The Han dynasty Emperor Wudi sent a huge military expedition to Ferghana in 104 B.C. to acquire a sufficient number of "Heavenly Horses". The Han suffered a military defeat and went home empty handed.[4]
In 102 B.C., the Chinese gathered a massive army of over 60,000 men and 30,000 horses, for a campaign to acquire "Heavenly Horses". This army crushed several villages that showed resistance, but not without suffering 50% losses. The town of Ferghana was placed under siege, and its inhabitants threatened to slaughter all of the horses, but a compromise was eventually reached, and the Chinese army would be given the best pick of the horses and food available. Roughly 30 "Heavenly Horses" were acquired, along with 3,000 horses of middling or lower quality.[5] Sinologist Arthur Waley in his article The Heavenly Horses of Ferghana[6] made the important distinction between the two types of horses that Emperor Wu of Han had sought: the few divine ones to satisfy his spiritual needs; and the many sturdier mounts required to continuously replenish and build up his cavalry.[7]
Chinese statuary and paintings, as well as the Bactrian coin, indicate that these horses may have had legs that were proportionally short, powerful crests, and round barrels. The forelegs of the Chinese depictions are very straight, resembling the Guoxia horse of present-day China. According to tradition, these horses sweated blood, giving rise to the name "sweats blood horse" (inChinese: 汗血馬; pinyin: hànxuèmǎ). Modern authorities believe that blood-sucking parasites caused sweat to mix with blood when the horses were worked.
Modern researchers, Mair notes, have come up with two different ideas [for the ancient Chinese references to the "Blood-sweating" horses of Ferghana]. The first suggests that small subcutaneous blood vessels burst as the horses sustained a long hard gallop. The second theorizes that a parasitic nematode, Parafilaria multipapillosa, triggered the phenomenon. P. multipapillosa is widely distributed across the Russian steppes and makes its living by burrowing into the subcutaneous tissues of horses. The resulting skin nodules bleed often, sometimes copiously, giving rise to a something veterinarians call "summer bleeding."[8]
Emperor Wu of Han China (Wudi) named the horses "Heavenly Horses" (c. 113 BCE) after a divination predicted their appearance.
Sometime earlier the emperor had divined by the Book of Changes and been told that "divine horses are due to appear" from the northwest. When the Wusun came with their horses, which were of an excellent breed, he named them "heavenly horses". Later, however, he obtained the blood-sweating horses from Dayuan [= Ferghana], which were even hardier. He therefore changed the name of the Wusun horses, calling them "horses from the western extremity", and used the name "heavenly horses" for the horses of Dayuan.[9]
After installing a new puppet King, the Han left with 3,000 horses, although only 1,000 remained by the time they reached China in 101 BCE. The Ferghana also agreed to send two Heavenly horses each year to the Emperor, and lucerne seed was brought back to China providing superior pasture for raising fine horses in China, to provide cavalry which could cope with the Xiongnu who threatened China.[10][11]
The Han dynasty bronze statuette Gansu Flying Horse is most likely a depiction of this breed.[12]
Ferghana were popular in China for roughly the next 1,000 years until the demand shifted to larger, stronger local breeds. Nomadic breeds like Ferghana horses were fast, tough and had high endurance, but they were smaller and leaner than local breeds.[13] The Ferghana horse is considered to be equivalent to the Nisean horseorTurkoman horse, which are both now extinct. The Akhal-Teke horse is believed to be a descendant of the original Ferghana horse.[14][15]
^Olsen, Stanley J. (1988). "The Horse in Ancient China and Its Cultural Influence in Some Other Areas". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 140 (2): 174. ISSN0097-3157. JSTOR4064940. "Emperor Wudi sent a huge military expedition to Ferghana 102 B.C. to obtain a sufficient number of "Heavenly Horses." This venture resulted in obtaining some 30 or so "Superior Horses" and 3,000 horses [stallions] and mares of "middling or lower quality" (Waley 1955). The 30 or so "Superior" or "Heavenly Horses" were prized as breeding stock...The Shiji states that when the army started for Ferghana from the Chinese capitol (2,500 miles), it consisted of 60,000 men, 100,000 oxen, 30,000 horses, donkeys, and mules and myriads of camels (Yetts 1934). The army crushed several villages in its path that showed resistance to its advance, but was not without its own losses as it had dwindled to half its force by the time it reached Ferghana. The town was placed under siege and eventually a compromise was offered. This consisted of the Emperor's representatives having the pick of the best horses and food for the besieging army. It was accepted as the only counter proposal that the entire herd of prize horses would be slain before the town surrendered. The result of the campaign was that a score or so of the Superior Horses were obtained and brought back to the Emperor for choice breeding stock."
^Waley, Arthur (1955). "The Heavenly Horses of Ferghana: A New View". History Today. February: 95–103.
^Dean, Riaz (2022). The Stone Tower: Ptolemy, the Silk Road, and a 2,000-Year-Old Riddle. Delhi: Penguin Viking. pp. 32-43 (Ch. 4, Heavenly Horses). ISBN978-0670093625.
Bonavia (2004): The Silk Road From Xi’an to Kashgar. Judy Bonavia – revised by Christoph Baumer. 2004. Odyssey Publications. ISBN962-217-741-7.
Boulnois (2004): Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants on the Silk Road. Luce Boulnois. Translated by Helen Loveday. Odyssey Books, Hong Kong. ISBN962-217-720-4.
Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). 'The Heavenly Horses of the West' in: China's Ancient Tea Horse Road. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B005DQV7Q2
Watson, Burton, translator. (1961). Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. Han Dynasty II (Revised Edition), Columbia University Press. ISBN0-231-08167-7.
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. North China Branch, Shanghai, China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Issues 39-41.
