About the series of the Spirit of Mongolian Horses
By A Yin
 
-40℃
I do not want to search for art from Mongolian horses, but to find out their courage and spirit. Mongolian horse is the patron saint of the grassland and the totem of the Mongols. The spirit of Mongolian horses is the essence of grassland culture, and also our national spirit and fortune symbol. The tenacious vitality and spirit of Mongolian horses are even the good model of human development and progress.

It has been a long time that I had the idea of shooting the spirit of Mongolian horses with my camera. I am a Mongolian, a descendant of Genghis Khan. It should be very easy for me to take a picture of horses. It has been twenty-seven years since I become a professional photographer. I have won many prizes that plenty of photographers dream of, and I already gained some reputations in photography circles both at home and abroad. However, until now, I have never left my grassland, Mongolian horses and the herdsmen. As a weather-ridden herdsman, I still stick to the photographic field that belongs to me.
 
However, the Mongolian horse, in my eyes, is not ordinary. It is like a “secret history” that I will never study completely, and the obo piled up by the ambitions; is also like the monument that makes contribution for human beings without saying a word. My ancestor, Genghis Khan, shocked the whole world with Mongolian horses, and wrote his own national spirit on horseback. “The significance of the fact that nomads tamed the horses is not less important than the invention of rocket or space shuttle nowadays.” a famous Chinese scholar has commented. Mongolian horses have made extraordinary contributions during Chinese liberation war. Thus, Mongolian horses are not only the eternal theme, but also the hard topic of my photography.

In the early winter of 2015, I went to the deep area in Inner Mongolia grassland, along the border between China and Mongolia, taking photos of Mongolian horses under the condition of -40ºC , with strong wind and snow, the visibility was less than a few meters. In the snow-covered grassland, there was no creature except the Mongolian horses. The temperature went down after the sunset from minus 31 degrees to minus 43 degrees. I set out to search for the horses when the sun had risen. My car had sunk into the snow several times before I finally got close to the horses. However, right after a stallion who was looking for food in the snow bristled and screamed, the whole group of horses ran away immediately with the snow raised, and they run across the hills, toward the distant horizon.  

I wanted to be close to the horses, so I chased them again, even if they run away because of my car. One day, two days, one week……I had been chasing them all day long. I even took the horn off in order to remove “the devil voice” that horses hated. Mongolian horses were born with sensible emotions, human-like wisdom and friendly attitude. I guess they finally moved because of my sincerity. The rebellious horses began to know me and my car. Sometimes, they looked for food from my car and smelt around it. Some little naughty hoses even broke the bumpers.

The horses accepted me. In the freezing cold windy and snowy days, a vivid horse warmed the world and stood right in front of my camera. The Mongolian horse is the only creature in the uninhabited grassland. I have captured the scenes with my camera: their dismissive eyes to the coldness, the eyes sharp as the wolf, the stallion’s unshaped mane, the valiant horses with snowy frost hair searching for food under the snow at minus 46 degrees, a group of horses sleeping on the feet under the sun for guarding against the wolves bravely, the fierce image of the horse after being full in the snow and the diligent image of the horses for running hundreds of miles to search for food……


My photography dairy:
21st to 30th December, 2015  I went through the snowstorm and the coldness with the horses. The temperature dropped to minus 44 degrees in 25th.
19th to 28th January, 2016  I went along the border between China and Mongolia with the Mongolian horses. The temperature was minus 46 degrees in 23th.I spent the night at the house of a herdsman named Hasi. I warmed up the engine of my car with fire at four o’clock in the morning and managed to start the car to search for the horses.
19th February 2016  I saw Mongolian horses with the temperature of minus 47.5 degrees. During this time I suffered from frostbite on nose, cheeks and fingers twice, and four cameras could not work due to the freezing weather.
4th to 6th March, 2016   The weather forecast announced the yellow warning and the snow storm arrived. In 5th, my car fell into the thick snow and I dug it alone for four hours, until 4:20pm, I finally drove out the car.
5:11pm in 7th March, 2016   When I chased the horses, I fell into a three-meter deep hole with my car. I finally was saved by the help of a herdsman named Buhe. My car was damaged, but hopefully I was not.
At dusk in 23rd January, 2017   My car fell into the snow again. It was no use that I dug alone for three hours so I spent a night outdoors. I needed to call somebody for help, but there was no signals. Thanks to a kind herdsman named Burenteguse, who found me according to the car lights, he finally saved me out of the dangerous situation.
13rd to 20th February, 2017   I followed Burenteguse’s horses for shooting. In 15th, the weather forecast announced the yellow warning, and it had been snowing for three days. The herdsmen suffered by the snow disasters.
7:10am ,16th, my car was stuck into the snow of the valley. I dug so hardly to drive out my car. Three jackets that I was wearing were all soaked with sweat, I finally drove my car out after digging for five hours alone......