One of the important household occupations of the Sakha people, apart from cattle breeding, hunting and fishing, has always been horse breeding.

In Yakut culture, the cult of the horse is one of the most important. The most significant god, the creator of the universe, is often portrayed as a white stallion.

The Sakha people dressed their horses in rich harnesses. They were not just skillfully made objects, but masterpieces of folk art.

Horse harness includes a wide range of pieces: saddles, stirrups, bridles and halters, woven saddle girths with buckles, reins, saddle and side covers, riding crops, whips and knot amulets. Yakut horse breeders used all their experience and skills to decorate horse harness: they carved, cast, forged and applied patterns on it.

A caparison is an element of equestrian decoration, a blanket that covers a horse’s croup. It was decorated with rich embroidery, silver plaques and beads. This equipment was put on a horse on special occasions, such as the Yakut summer festival ysyakh or a wedding.

The collection of the Churapchinsky Museum has numerous variants of caparisons dating back to the 19th–20th centuries.

The decorative motif of the caparison presented in the exhibition is made with colored threads. This type of embroidery is considered one of the most popular among Yakut craftswomen. The late-19th-century caparison depicts a traditional lyre on a deep black background. In its center is the trunk of the tree of life and trefoil. The lyre is closely adjoined by curls that occupy the entire field of the piece. The decorative composition is framed along the edge by a triple linear pattern “dyuraahyn oyuu”. The design is embroidered with multicolored silk threads and outlined with lighter-colored threads. Its color scheme, which is based on iridescent shimmering tones, is enhanced by a velvet black background. The meticulousness of the embroidery and the variety of techniques testify to the high skill of the embroiderer.

“The favorite colors of Yakut craftswomen are red and black, followed by green, yellow, brown, and blue. The decorative patterns were embroidered with threads in contrast to the main background. The craftswomen added their creative imagination to the work, but even creating new patterns, they did not depart from tradition, did not break the established artistic style. Thanks to this, their works became part of the folk-art treasury, ” from the open lesson “Horse Decoration: Chapparaah, Kychym, Lepse“, given by the teacher Galina Lukina.