Buzkhasi is Played in one form or another for more than 600 years, Afghanistan’s national sport, buzkashi, is alarmingly fast and extremely physical. That, however, is not what grabs the attention—it’s the dead goat in the middle.

This traditional game is played on horseback, similar to polo, but instead of a ball, it’s a headless goat carcass that players are maneuvering around the field of play. The word buzkashi (pronounced ‘booz-ka-shee’) literally translates as ‘goat pulling’ in Persian. While it is the national sport of Afghanistan, varieties of the game have migrated across central Asia and has been adopted by a number of different ethnic groups including the Kazakhs, Tajiks, and Kyrgyz people.