Benefits of Sumbawa Horse Milk for Human Health


Rivaldi IhsanEthnomusicologist and Lecturer in Music at Sumbawa University of Technology (Instagram: rivaldiihsan, E-mail: ihsanaja361@gmail.com).


When I heard the story of the island of Sumbawa, I immediately began to recall the nostalgic memory of sitting in elementary school in Batam City, namely hearing radio advertisements that always promote the efficacy of Sumbawa wild horse milk for the treatment of various human diseases. 

Curiosity deepened when I worked and lived in Sumbawa Besar, to be precise in mid-June 2021. On the first day I went to work to the campus of the Samawa Rea Institute of Social and Cultural Sciences (IISBUD), currently merged into the Sumbawa University of Technology (UTS) and met new colleagues of Samawa ethnic origin and so on, then they told me about the arts, culture and culinary specialties of Sumbawa.

One of the most interesting stories from these colleagues is the traditional Sumbawa drink, Sumbawa wild horse milk. Who doesn't know Sumbawa wild horse milk, almost all Indonesians from Sabang to Merauke know the benefits of wild horse milk for the human body. The benefits of horse milk is what makes people always buy milk, including me who wants to immediately enjoy it and feel its benefits for the body.

Why is it called wild horse milk, while the horses actually have their owners kept. From the results of an interview with one of the horse owners, Andri, said that the horses were actually only released in the field, either in the garden or the former rice harvesting land or the former corn harvesting land, sometimes they could also be tied to tree trunks. Even though the horses are released, they still know who the owner is because the horses have been cared for from an early age so that the emotional closeness between the owners is very strong.


History of Sumbawa Horses

The history of the first horse ancestor found was Hyracotherium known as Eophippus in America, found in fossils 50 million years ago in the North American region, and the same thing was also found in the European region. The descendants of Hyracotherium existed 50 to 38 million years ago, but were still undeveloped forest animals, the fossils were sheep-sized, about 60 cm tall, about 89 inches or 20 cm long, with four toes on the front feet and three toes on the back feet (Blakely and Bade 1998).

Meanwhile, the history of horses in Indonesia dates back to the establishment of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in the 7th century AD. These kingdoms had strong maritime fleets that accelerated the breeding and distribution of horses throughout Indonesia from Java to Sulawesi and even to other small islands (Maswarni and Nofiar 2014). 

Indonesia has a type of Pony horse with a shoulder height of less than 140 cm. These horses are partly descended from Mongol horses (Przewalski) and Arabian horses. Horses in Indonesia have warm blood  because Indonesia has a tropical climate which causes local Indonesian horses to have a small body compared to horses that have hot blood  and cold blood. In general, horses in Indonesia have a height ranging from 1.15-1.35 meters. The shape of the head is generally larger than Arabian horses, flat face, upright, live eye rays and small earlobes. Judging from some of its characteristics, local Indonesian horses include ponies (Edward, 1994).


How to Get Quality Horse Milk

Andri, a farmer and horse breeder from the village of Sumbawa Besar filter, has long pursued and raised the world of horses. He has often won horse racing events that are often held in Sumbawa. It is not uncommon for him to get high offers from people who like horse racing, even his horses have been valued at up to 100 million. For the Samawa community, it is a matter of prestige if a horse becomes the champion, the selling price will be high for horse racing enthusiasts.  

Usually, horses in Sumbawa are treated by their owners like their own children. This treatment can be seen from the routine of paying attention to food and vitamins every day in the morning and evening. This horse care aims to produce horses that can race high so that they become the champion at every moment of the race. In addition, the cause of horses is more expensive than the care of cows or buffaloes is in terms of care which includes; Special herbs can be from duck eggs mixed with brown sugar and food nutrients specially made by the owner so that the horse can race with other horses so as to win during the competition.

In addition to the above treatments, there are also several other daily treatments which include bathing the horse using warm water, then using shampoo, even massaged when it runs out so that the horse's body is fit again, besides that it also uses chili water as a body warmer so that the horse is warm again, just like humans who use balm when sore. A horse owner usually spends money to pay for transportation, jockeys, registration, consumption, and sandro, participation in the moment of a horse racing match can spend an allowance of around five to six million rupiah.  

The definition of sandro for ethnic Samawa is someone who is believed to have magical powers that can guard and protect, jockeys and horses while racing in the arena, sometimes in every moment of the horse racing match suddenly there is a horse suddenly stopping or the jockey cannot see like eyes closed. For the people of Samawa, a horse owner of sandro culture has become a natural thing and is even obliged to have a sandro. The characteristics of sandro are usually old people who have experience in the sandro world usually only known by a horse owner.


Milking a Horse   

Usually horse milking is done in the morning or in the afternoon by the owner directly, as for how to milk a horse is to remember on a mare tree after giving birth or breastfeeding, then milking using a container as a collection of horse milk, usually milking horses until the age of eight months foals can still be milked, the usual milking results are one to three liters.  

Dian, a horse milk seller, also stated that Sumbawa horse milk is very much in demand from outside Sumbawa city. One of the customers comes from the city of Surabaya who believes that the efficacy of Sumbawa horse milk is immediately felt in the human body if drunk regularly with a small cup once a day. The price of a 600 ml bottle of horse milk is forty thousand to fifty thousand.

The characteristics of Sumbawa horse milk are watery, white in color, distinctive aroma, with a sour taste. The sour taste of the milk is a result of the presence of lactic acid bacteria (Hakim et al: 2013). The main chemical composition of the commodity is lactose by 6.48%, protein by 1.81%, and fat by 1.67%. The content of these nutrients affects the microbial community in it. Lactic acid bacteria, especially Lactobacillus, are the dominant group found in Sumbawa wild horse milk and are a type of probiotic bacteria known to be safe for the body (Anika Prastyowati: 2021).

The people of Sumbawa believe that horse milk can cure; cancer, leukemia, wet lung, typhoid, and can increase male vitality. Horse milk has nutrients similar to breast milk, horse milk can be a substitute for breast milk, the goal is to increase the strength and immunity of babies born. In addition, wild horse milk is also useful for skin care, the lactoferrin content in it can moisturize the skin, regenerate the skin and even rejuvenate the skin.