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The History of the Akhal-Teke-Horses, Yesterday And Today
By Dr. Tatiana Riabova and N.V. Abramova
Translated by Dr. Tito Pontecorvo
The prized blood of the Akhal-Teke horse is the beginning of the world's horsebreeding culture.
From ancient books, you can see that Central Asia was the center of horsebreeding of the ancient world. The paintings that we still have, show to us Central Asian horses with beautiful and strong legs, high necked and quick, already existing at the end of the third and the beginning of the second century BC. The ancient authors speak especially of the golden color of these horses.
Every aristocrat from Rome dreamed of getting this type of horse for hunting and war; Chinese emperors sent armies to get these horses.
One of the main arguments in favor of the Akhal-Teke being the oldest and most ancient horse breed is the horse mummies that were buried together with a Scythian king in the 4th or 3rd century BC. They were found in Russia, in the Altai Mountain region, and the horses looked typical of the Akhal-Teke.
At the time that a new religion--Islam--began to spread in the Arab countries was the beginning of Arabian horse breeding. Before this, the horse was a very rare animal in Arabia; the main animals used in warfare were camels. The influence of Akhal-Teke horses on Arab horse breeding came from the fact that the Arabs got many of their horses from their enemies; a lot of these horses were Akhal-Tekes that were then used as breeding stock by the Arabs, and from which the Arabs developed a strong cavalry.
Much later, after the Turkmen decided to move into Central Asia, Arabian horse breeding was once again influenced by Akhal-Teke horses. Famous breeders and lovers of Arab horses, Carl Raswan and E. Shille and others, say that the Arabian "Muniqi" or "Maneghi" strains were developed by using Akhal-Teke blood.
A great achievement in the world of horse breeding was the work of English breeders in the 18th and 19th centuries in developing the Thoroughbred race horse. In making this breed, English breeders used a lot of Akhal-Teke horses and horses of eastern breeds.
Pictures of early Thoroughbreds show how similar these horses were to Akhal-Tekes. Many people from Europe who visited Russia and Turkmenia in the 18th and 19th centuries also noticed how similar the horses were.
Together with the horses, the Turkmenian way of training came to England, a system which was never used in Arab countries (working under blankets, breaking a horse at one year old, etc.)
Akhal-Teke horses came not only to Arab countries and England. Turkmen Atti, an Akhal-Teke stallion, was used in Germany to develop the Trakehner breed.
But the strongest influence that Akhal-Teke horses had was in Russia. In Russia, people loved Akhal-Teke horses. The Russians sent expeditions to take horses, and bought them from other countries. The Tzars Alexi M. and Fedor M.--father and brother of Tsar Peter the Great--loved Akhal-Teke horses. Peter the Great had an Akhal-Teke mare named Lisett that he loved. In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were a great many Akhal-Teke horses in Russian stud farms. The Russian government bought many Akhal-Teke stallions at very high prices.
The Russians used the Akhal-Teke horses especially at the Rostov, Strellets Derkulsk, Limarevsk and Novo Alexandrov stud farms, and in the latter third of the 19th century, 40% of the horses at these farms were Akhal-Tekes.
The influence of the Akhal-Teke was also very strong in the Karabakh and Don breeds. In 1839, 800 Akhal-Teke horses were used in breeding the Don. Famous general Orlov used Akhal-Tekes for the Orlov Riding Horse and the Orlov Trotter. The famous horse Sultan was, according to Prof. V. O. Vitt, first of all, not an Arabian horse, he was an Akhal-Teke. Vitt also said that the Darley Arabian was an Akhal-Teke, and of course Turkmen Atti was an Akhal-Teke.
For breeding the Orlov Riding Horse and Orlov Trotter, many Akhal-Teke horses were used: Saltan, First, Shah, Drakon, Djeiran, Gussein-Hak, Ialangush-Han and others.
