Horses forage for food in snowy NW China

Horses looking after themselves at the Shandan Ranch, in Gansu province on Jan 21. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

Horses at the Shandan Ranch on the Qilian Mountain's Damayin pastureland, in Gansu province found themselves digging in the snow and ice foraging for grass when a cold wave hit, on Jan 21.

The ranch covers almost 220,000 hectares and is known for its Shandan horse hybrids. The area has a long history of horses, providing them for the military and royalty as far back as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD) when a general, Huo Qubing, established it for war horses, in 121 BC.

Horses on the Sandan Ranch, near the city of Zhangye, Gansu province, on Jan 21. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

By 2001, the ranch was turned over to the China Animal Husbandry Group because of the decreasing demand for horses in the army, and became a tourist attraction instead.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw