Publisher's Synopsis
Physical culture and sport, as a product of certain historical conditions for the development of society, form the sum of the historically revealed results of human spiritual activity. Equestrian games were especially popular among the Turkic peoples of South Siberia, Altai, the ancestral home of all Turkic peoples. The horse formed the mobile basis of the nomadic economy and was the personification of beauty, purity, and speed. A symbolic expression of "traditional" sovereign tribal authority depended on the current ruling political framework having quality horses and equestrian skills. It is easy to conclude that this event is formulated again with another tribe or lineage and that the leadership passes to the tribe in which it was formulated. It is clear that in the nomadic ancient Turkic peoples, equestrian activities were not simply an opportunity to reveal their "natural" fighting instincts or to express them through symbols. They are also carefully structured public organizations organized around societal values with broad moral and political repercussions. This book contains twenty chapters reviewing the cultural significance of a variety of traditional equestrian sports around the world, deeply examining the social impacts of the game and the cultural traditions that arise from them.
