Back to Basics: Gas-Poor Russia's New Demand for Actual Horsepower

One of the great technological innovations of the modern era was the automobile. Automobiles aren't without their drawbacks, mind you; they are noisy, sometimes smelly, and being much faster than horses, which preceded them as primary motive power, they can be more dangerous in a mishap.

But once autos were in wide use, and the horse was eclipsed, roads were cleaner, especially in towns. No more road apples littering the streets, no more clouds of flies. Things were, in general, a lot nicer. So, when a modern, developed nation starts to revert to horses to get around, you know something's seriously amiss.

And yet, that's what's happening, right now, in Russia.

Rural residents across Russia are increasingly turning to horses and bicycles as alternatives to personal vehicles amid a worsening domestic fuel crisis, The Moscow Times reported on July 6.

Data from livestock breeders indicates that the demand for working horses has spiked several-fold in recent weeks, allowing approximately 1,000 animals to avoid slaughterhouses. While a single horse previously waited up to three months for a buyer, rural farms are now selling or booking seven to eight animals per month.

The Moscow Times noted that residents are utilizing the animals for daily farm labor, foraging, and navigating off-road terrain. Depending on age and breed, the price of a working horse ranges between 100,000 and 200,000 rubles ($1287 to $2574). Despite recurring expenses for feed, hoof care, and veterinary checkups, some rural families find maintaining a horse cheaper than fueling domestic SUVs like the UAZ or Niva.

Note the reason for the reversion: A worsening domestic fuel crisis. We might note that this is due, in no small part, to Russia's energy infrastructure, especially oil and moto fuels, being systematically disassembled by Ukrainian explosives.

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The honest old bicycle is making a sudden comeback as well.

Bicycle sales have also climbed dramatically as fuel shortages persist across the country. In June, sales on the CDEK.Shopping  platform rose by 131% compared to May, with corporate revenues increasing by 263%. Reporting on the retail shift, The Moscow Times stated that mountain bikes accounted for over half of all orders as consumers actively look for direct alternatives to their vehicles.

Well, it's good cardiovascular exercise.

Now, the Duma (the Russian Parliament) is denying any problem, which conjures up an image of the Duma members closing their eyes, sticking their fingers in their ears, and loudly proclaiming that they aren't aware of any gas crisis. But there are reports that Russia's refining capacity has been knocked back by nearly a third, which doesn't bode well for Tsar Vladimir I's rodina. 

Russian motorists near some of the country's borders are going next door, as it were, for gas; in Siberia, there is apparently a brisk cross-border trade with China, wherein Russians are taking their benzene-burning vehicles into China to fill their tanks.

This isn't a good sign for Russia's economy, or for the Russian part in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. Military operations would appear to be taking up a greater percentage of what output is left from Russian refineries, and the shift to hoofs over tires is a pretty obvious sign of that. 

Still, Russia may be able to turn things around. You neigh-ver know.

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