However, one specific breed long stood out from the herd: the so-called blood-sweating horse. Known as Tianma, or the “Heavenly Horse,” this mythical being was celebrated and revered for its exceptional endurance, and was named for the blood said to secrete from its shoulders when running.
During the Western Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 25), “The Book of Later Han” recounts that Emperor Wu dispatched an army to attack the state of Dayuan in the Western Regions (now the Ferghana Valley in Central Asia) to obtain the “blood-sweating horses” found there. Some researchers believe this was a real condition affecting the region’s horses caused by blood-sucking parasites; others hypothesize that the horses were chestnut-colored and that when they perspired, their coats would become wet with sweat, creating the illusion of bleeding.
