🇲🇳 Born to ride: Mongolia's child jockeys | 101 East

Mongolia's horse races are long, fast and furious.
And their riders are incredibly young.
5-year-old Babu is excited to join the ranks of 30,000 other child jockeys who take part in races across the country. He's been training for months for his debut.

The law requires jockeys to be at least seven years old and wear safety equipment. But in rural areas, this is rarely enforced.

And it comes at a cost. When the children fall, they suffer painful injuries and sometimes, even death.

101 East investigates whether Mongolia's child jockeys are being exploited in the name of tradition.

#AlJazeeraEnglish #101East #MongoliaChildJockeys

[fredrickmigwe]

I don't see anything bad by preserving culture and traditions and it must be preserved

[khasht]

That's one awful translation. The kid wanted to play rock paper scissors not "fight with arm and leg". Inhaling smoke doesn't take away the "sorrow", the trainer said it relieves stress, kinda like smoking a joint. The dude didn't mention a thing about gambling. He said the there are commercial aspects to racing. Maybe he said those things off camera but it's not ethical to just overdub an entirely different conversation with whatever you wanted him to say. Next time hire some competent interpreters so that the nuances of our culture isn't lost in translation. Overall, you've captured the spirit but a lot of the subtleties are glazed over.

[carlbrentschildt]

I started training horses with my grandfather and uncle at 8 years old. I am a Native American Indian. Those were the best days of my life.

[PracticalIslam]

There so similar to us, we have a strong connection with Horses too :') Love you mongols. Peace be upon you

[chingu]

Mongolians would NEVER force children to do the horse race, the child has to love riding horses. The only thing they need to really start focusing on is the safety of both children and the horses. As of now, horse racing is still the same as it was back hundred years ago. It is just only recently that jockeys started wearing a helmet and other protective gear. They used to wear only Mongolian traditional costume and hat for the race.

[TheDavaatseren]

The translation is giving a completely different story.
The horsetrainer says the commercialization of horseracing is through sponsorship, not betting.
Al Jazeera is putting words on their mouths. This is not ethical journalism!
And stop giving them western names like Billy. Stap bastardizing our language at least try to pronounce the names, word the correct way. And it’s better to write their name on the screen since your pronunciation is incomprehensible .
It is not Nadaam it is Naadam!

[finiantsl]

These folks know what they're doing, and also know the risks. These races are part of their tradition - participating is part of family honour. Kids are born to ride. What is different today is what the man said : "most kids are city kids and no longer ride as before". As for the horses, they are tough cookies - the breed hasn't changed much, they're sturdy and hardy, and live outside all year long. 
What's terrible is to see how some exploit these traditions for money and tourism purposes by organising "derbies" or endurance races. How ridiculous! Aren't there enough open range spots in the US continent, or in Europe or ...?

[brandicrans]

Looks like they're having lots of fun! :)

[mikefisher]

These kids love what they do or they wouldn’t do it Their parents aren’t forcing them to do anything They grow up with their horses from birth💯

[guywetmore]

Such a cool house. I'm sorry to hear about the troubles

[sean]

Mongolia: child horse jockies and horse betting
Indonesia: child motorbike racers
African child soldier: hold my AK-47 assault rifle

[anitarawat]

Culture should be respected.
STOP JIHAD.

[Benstephan]

Why dont you clean your own house before cleaning someone else house????

[justjearvin]

who would win 1/3 of the word or some guys on horses

[aastiksharma]

Kids are dying and nobody is going to jail and Al Jazeera asking ( is that a problem ) .

[piercebataa]

Bring a white 5 year old boy they wont have the heart for this😂

[crazykuup]

I would have won that race on my lil mustang that I had when I was young!!!!

[OchirJargalsaikhan]

Narrator is probably a good guy, but come on they couldn't find anyone who speaks Mongolian and English well? There are plenty of people I know that can do this, yet they spit out some BS about Mongolia, Westerners wouldn't understand, I see it first hand as now I live in the U.S.

[kiirium]

I just dont see the point of repeatedly slapping them

[sumankhan]

i can't believe how heartless these parents are, they send their children for having bone fractures and various kinds of injuries just for the sake of their filthy culture and i am amazed how many people are supporting this form of child slavery, don't these people have hearts or children, who they never would want to see in pain