Swathed in bright purple and proudly carrying the banner of their tribe, they look more like soldiers galloping into war on some ancient battlefield than they do herdsmen.
According to legend, the famous Wuzhumuqin horses being ridden by these men on the white planes of Inner Mongolia were once used by Genghis Khan's mighty army.
Magnificent photos have captured them striding elegantly through the snow covered fields of West Ujimqin Banner, an autonomous region of China, where temperatures can plummet to minus 18 degrees Celsius.
Dressed in thick, traditional garments which shield them from the bitter cold, the riders weave in and out of wild horses as they try to evade their lassos. The fur of their own horses, breathing heavily in the arctic conditions, has started to freeze.
The snow is said to melt in the warm and humid summers, revealing marshlands, meadows and sand dunes in what is considered by some as the most beautiful grassland in northern China.
The local herders are said to be immensely skilled in catching, raising and training the Wuzhumuqin horses.
'Wuzhumuqin' translates in Mongolian to 'grape pickers', the tribal people who lived in the area between the northern Xinjiang and Mongolia in the 13th century. They moved to West Ujimqin Banner in the 17th century.
(dailymail.co.uk)
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