A new interest in Akhal-Teke horses came in 1881-1882, when Turkmenia joined Russia. The military were very interested in using Akhal-Tekes in the cavalry. After the union with Russia, the economy of Turkmenia did not depend so much on horses as it had before. Many people ceased to travel, and instead settled in one place to raise vegetables and fruits. There was no more need to raise horses for war, and many horses were sold to Iran, India, Afghanistan and England. This became a dangerous situation for the breed. But the General of the Zakaspiiski region, N. A. Kuropatkin, loved the Akhal-Teke horses, and he established a breeding farm in Zakaspiiski in 1897, with his own money. The first director was a Russian Cossack, J. A. Mazan, who using the best Akhal-Tekes he could find, began the main sire lines of the breed.
Mazan started to write the stud book in order to make an archive for the breed. Later, in 1912, Tsar Nicolai II signed the documents of organization making Zakaspiiski an official state stud. In 1915, there were already more than 40 purebred Akhal-Teke mares.
The Akhal-Teke horses from Zakaspiiski were shown before the first world war at Tashkent (1909), Piatigosk (1912) and Kiev (1913) and made quite an impression. In the journals and newspapers many nice words were said about the breed; the stallion Djeiran was sold to von Ettinger, who used him at stud in the famous Trakehnen farm.
Then there was the first war, the Revolution, a civil war, and only because of the work of the Zakaspiiski stud farm is the breed still alive today.
It was a great thing for the breed when Russian scientists K. Gorelov, G. S. Neelov and Bogushevski, in 1926-1927, started to write down the pedigrees of Akhal-Teke horses, and after this was started the stud book of the world's oldest pureblood breed of horses. K. I. Gorelov organized a new breeding farm, the first one not in Turkmenia. A group of mares and two stallions went to South Kazakhstan (now Lugovskoi Stud Farm), where was born the famous Absent.
An important event in the history of the breed was when, in 1958, the famous breeder Vladimir Shambourant brought 53 Akhal-Teke horses from Turkmenia and started breeding them at the Tersk stud farm. Shambourant's idea was to breed big, harmonious, beautiful horses with exotic type of the Akhal-Teke. They also needed to be strong, sportive and fast for racing. He bred many famous horses: Yulduz, Gundogar, Guneshli, Guldjakan, Asat and many others, who have had a huge influence in the future of the Akhal-Teke breed.
Because of the work of Russian professionals, the breed was saved in both Russia and Turkmenistan.
At the beginning of 1970, there were only 200 breeding mares in Turkmenia. The situation once again became dangerous and the Soviet government desired to give the main control and all the work with breeding papers to the Institute of Horse Breeding in the Ryazan region. In 1973 Dr. T. Riabova, together with M. Chezkesova, controlled all the Akhal-Teke horses in Turkmenia, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Beginning in 1973 and continuing today, each Akhal-Teke foal must be blood typed. Competitions are held to choose the most sportive horses and choose the best young horses. The Institute of Horse Breeding keeps the stud book of Akhal-Teke horses, and gives recommendations on all the problems that breeders may have. The scientists at the institute write many articles about the special problems of the Akhal-Teke breed.
Because of the very tight control from the Institute, the quality of horses at the stud farms continues to go up, as does interest in the breed itself. Now there are over 1,000 purebred broodmares. The Institute started a stud book of partbred Akhal-Tekes, which showed themselves competent in sports. In 1990 the Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding of the Soviet Union was started, to be the overseer of Russian Akhal-Teke breeding; when the Soviet Union was finished, it became the Russian Association. Nevertheless, the members of this Association were not only Russians, but breeders from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Turkmenistan became independent from Russia, and said that it would work with its horses in its own way. With that, the situation for Akhal-Tekes in Turkmenistan began to worsen severely. By 1997, the quality of Turkmenian horses was much worse than it had been; 30% of the horses at the Ashkabad Hippodrome are not purebred, and the Turkmenians do not register their horses in the Stud Book.
To help reverse the situation in Turkmenistan, it was decided to create the International Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding (MAAK), with the first president being a Turkmenian breeder, Geldi Kiarizov. This decision was made at the Akhaltekinets breeding farm in Dubna, owned by T. Pontecorvo. The founders of the International Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding are the Institute of Horsebreeding in Russia; the Russian Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding, and the private farm Akhal-Yurt from Turkmenistan.
