The violin makers are in despair: white horses are becoming increasingly rare. They were never the most numerous, and the multiplication of cars, which are slowly eliminating man's noblest conquest, has the consequence of making beautiful white horsehair very difficult to find

However, these are irreplaceable, or at least, their replacement has yet to be found for the making of violin and cello bows.
Less subtle instruments, such as the double bass, can at a pinch be satisfied with bows whose dark manes have provided the essential material, but the quivering violin requires, to exhale its pure voice, the help of supple and silky white horsehair.
Siberia and Eastern Russia once provided them in abundance, but the misfortunes of the times, the troubled economic conditions have almost dried up their supply.