Thousands of horses galloping at the foot of snow mountain

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Thousands of horses are seen galloping across the grassland covered in snow in Shandan Horse Ranch in the Hexi Corridor, northwest China's Gansu Province.

Horses are galloping across the snowy pastureland. /VCG Photo

Plenty of horses are walking in the snow. /VCG Photo

Herdsmen drive a herd of horses. /VCG Photo

Aerial shot of horses scattering on the pastureland. /VCG Photo

Thousands of horses are galloping at the foot of the Qilian Mountain. /VCG Photo

The Qilian Mountains covered by snow on top. /VCG Photo

The Shandan Horse Ranch, which is located in the Qilian Mountain's Damayin pastureland, covers an area of 219,693 hectares. The history of the ranch can be traced back to 121 B.C. when famous Chinese general Huo Qubing established the ranch specially to herd horses for China's army.

Since then, the ranch, which was well-known for the Shandan horse hybrids, has therefore been the base of the military and royal horses through several dynasties in the past. Due to a weakening demand for horses in the army, the ranch was then transferred to the China Animal Husbandry Group in 2001.