Batdalai was just learning to ride the large reindeer standing behind him. With his older sister holding him tight I watched as they went trotting across the taiga at sunset Within a year he should be riding well enough to help bring in the herd at night for milking. Unlike most children in the Tsaatan clan, Batdalai was born in a hospital. His mother had heard about “painless births” and decided to make the three day journey to the little clinic by horseback.