TUESDAY April 25, 2023: 'Get Your Goat: Ancient Blood Sport' by award winning Le Pictorium photographer Gabriel Gauffre. The sport of kokpar is like blood soaked polo match, with a headless goat carcass as the ball. Kokpar is one of the oldest nomadic games in Kazakhstan and is said to have originated with Genghis Khan's early-13th-century mounted raiders. Matches would typically consist of 50 or 100 men and boys on horseback coming together in a clash of sweat and blood, with shouting riders and rearing horses. Many Western critics are shell shocked by the idea of using a disemboweled goat in sport yet the game is still played this way across central Asia, but in recent years it has become increasingly professionalized, with salaries for players and televised matches. Welcome to 'Get Your Goat: Ancient Blood Sport'
© zReportage.com Story of the Week #886: TUESDAY April 25, 2023: 'Get Your Goat: Ancient Blood Sport' by award winning Le Pictorium photographer Gabriel Gauffre. The sport of kokpar is like blood soaked polo match, with a headless goat carcass as the ball. Kokpar is one of the oldest nomadic games in Kazakhstan and is said to have originated with Genghis Khan's early-13th-century mounted raiders. Matches would typically consist of 50 or 100 men and boys on horseback coming together in a clash of sweat and blood, with shouting riders and rearing horses. Many Western critics are shell shocked by the idea of using a disemboweled goat in sport yet the game is still played this way across central Asia, but in recent years it has become increasingly professionalized, with salaries for players and televised matches. Welcome to 'Get Your Goat: Ancient Blood Sport'

A proud kokpar player wearing a fur hat sits on his horse. The prize that will be presented to the winner can be a car, money, cattle, or even a camel.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

The goat in possession of a kokpar player in the middle of the scrum. The essence of the game is that riders on horseback are fighting for the headless carcass of a goat, taking it from rivals and scoring a 'goal' in a special gate.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

Kokpar players sit on their horses on a chilly day and prepare for the next game. They say that special horses are bred for kokpar, crossing different breeds and sometimes the best are born wild on the steppe.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

Kokpar players clash witty each other in the scrum. The essence of the game is that riders on horseback are fighting for the headless carcass of a goat, taking it from rivals and scoring a ''goal'' in a special gate.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A player releases the goat into the goal. The modern version kokpar is a game played with rules and a special field measuring 220 by 75 meters. where riders on horseback fight for the headless carcass of a goat, taking it from rivals and scoring a ''goal'' in a special gate.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A referee watches over the game players in a scrum from a basket held by a crane. The modern kokpar is a real game played with rules. A special field measuring 220 by 75 meters is organized for this sport.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

Two kokpar players one just as young boy, sit on there steeds. Kokpar riders start early, some as young 13 years old.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

Kokpar players in the scrum during a match on a cold day. The essence of the game is that riders on horseback are fighting for the headless carcass of a goat.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A kokpar player with his horse ready for the kokpar match on a frigid day. The goal: to fight for the possession of the ball (the goat), and the prize that will be won by the next scorer can be a car, money, cattle, or even a camel.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A referee raises his flag to signal a foul during the scrum as players clash playing the kokpar game.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A kokpar player is helped with his jacket after the end of a game. Kokpar, a ancient style of horse rugby, where the ball is a weighted goat corpse weighing about 120lbs, has been practiced for a millennia in Central Asia.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

Spectators sit together on a bench on the hillside and watch a kokpar match commence in the valley below.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A crest with the name of a competition horse, ''Bura''. They say that special horses are bred for the kokpar, crossing different breeds and sometimes the best are born wild on the steppe.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

The winner today was KURMANBEK TURGANBEK, 26, and a member of the national kokpar team. He lives only from the income of his sporting activity and in this case his prize is a used Opel Vectra sedan.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A winning kokpar player departs with his prize, in this case a camel. The sport of kokpar is like blood soaked polo match, with a headless goat carcass as the ball.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A young Kazakh boy stands smiling on the dead goat that will be used as a ball during the days kokpar competition. Children as young as 13 years can compete in the matches.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A kokpar player rests on his horse. Kokpar, a style of horse rugby, where the ball is a weighted goat corpse weighing about 120lbs, has been practiced for a millennia in Central Asia.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press

A spectator watches a kokpar match. Kokpar, a style of horse rugby, where the ball is a weighted goat corpse has been practiced for almost a millennium in Central Asia.
© Gabriel Gauffre/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press