KaraKum Stud Blog | The Turkmen horse

Friday 20th, January 2006

The Turkmen horse 01/20/2006 10:11 AM

I was inspired to blog about the Turkmen horse by the comment made by Ash and Emily Bolt that are new to the breed she asked if most Akhal-Tekes have TB blood in them or if they are pure Turkmen horses.

A Turkmen horse (oriental) is a horse with its origins in Turkmenistan, compare to the Iberian horse (occidental), that origins from the Iberian peninsula or the Arabian horse (oriental) that has its origins in the Arabian peninsula.

The Turkmen horse is not a breed neither is the Iberian horse, the name indicates a group of breeds or strains. To the group of Iberian horses belongs for example the Lusitano and the Andalusian breed. To the Turkmen group belongs the Akhal-Teke breed, the Yomud breed and other so called strains of horses like the Goklen, Tchenaran (Iran, Plateu Persian or Arab crossed with Turkmen mares) etc.

The Arabian horse is considered a breed though, due to historical events, the western breed concept was applied to a large group of horses of different looks and strains. The concept of the Arabian horse has been worked out from a certain sub group of a large group of horses to be applied on each sub group as a standard. Among the Arabian horse breeders many strains and types exist and you can hear breeders that work with "Straight Egypian" or within the "Al Khamsa" or the five strains that by many are considered the original strains of the Arabian horse.

The approach to the Turkmen horse was different than to the Arabian horse. The westerners that breedified the Turkmen horse where Russian Scientists, they decided that the best and purest strain of the Turkmen horse was the Akhal-Teke. And that the Akhal-Teke, in its pure form, best represented the argamak of Central Asia, know since ancient times for its beauty, speed and stamina.

A. Shcekin and K-I. Gorelov writes in W.O. Witt's Horses of the Ancient Orient "The Akhal-Teke is the purest representative of the fast breeds of southern horses. being descendant of the ancient race horse of Middle Asia, it was specialised as desert horse." A.Shcekin and K-I Gorelov continues"At the very end of the past century a certain number of Akhal-Teke horses were interbred with British thoroughbreds. British blood continued to be added from time to time until quite recently. The Anglo-Teke horses are faster, somewhat larger and have better chests than the pure Akhal-Teke. The Anglo-Teke horses, however, completely lose the distinct traits of the Turkmenian horse and are less fitted for the conditions of work in Middle Asia. The Ashgabad-Moscow run in particular showed that the Anglo-Teke horses lost more weight and that their legs had suffered more than those of the Akhal-Teke. For this reason, in order to preserve and improve the breed, the Akhal-Teke horses should not be mixed with other bloods."

The stud book for Akhal-Tekes that was founded in 1927 and no horses of "foreign blood" was allowed into the stud book after 1932. So a few TB stallions are represented today in the modern Teke breed, but as they are so many generations back one cannot say that they at all influence the Teke breed today.

Another strain of the Turkmen horse that was breedified by the Russians was the Yomut horse, according to N.I. Kuzmin in Horses of the Ancient Orient "In measurements and other points it most closely resembles the Akhal-Teke among the various breeds of horses in Middle Asia." A state stud book and a state stud was also formed for this strain eventhough you seldom here about these horses today. In 1997, however, there was an endurance test made by FEI standards performed in Turkmenistan, where three Yomuts and 6 Akhal-Tekes where tested.

Western travellers in Central Asia also mentioned other strains of Turkmen horses named from the nomadic tribes that bred them, Salor, Ersari, Yomut, Goklan and Sarik, the Akhal-Teke enjoyed the highest honors among breeder for its beauty.

Turkmen tribes have also travelled with their horses back and forth over the Iran borders. The Turkmen horse in Iran is represented by three strains, Akhal-Teke, Yomut and Tchenaran. In The Turcoman Horse published in 1971 by The Royal Horse Society of Iran the following stamement is made "With Throughbred and Througbred crosses winning most of the coveted prizes on the Tehran race track, the Turcomans from the north slowly began to import Thoroughbred studs to mix with their own mares. The inevitable result was mongrel who, although undeniable attractive, could claim purity on neither side side and was not eligible for any Stud Book, either in Iran or abroad." Since then several attempts have been made to create stud books and keep records of the remnants of the Turkmen horse in Iran but is has proven difficult. The strains of the Turkmen horses in Iran cannot be considered pure or a breed according to western breed standards.

The Akhal-Tekes inscribed in the General Stud Book for Akhal-Teke horses can therefore, without doubt, in the year of 2006, be described as the purest and only representative of the fast breed of southern horses, being descendant of the ancient race horse of Central Asia.

Comments :

1. Leonid01/21/2006 03:54:19
Homepage: http://www.shael-teke.ru

Russia is leader of akhalteke breeding in XXI century.
Into the Volume X of Studbook are written 480 dams by period from 1993 to 2000, conclude:
Russia - 211 dams, including elite - 88 (42%), I class - 117 (58%);
Turkmenia - 77 dams, including elite - 28 (36%), I class - 49 (64%);
Kazakhstan - 52 dams.
It is dams, wich were born from 1990 to 1997 in general. By practic it is near 50% of breeding mares by real time.
Dams, wich was born before 1990 and are written into Book X and alife and effect today not more then 10 - 15% off number:
Russia - near 20 dams;
Turkmenia - near 30 dams;
Kazakhstan - near 10 dams.
Dams, wich were born after 1997 and will conclude into the next Book and effect to real time about 40%. Suppose:
Russia - near 100 dams;
Turkmenia - near 10 dams (general quantity are not written into the Book and are loosing pedigree);
Kazakhstan - near 40 dams.
Supposing number of dams by real tim in this general breeding countries:
Russia - 330-350;
Turcmenia - 120-140;
Kazakhstan - 100-120.
My prognosis that Russia and Kazakhstan are culminated of number dams, Turkmenia goes to loosing of pure horses.

2. Nat01/23/2006 04:05:07

I've heard that many akhal teke horses in Turkmenistan don't have the MAAK papers so only few akhal teke from Turmenistan are mentionned in the 10. studbook. Is it true ? Does it means that turkmen don't care about purity of the breed and cross more and more their akhal teke with other horses ? The situation in Turkmenistan is not clear. Who control now the papers of the horses ? Does the MAAK and the VNIIK control the breed ?
This situation is very dangerous because in 10 years, there will be a turkmen breed without link with the official breed and located in the native area.

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