONGOL HORSE TRAINING, CARE, AND MANAGEMENT: SELECTED TEXTS

A key role in shaping the history of Inner Asia has been played by the horse from its first domestication to modern times. Surprisingly little work has been done on existing hippological texts in general and particularly on Mongol treatises. The dissertation attempts to fill this lacuna.; Part I of the study focuses on the accounts of travelers to the Mongols, the earliest of these dates from the thirteenth century and the latest appears in the early twentieth century. Parts II-IV contain translations and commentaries of selected texts on Mongol hippology. Included are translations on horse administration during the Yuan period from the Yuan shih. These are followed by the translation of two Chakhar Mongolian manuscripts: (1) Mori temege-u ebedcin-i j asaqu ar {dollar}gamma{dollar} a anu on veterinary medicine and (2) Mori temege-u soyil {dollar}gamma{dollar} a neilegulju uyaqu qauli bicig on the care of horses during the four seasons. Selections from a modern Mongol book on animal husbandry, Mal aj u aqui deger-e ben ya {dollar}gamma{dollar} akij u aj illaqu tuqai arad-tu ogku sana {dollar}gamma{dollar} al-a sur {dollar}gamma{dollar} al (Ulaanbaatar, 1945) are also contained in this study. The final section, Part V, places Mongol horse training methods within the historical aspect of Inner Asian civilization.