""Chuu!" I called-the Mongolian version of "giddy up," but the half-wild horse I sat upon either didn't understand or didn't like my American accent. I was with horse wrangler Bundhorol Dolgor and his ten-year-old daughter, Urantuya, on an endless, windswept steppe in Mongolia, some 45 miles from the nearest paved road. On my third chuu, some inflection in my voice clearly resonated, and suddenly we were off, moving at a fast, short-stepping gait that nearly unseated me."
"I traveled to Mongolia in August 2025 to see some of the country's most beautiful, wild spaces -land where many of the country's nomadic herders, like Bundhorol and his daughter, still roam. Roughly one-third of the country's entire population-which in itself is sparse, since Mongolia is twice the size of Texas with a population of just 3.5 million-is nomadic. These communities move at least two to three times per year, corralling sheep, goats, horses, camels, and occasionally, yaks."
A rider called "Chuu" to urge a half-wild horse across an endless, windswept Mongolian steppe, and an inflection in the rider's voice triggered a fast, short-stepping gait that nearly unseated them. Horse wrangler Bundhorol Dolgor and his ten-year-old daughter, Urantuya, rode nearby about 45 miles from the nearest paved road. Roughly one-third of Mongolia's population is nomadic; many nomadic families move two to three times per year to corral sheep, goats, horses, camels, and occasionally yaks. Nomadism remains integral to ancestral identity, but fluctuating weather and international markets make livelihoods volatile, with droughts and dzud winters capable of devastating fortunes overnight.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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