Sarah Konoski

and that was vital to keep them warm and to not freeze alive.

Yeah, they can get incredibly warm.

So it was one thing that I struggled with was coming from minus 50 to plus 30 in that space and trying to film in that space was really tricky for Ben, Brian and I and sometimes the sound recordist.

Yeah, well, I guess it's, as my son calls it, a bush wee.

Well, there's no step wee.

There's nowhere to hide.

So, you know, whenever we needed to go to the toilet, you're on full display.

I guess their routine is, you know, you muster the horses, you bring them together.

At the start of winter, they're much more spread out.

And as it gets colder and colder, the horses, you know, come tighter and tighter together until they're in a sort of perfect mandala circle from above.

and that's for their protection.

The herders will sort of initiate that and bring them together, but it felt like eventually the horses were naturally forming in that pattern so that the collective warmth will keep them alive.

And the boys will take it in turns.

They'll watch all night long and shoot wolves as they come, alone or in packs.

And, yeah, walk amongst the horses and soothe them if they need to, sing to them.

The herders will have a big breakfast, oats and some things that they carry and sort of staples that they carry on the back of the horse.

Oftentimes they're breaking the horses in too because the horses are, many of them are wild.

They've collected all of the community's horses.

It's a kind of...

community service in a way, but it's a job.