This week, I wanted to tell you about a project we are conducting in association Résilienfance ... Ambitious, impossible, incredible, wonderful, crazy ...! This is a project that has received many adjectives as it is not common and certainly ... difficult.
But we stay motivated: us, them and professional, young beneficiaries who are mobilizing for a great adventure: to meet the last wild horses and Mongolian people, people jumper ...

You have guessed in 2009, we plan to go in search of a great country: MONGOLIA! I guess what you think already But ... we believe and we want to associate with these words ... and maybe more!

A MEETING OF THE HORSE: a long-term project

As part of prevention, integration and solidarity, our association and the Centre for Social and Cultural Floirac (33) [1] , a partner of the first day, have implemented a project as a gateway mediation animal. Since 2006, a group of young Social Centre participates in a workshop horse.

These workshops offered at first discovery of a horse based on a natural approach. Each child had the time he needed to approach the horse without fear. The sessions were based on grooming, care of the horse, the flood rises to the halter, riding along held in sensory, communication with the other different. Young people were also able to observe the horses in the meadow, in herds, and discuss the social organization of the horse. It was also important to make them understand that their way of relating with the animal would generate reactions from the latter.
Gradually, the fears have eased, the trust was established and an emotional relationship has developed between young people and their horses.

In a second step, the sessions have evolved into a work mounted in the saddle (while combining equine care) in order to gain autonomy and power out for a walk and hike with a bivouac in the forest. Managers and investors, young people have managed these moments were the highlights and rich emotions.

Naturally, during the project, I talked to these young horses of the last wild Przewalski horses endangered. Interested, I suggested to watch a story on the reintroduction of these horses in their country of Origin: Mongolia. This is an exciting story that explains the history of these horses and the work of the French association TAKH (soon I will devote a post to the association). It shows in particular the first reintroduction of a herd and the importance of this return to the Mongolian people ...

This documentary was a source of comments, thoughts, comments on the question of origins ... the actions of man against nature and all life forms.
Affected by this history, they reacted very strongly ... They have made many associations of ideas connected with their history, their families but also in connection with the relationship they had established with their respective horses!

The idea has germinated slowly with officials of the Social Centre and what an idea, you say : To explore these famous horses!

Peculiarities of Przewalski's horse: excerpt from "panel Przewalski Horse" - Exhibition of Villaret. TAKH Association.

There are several people in the world of horses living freely, constituéesd'individus of domestic origin. The most famous are the mustangs of the American West. Przewalski's horse meanwhile, no longer lives in captivity. This is the height of paradox, because this subspecies is the only one that is truly wild.

Without knowing it, you've probably seen a Przewalski's horse: it was he or one of those cousins ​​that is painted on cave walls of Lascaux.

It is a stocky horse, massive, measuring 1.20 to 1.35 m at the withers. It has a wide neck and a head high.
His mane as he renews his tail every year, is naturally drawn. It also has a line of mules and sometimes more or less visible stripes on the legs.

Przewalski's horse has a bad temper. It has an unfortunate tendency to shoot you a kick from a previous laterally a split second after falling ears, behavior feared by all horsemen and they seem to have eliminated by selection in domestic breeds .
In short, he refuses to be tamed, despite his long life in captivity. The first standard came to Askania Nova in Ukraine, still today the largest breeding of Przewalski horses was ridden in the saddle by a groom in a month. Except he had to tie his legs during exercise which was short-lived. It seems then, that standard was particularly aggressive toward humans. Who wants him!

The discussion about the true origin of the wild Przewalski's horse has continued until today.
Genetic analysis has provided irrefutable proof: Przewalski's horse has 66 chromosomes, unlike all the domestic breeds that do not have that 64, including Mongolian pony. Hybrids have 66, 65 or 64 chromosomes and are fertile. Geneticists believe that this is due to the fusion of two chromosomes resulting from domestication. However, this merger does not necessarily change the composition of genes, rather it changes their disposal: the "genetic distance" is not very great between domestic horses and Przewalski's horse. If Westerners rediscovered the only horse in the late nineteenth century, the secret history of the Mongols (thirteenth century) tells us that he had been known for centuries. This rediscovery has been very bad omen, since a few decades later, in the seventies, he vanished from the wild.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7cgxv