The main founder is the Institute of Horsebreeding in Russia. This Institute does all the paperwork for the Akhal-Teke breed the world over, and is the only organization which has the right to keep and control the work with the Stud Book of pureblood Akhal-Teke horses. The only information about the Akhal-Teke that you can trust 100% comes from this Institute.
Only at the Institute is there a dossier about every pure-blood Akhal-Teke horse: blood test, pedigree, the results of every year of control, photographs, and a lot of other information.
The Institute of Horsebreeding is the breeding center of the International Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding--and only the Institute can give real documents for Akhal-Teke horses. There are only two signatures that you can trust on the documents of Akhal-Teke horses, those of the inspectors of the Stud Book, T. N. Riabova and N.V. Abramova. All the other documents with other signatures are falsified documents.
Today the Akhal-Teke horsebreeding in Russia is doing very well. Prices for Akhal-Tekes are between $20,000 and $80,000. Russians love these clever and intelligent horses. They are used for classical horse sports and for racing.
In 1997 most of the Turkmenian breeders understood that without Russia, the breeding of pureblood Akhal-Tekes in Turkmenistan would be finished. And that's why there was an agreement made between the Russian Institute of Horsebreeding and the Turkmenian breeders, about keeping Turkmenian horses registered and blood-typed, with the Institute in control of their paperwork. Only the Institute of Horsebreeding will be able to save the breeding of purebred Akhal-Tekes in Turkmenistan.
Dr. T. N. Riabova is the main inspector and registrar of the Stud Book, and director of the Breeding Center of MAAK. She is also the president of the Russian Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding. She has a Ph.D. in Biology.
Dr. N. V. Abramova is an inspector and registrar for the Stud Book, Secretary of MAAK and has a Ph.D. in Agriculture.
A.S. Klimuk is the main breeder at the Stavropol Stud Farm.
This article was translated from the original Russian by Dr. Tito Pontecorvo of the Akhaltekinets Stud Farms in Dubna, Russia, and San Antonio, Texas.
By Dr. Tatiana Riabova and N.V. Abramova
Translated by Dr. Tito Pontecorvo
The prized blood of the Akhal-Teke horse is the beginning of the world's horsebreeding culture.
From ancient books, you can see that Central Asia was the center of horsebreeding of the ancient world. The paintings that we still have, show to us Central Asian horses with beautiful and strong legs, high necked and quick, already existing at the end of the third and the beginning of the second century BC. The ancient authors speak especially of the golden color of these horses.
Every aristocrat from Rome dreamed of getting this type of horse for hunting and war; Chinese emperors sent armies to get these horses.
One of the main arguments in favor of the Akhal-Teke being the oldest and most ancient horse breed is the horse mummies that were buried together with a Scythian king in the 4th or 3rd century BC. They were found in Russia, in the Altai Mountain region, and the horses looked typical of the Akhal-Teke.
At the time that a new religion--Islam--began to spread in the Arab countries was the beginning of Arabian horse breeding. Before this, the horse was a very rare animal in Arabia; the main animals used in warfare were camels. The influence of Akhal-Teke horses on Arab horse breeding came from the fact that the Arabs got many of their horses from their enemies; a lot of these horses were Akhal-Tekes that were then used as breeding stock by the Arabs, and from which the Arabs developed a strong cavalry.
Much later, after the Turkmen decided to move into Central Asia, Arabian horse breeding was once again influenced by Akhal-Teke horses. Famous breeders and lovers of Arab horses, Carl Raswan and E. Shille and others, say that the Arabian "Muniqi" or "Maneghi" strains were developed by using Akhal-Teke blood.
A great achievement in the world of horse breeding was the work of English breeders in the 18th and 19th centuries in developing the Thoroughbred race horse. In making this breed, English breeders used a lot of Akhal-Teke horses and horses of eastern breeds.
Pictures of early Thoroughbreds show how similar these horses were to Akhal-Tekes. Many people from Europe who visited Russia and Turkmenia in the 18th and 19th centuries also noticed how similar the horses were.
