Yakutia reindeer herder's viral sparring video captures internet

Khristofor Dyachkov is 26 years old. He is a hereditary reindeer herder. He works with his brothers in the village of Sasyr in northeastern Yakutia. His video, where one of the reindeer challenged him to a fight, unwilling to enter the pen for counting, went viral online. But that«s not all he can show and tell. How the young reindeer herder lives and why his life looks like something beautiful — in this article from 14.RU.

The village of Sasyr is located in the mountains of the Momsky District. Just under 700 people live there. It can only be reached by car, traveling 600 kilometers from the district center. Nearby are the Chersky Range and Mount Pobeda — the highest point in all of northeastern Russia. Its height is 3,003 meters (9,852 ft). The settlement is equally far from Yakutsk and Magadan.

Sparring with a Reindeer

Khristofor published the famous video on his Instagram* on 14 November.

“This reindeer is calling for a sparring match. Who is ready to accept the challenge?” he wrote at the time.

The reindeer herder«s subscribers reacted vigorously — the post has 15 thousand likes and a couple hundred comments. Some wrote that it»s the best video of 2025.

In a conversation with a 14.RU correspondent, Khristofor stated that the video was filmed on the day of publication, and by accident. It«s not AI-generated, as some thought. The reindeer herders were driving the animals into a special pen for counting, one of them got stubborn and didn»t want to go in — Khristofor was trying to negotiate with it. As a result, this funny moment with the challenge to spar occurred.

The problem was quickly resolved, the reindeer was eventually driven into the pen and counted with the others. This happens periodically. The video was filmed by Khristofor«s colleagues.

Is the Life of a Reindeer Herder Good?

Most often, a typical day starts before dawn. Khristofor and his colleagues go on foot to find riding reindeer, drive them to the base, and then on them, he goes to the main herd — monitoring how they graze, where, and in what condition.

Therefore, Khristofor has many photos on social media with extraordinary mountain landscapes. He often climbs them to observe the herd through binoculars. He also keeps an eye on snow sheep. Periodically, the entire herd is gathered for counting and slaughter. They are paid for such work from the budget, but little — only 30,000–40,000 rubles (approximately $300–$400 at current rates).

As Khristofor admits, sometimes slaughtering reindeer is hard — over the years, it«s easy to grow attached to them.

“But you have to do it if it«s old,” the man notes.

He clarifies that they also slaughter fairly young reindeer. If necessary, a reindeer is castrated before the start of the rut (this is what they call the mating period, when reindeer are very aggressive, unmanageable, and lose weight in the fight for females. — Ed. note), around the beginning of autumn. They are slaughtered in November.

Reindeer antlers — they fall off every year — are also handed in. However, as Khristofor admits, the price for them has dropped recently.

Reindeer differ from cows, pigs, and goats in that they don«t need to be herded and have food prepared for them — they find everything themselves. Semi-domesticated reindeer, by the way, differ from wild ones — they are smaller and their hooves are slightly different visually. The rut also starts a bit earlier.

Khristofor is with the reindeer year-round, but he occasionally allows himself to rest. For example, this winter he will be in Yakutsk.

Dogs — Best Friends

The best friends of any reindeer herder are dogs. They are excellent herders and help get out of any trouble. In total, Khristofor and two other colleagues have nine dogs. His favorite is called Berkut — he often posts photos with him.

The man recounted an incident where a dog saved his brother«s life. It happened in spring. Khristofor»s brother was riding a reindeer, herding the others. The dog had disappeared somewhere at that moment. The herd suddenly got scared and ran away, so the reindeer herder was left alone. When he looked back and saw a bear rushing towards him — he had to run. At that moment, his faithful dog returned to him, distracted the beast onto itself, and disappeared behind the mountains. After a while, the dog returned without the bear, and they walked on foot to the camp. All the reindeer were already there.

Bears are most dangerous for reindeer herders in spring, when they are hungry and angry. In summer, as Khristofor admits, humans and beasts can pass by each other calmly, this happens periodically.

Is Personal Life Possible?

Khristofor works with his brothers. He has no cell signal, but there is Wi-Fi, so he publishes something from his work almost every day. In his school and student years, he actively worked out in the gym, then returned to his village, so he has stopped fully exercising for now.

Khristofor rides an enduro motorcycle in summer. He dreams of a snowmobile so he can ride through the mountains of the Chersky Range in winter as well. He doesn«t plan to have children yet, nor to marry. But everything in its own time. For now, Khristofor almost daily looks at incredible landscapes, herds reindeer, rides them, and lives, at least from the outside, his best life. Probably, any office worker would want to spend at least a day like that.

“Living in the wild without urban hustle,” answers Khristofor when asked what is the coolest thing about his profession and lifestyle.

* Instagram — an extremist organization, its activities are banned in the territory of the Russian Federation.