Horse breeding among the nomadic peoples of southern Russia in the XIX century and the natural-climatic factor

The article examines the development of horse breeding among the Kalmyks, Turkmens and Nogais in the 19th–early 20th centuries in the context of natural and climatic factors. The author analyzes the problems of developing the most important type of animal husbandry — horse breeding, which occupies one of the significant places in the economy of nomads, closely connected with their way of life. The object of the study is horse breeding among nomadic peoples in expanded historical dynamics. The presented scientific publication is based on archival materials. The chronological framework covers the time period from the 19th to the early 20th centuries. The article is written on the basis of a wide range of published and unpublished written sources, many of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. These are mainly regulatory, legislative and current materials that provide valuable information on the history of horse breeding in the places of residence of nomads: Kalmyks, Nogais and Turkmens. It has been proven that in the conditions of traditional life of nomadic cattle breeders in the imperial period, in the course of inter-farm interaction over a long period of time, horse breeding underwent qualitatively improved changes, connected with other horse breeds.