Together with the horses, the Turkmenian way of training came to England, a system which was never used in Arab countries (working under blankets, breaking a horse at one year old, etc.)
Akhal-Teke horses came not only to Arab countries and England. Turkmen Atti, an Akhal-Teke stallion, was used in Germany to develop the Trakehner breed.
But the strongest influence that Akhal-Teke horses had was in Russia. In Russia, people loved Akhal-Teke horses. The Russians sent expeditions to take horses, and bought them from other countries. The Tzars Alexi M. and Fedor M.--father and brother of Tsar Peter the Great--loved Akhal-Teke horses. Peter the Great had an Akhal-Teke mare named Lisett that he loved. In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were a great many Akhal-Teke horses in Russian stud farms. The Russian government bought many Akhal-Teke stallions at very high prices.
The Russians used the Akhal-Teke horses especially at the Rostov, Strellets Derkulsk, Limarevsk and Novo Alexandrov stud farms, and in the latter third of the 19th century, 40% of the horses at these farms were Akhal-Tekes.
The influence of the Akhal-Teke was also very strong in the Karabakh and Don breeds. In 1839, 800 Akhal-Teke horses were used in breeding the Don. Famous general Orlov used Akhal-Tekes for the Orlov Riding Horse and the Orlov Trotter. The famous horse Sultan was, according to Prof. V. O. Vitt, first of all, not an Arabian horse, he was an Akhal-Teke. Vitt also said that the Darley Arabian was an Akhal-Teke, and of course Turkmen Atti was an Akhal-Teke.
For breeding the Orlov Riding Horse and Orlov Trotter, many Akhal-Teke horses were used: Saltan, First, Shah, Drakon, Djeiran, Gussein-Hak, Ialangush-Han and others.
A new interest in Akhal-Teke horses came in 1881-1882, when Turkmenia joined Russia. The military were very interested in using Akhal-Tekes in the cavalry. After the union with Russia, the economy of Turkmenia did not depend so much on horses as it had before. Many people ceased to travel, and instead settled in one place to raise vegetables and fruits. There was no more need to raise horses for war, and many horses were sold to Iran, India, Afghanistan and England. This became a dangerous situation for the breed. But the General of the Zakaspiiski region, N. A. Kuropatkin, loved the Akhal-Teke horses, and he established a breeding farm in Zakaspiiski in 1897, with his own money. The first director was a Russian Cossack, J. A. Mazan, who using the best Akhal-Tekes he could find, began the main sire lines of the breed.
Mazan started to write the stud book in order to make an archive for the breed. Later, in 1912, Tsar Nicolai II signed the documents of organization making Zakaspiiski an official state stud. In 1915, there were already more than 40 purebred Akhal-Teke mares.
The Akhal-Teke horses from Zakaspiiski were shown before the first world war at Tashkent (1909), Piatigosk (1912) and Kiev (1913) and made quite an impression. In the journals and newspapers many nice words were said about the breed; the stallion Djeiran was sold to von Ettinger, who used him at stud in the famous Trakehnen farm.
Then there was the first war, the Revolution, a civil war, and only because of the work of the Zakaspiiski stud farm is the breed still alive today.
It was a great thing for the breed when Russian scientists K. Gorelov, G. S. Neelov and Bogushevski, in 1926-1927, started to write down the pedigrees of Akhal-Teke horses, and after this was started the stud book of the world's oldest pureblood breed of horses. K. I. Gorelov organized a new breeding farm, the first one not in Turkmenia. A group of mares and two stallions went to South Kazakhstan (now Lugovskoi Stud Farm), where was born the famous Absent.
An important event in the history of the breed was when, in 1958, the famous breeder Vladimir Shambourant brought 53 Akhal-Teke horses from Turkmenia and started breeding them at the Tersk stud farm. Shambourant's idea was to breed big, harmonious, beautiful horses with exotic type of the Akhal-Teke. They also needed to be strong, sportive and fast for racing. He bred many famous horses: Yulduz, Gundogar, Guneshli, Guldjakan, Asat and many others, who have had a huge influence in the future of the Akhal-Teke breed.
