The Best Place To Buy A Horse In Kazakhstan

Muscovite Russia, and later the Russian Empire, actively procured Kazakh horse breeds at both the state and private levels. Notably, in 1895, a detailed report on the procurement of Kazakh horses by Vyatka Governorate to meet the needs of Russian peasants was published. The Kirgizskaia Stepnaia Gazeta provides the following account:

The Kyrgyz Horse in Vyatka Governorate

Last year, representatives of the Vyatka zemstvo purchased 529 horses from the Akmola Region: 220 from Atbasar uezd and 309 from Akmola uezd. These horses were intended for sale to peasants of the Vyatka Governorate. A detailed report on this acquisition has now been received …

Seeking affordable yet suitable horses for agricultural work, the zemstvoiThe zemstvo were district and provincial assemblies established in Russia in 1864. representatives, after considerable deliberation, opted to make their purchases in the Akmola Region. Horses from Atbasar were acquired at an average price of 27 rubles 85 kopecks, while those from Akmola cost 25 rubles 83 kopecks on average. The overall average price per horse was 26 rubles 67 kopecks, with additional overhead costs amounting to 7 rubles 89 kopecks per horse. As a result, the total cost per horse, upon arrival, was 34 rubles 66 kopecks.

The assembled herd was transported first through Troitsk to Yelabuga, from where the horses were distributed across the districts.

In a remarkably short time, all the horses were sold to peasants, both for cash and on installment plans. The average sale price was 36 rubles 94 kopecks per horse, allowing the zemstvo to generate a profit of 1,777 rubles 57 kopecks from this operation. Most buyers provided positive feedback on the horses. Several zemstvo offices noted that the horses adapted well to harness work and agricultural tasks, as well as to a diet of hay and straw, though acclimating them to oats and barley proved more challenging.

Based on this successful initial experience, the Vyatka Governorate zemstvo plans to purchase up to 1,500 horses from the Akmola Region this year. Lessons learned from last year’s operations are expected to help offset overhead costs.

The facts speak for themselves, reaffirming earlier predictions that the Kazakh horse, being highly suitable for agricultural and other heavy labor, will find a robust market not only in neighboring provinces but also in more distant regions of Russia.

Was a horse expensive or cheap in 1895? And can we compare those prices to today? Let’s find out. To do this, we need to know how much one silver ruble could buy in the Russian Empire at that time. Until the spring of 1895, the ruble was backed by silveriRussia switched to the gold standard only in 1897. One ruble was roughly equal to 18 grams of pure silver. So the average price of a Kazakh horse, 34 rubles 66 kopecks, was about 612 grams of silver.

Today, silver in Kazakhstan costs 505 tenge per gram. That means a horse at the wholesale price in 1895 would cost the equivalent of 309,060 tenge at today’s silver prices.

The Kirgizskaia Stepnaia Gazeta (in Kazakh, Dala Uälaiatynyñ Gazetі) was a special supplement to the Akmolinsk (1888–1905), Semipalatinsk (1894–1905), and Semirechensk (1894–1901) regional gazettes. It was published in Omsk in Russian with additional content in Kazakh.