Riders are luckier this year, he adds, noting that more snowfall compared to previous years has made the ground softer, cushioning the fall.
Mustafa Timur, another rider, disagrees. "It is more difficult to play on the snowy ground. It takes more to guide the horses and stop them. You have to act like acrobats to halt them," Timur says. Still, he and others are just as eager as they were before. "We bought new horses this year just to train for the games. We also have new players. The youth are especially enthusiastic," he says.
Kökbörü was recognized by UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017.
The game is considered as "an expression of the cultural and historic tradition and spiritual identity of its practitioners and serves to unite communities regardless of social status, fostering a culture of teamwork, responsibility and respect" by UNESCO.
Van hosts a sizeable Kyrgyz community who left their homeland in the Pamir Highlands near Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
Most are settled in Ulupamir village and preserve their culture as well as their semi-nomadic lifestyle there.