Because of the work of Russian professionals, the breed was saved in both Russia and Turkmenistan.
At the beginning of 1970, there were only 200 breeding mares in Turkmenia. The situation once again became dangerous and the Soviet government desired to give the main control and all the work with breeding papers to the Institute of Horse Breeding in the Ryazan region. In 1973 Dr. T. Riabova, together with M. Chezkesova, controlled all the Akhal-Teke horses in Turkmenia, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Beginning in 1973 and continuing today, each Akhal-Teke foal must be blood typed. Competitions are held to choose the most sportive horses and choose the best young horses. The Institute of Horse Breeding keeps the stud book of Akhal-Teke horses, and gives recommendations on all the problems that breeders may have. The scientists at the institute write many articles about the special problems of the Akhal-Teke breed.
Because of the very tight control from the Institute, the quality of horses at the stud farms continues to go up, as does interest in the breed itself. Now there are over 1,000 purebred broodmares. The Institute started a stud book of partbred Akhal-Tekes, which showed themselves competent in sports. In 1990 the Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding of the Soviet Union was started, to be the overseer of Russian Akhal-Teke breeding; when the Soviet Union was finished, it became the Russian Association. Nevertheless, the members of this Association were not only Russians, but breeders from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Turkmenistan became independent from Russia, and said that it would work with its horses in its own way. With that, the situation for Akhal-Tekes in Turkmenistan began to worsen severely. By 1997, the quality of Turkmenian horses was much worse than it had been; 30% of the horses at the Ashkabad Hippodrome are not purebred, and the Turkmenians do not register their horses in the Stud Book.
To help reverse the situation in Turkmenistan, it was decided to create the International Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding (MAAK), with the first president being a Turkmenian breeder, Geldi Kiarizov. This decision was made at the Akhaltekinets breeding farm in Dubna, owned by T. Pontecorvo. The founders of the International Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding are the Institute of Horsebreeding in Russia; the Russian Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding, and the private farm Akhal-Yurt from Turkmenistan.
The main founder is the Institute of Horsebreeding in Russia. This Institute does all the paperwork for the Akhal-Teke breed the world over, and is the only organization which has the right to keep and control the work with the Stud Book of pureblood Akhal-Teke horses. The only information about the Akhal-Teke that you can trust 100% comes from this Institute.
Only at the Institute is there a dossier about every pure-blood Akhal-Teke horse: blood test, pedigree, the results of every year of control, photographs, and a lot of other information.
The Institute of Horsebreeding is the breeding center of the International Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding--and only the Institute can give real documents for Akhal-Teke horses. There are only two signatures that you can trust on the documents of Akhal-Teke horses, those of the inspectors of the Stud Book, T. N. Riabova and N.V. Abramova. All the other documents with other signatures are falsified documents.
Today the Akhal-Teke horsebreeding in Russia is doing very well. Prices for Akhal-Tekes are between $20,000 and $80,000. Russians love these clever and intelligent horses. They are used for classical horse sports and for racing.
In 1997 most of the Turkmenian breeders understood that without Russia, the breeding of pureblood Akhal-Tekes in Turkmenistan would be finished. And that's why there was an agreement made between the Russian Institute of Horsebreeding and the Turkmenian breeders, about keeping Turkmenian horses registered and blood-typed, with the Institute in control of their paperwork. Only the Institute of Horsebreeding will be able to save the breeding of purebred Akhal-Tekes in Turkmenistan.
Dr. T. N. Riabova is the main inspector and registrar of the Stud Book, and director of the Breeding Center of MAAK. She is also the president of the Russian Association of Akhal-Teke Horsebreeding. She has a Ph.D. in Biology.
Dr. N. V. Abramova is an inspector and registrar for the Stud Book, Secretary of MAAK and has a Ph.D. in Agriculture.
A.S. Klimuk is the main breeder at the Stavropol Stud Farm.
This article was translated from the original Russian by Dr. Tito Pontecorvo of the Akhaltekinets Stud Farms in Dubna, Russia, and San Antonio, Texas.