Tenge ilu (picking up coins at a gallop)

Picking up a coin from the ground at a gallop. It is in Kazakhstan's national sports register.

Names among the peoples

teňge ilu (Kazakhs)
tıyın enmey (Kyrgyz)

About

Tenge ilu is the contest of picking up a coin from the ground at a gallop. In the Kazakh tradition the coins are wrapped in a small scarf and scattered across the field; the riders pick them up as they gallop from the start to the finish. The Kyrgyz call this game tyiyn enmei.

Tenge ilu is on the programme of the World Nomad Games.

History

As K. Amanzhol writes, the Kazakhs call this contest kumis alu ("taking the silver"); it is also found among the peoples of Central Asia — as tenge ilu among the Uzbeks and tyiyn enmei among the Kyrgyz — and in the Caucasus. It asks of the rider the utmost agility and a skilful, fearless handling of the horse: at full gallop he must pick up a coin laid on the ground, and sometimes a whole row of coins set out at equal intervals.

Observers of the nineteenth century write that during the contest some showed their daring by standing on the saddle, and the boldest dropped to the ground from the galloping horse and leapt back into the saddle, or passed under the horse's belly.

Rules in brief

By the rule given by Kazakhstan's Centre for National and Equestrian Sports, the course is 120 metres long. There are five coins on it: each is wrapped in cloth and laid in a small hollow in the ground, with ten metres or more between them. Riding at the gallop, the rider leans from the saddle and picks them up. The judges count the coins taken and time the rider; the one who takes the most coins wins.

As the Centre writes, the game is often held before a wedding, and it teaches the rider agility, courage and a sound seat in the saddle.

Peoples

Research: Vasif Namazov, Turan Games Concept