Prehistoric Period
The cave paintings of Lascaux show that the species was present at the time of the last glaciation in Europe, 10,000 years ago. Climate change and may already have the action of man, then relegated to the steppes of Asia.
Historical Period
Mongolian nomads of the Gobi were gently laughing at the "discovery" of the Przewalski's horse, who frequented them for thousands of years and practiced in regular crossings to improve endurance capacity of their racehorses. But scientists from the late nineteenth century believed they had identified all the large mammals. Thus, when the Russian explorer Przewalski in 1879 brought the skin of a horse from deep in the Gobi Dzungaria (now China), discussions were initially strong, and the discovery of this new species, "Equus Przewalski, Poliakov 1882 "since renamed, made a great noise. Immediately, the rush began to appropriate specimens in order to have them well in front and behind barriers. The approach taken today by scientists to study a species in its natural environment was still far from the minds ...

Capture methods of yesteryear were particularly brutal. Instead of dulling the individual to capture, we pursued a whole group taking turns. Once it completely exhausted, all adults were killed because they were defending their young. Then we caught the foals to try to get them adopted by domestic mares before sending them on endless journey to the western zoos. A quick estimate shows that for a living foal arrived in the west, at least ten horses died. Within a few years, catches became unprofitable in the absence of animals.
Przewalski's horse also had to face competition with domestic herds for nourriture.Les extremely low temperatures that can occur in winter in Mongolia then had to give the final blow to already weakened that this species disappears from the wild in the 1970s.

DISCOVERING THE Przewalski horse AND MONGOLIA!

The project was officially launched on September 24 in the presence of children, their families and our partner the social and cultural center.

From July 3 to 17, 2009, we hope to go to the discovery of this great country. We asked Manuul , imagine a circuit "in our image" and consistent with our values. Through a living eco-tourism [2] We will conduct such a humanitarian and solidarity among Mongolian populations. We will go riding in the wind of the steppes to meet the last wild horses and heritage. Hiking, camping, meetings with local people, sleeping in yurts among pastoralists, ... wonderful experiences await these young (and young at heart!).

The project objectives are:

- To enhance the actions of the youth in their neighborhoods
- Involve young people in a collective action of solidarity and humanitarian
- Raise awareness about the environment, citizenship and respect for life in all its forms, in particular through a stay based on sustainable development, biodiversity and the discovery of a unique heritage
- Encourage openness of youth but also their spirit of adventure by the intercultural encounter and combat prejudice and
- Develop a sense of responsibility and self-esteem, confidence in oneself and others and thus their autonomy
- Develop socialization skills (listening to others, cooperation, mutual aid, altruism ...)

Meanwhile, work continues with horses all year. We observe, in young, real progress in their skills and interpersonal skills and are highly motivated and become highly autonomous in relation to the horse ... This major soda their group, the spirit of cooperation and mutual aid is there ... that's obvious! MONGOLIA this goal is a big challenge: we know there will be some beautiful moments but also some difficult times ... everyone is aware!

Young people prepare to experience this great adventure ... and do not disappoint us do our best to raise the funds on this project very expensive ... you guessed it!
This is why we are launching a major appeal for donations ... in a difficult but "nothing ventured, nothing gained."

SUPPORT THE PROJECT MONGOLIA

If you wish to support the project, you can:
- Or participate in events organized for his benefit.
- Either directly send us donations. The state (yes, yes) encourages your generosity by allowing you to deduct from your taxes 66% of the amount of your donation Résilienfance. Thus, a donation of 25 euros you do comes back to 8.5 euros. Keep this in mind! The form for donations.

All information by clicking here .

Do not hesitate to speak well of you around this project!

Finally, I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to our first partners, but also to young donors, their families, the Centre for Social and cuturel their confidence and for trying to share this adventure with us!

BRAVO to the young for their willingness, determination and commitment! And thank you for reading this post!

We will notify you of suites ...

For more information:

Our tour operator: Manuul
The Association for the Przewalski's horse: The association TAKH
To track all events related to the project and the evolution of the latter: Résilienfance

Sandie

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