Saturday, September 6, 2008

L.A. County Fair #2 - Buzkashi

I lucked up and wandered into the equestrian area just in time to see a couple of horses and riders entering the... circle (smile). I found a nice spot under the shade of a tree thinking they were just exercising their horses and the very small crowd of people were just out of the sun taking a break.

I hesitated to take pics never knowing how people feel about having their picture taken or if I'm breaking some rules unknown to me, but I got over it and started taking pics. Lo and behold one rider after another began to enter the circle and I notice they were wearing blue and white shirts. I knew something was about to happen. They were about to play Buskahi.

Now that I'm writing this post I wish I paid more attention to the announcer. I know this game as Buskashi but don't know if that's what he called it though I know he did mention that this was a game that is popular in Afghanistan and has become a new game here. There are two teams of horse riders and a goat (in this case a leather goat). The object is to get the goat from the ground and take it to your post. Click here if you want to know the actual history and more details about the game. I remember seeing it in a movie, Rambo III.



When they took a break I was able to get a few more personal shots of those beautiful horses.



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What fun - I've always been horse crazy, but I've never heard of this game.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm..sorry if this is a duplicate comment, but I think I did something wrong the first time...Just said these horses are indeed beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Games involving horses aside from horse racing is something new to me :)
All the men seem to be enjoying themselves!

Jayne said...

Such beautiful creatures! I have to admit though, when I saw the photo of them all scrambling so close together, it made me a wee bit nervous for them and for the horses. Wonder what the horses are thinking?

Mike said...

Youve captured the action here really nice, great post.

kjpweb said...

Fantastic Horse action! Good job!
Cheers, Klaus

Anonymous said...

Thank you all for your comments! I'd been wanting to photograph some horses and I finally did.
:-)

BNS said...

What handsome animals these are. You've captured them beautifully.

Bobbie in Hawaii

Anonymous said...

Bobbie - Thank you! It was fun finally getting the chance.