One is world champion in looks, one is dressage champion for young horses, one is Olympic gold medal winner in dressage.
Who has the longest legs and the longest neck?

Below is a citation from the MAAK's international web site in English. This is the way the Teke breed is described to the world wide audience that shows interested in the breed.
"by their unique conformation which runs counter to generally accepted principles." With its long back, high withers, deep rib cage, long fine and dry legs with clearly defined tendons, powerful croup and splendidly developed hip and thigh muscles, the tall narrow-chested Akhal-Teke is reminiscent of the fasted of all animals - the cheetah.

1. shael10/12/2006 12:09:26
Homepage: http://shael-teke.ru

http://www.konevodstvo.ru/Tur/miting_05/P1290195.jpg
Garant
http://www.konevodstvo.ru/Tur/miting_05/P1290257.jpg
http://www.konevodstvo.ru/Tur/miting_05/P1290192.jpg
http://www.konevodstvo.ru/Tur/miting_05/P1290163.jpg
http://www.konevodstvo.ru/Tur/miting_05/P1290168.jpg
http://www.konevodstvo.ru/Tur/miting_05/P1290167.jpg

2. Darya10/12/2006 14:28:45
Homepage: http://www.avatstud.com

hmmmm I think you would have to go up to the horse and use the tape measure to tell wich one has got longer legs and neck. Look very similar, don't they? Maybe that description needs updating...

3. Hans-Jurg Buss10/12/2006 17:21:41

They look very similar, of course. All three are champion Akhal Tekes, all three are black and all three are stallions. But ... But there is a great, great difference ... The neck, the back, the "kruppe" (I do not know the english word), the overall expression.

4. Nadja10/12/2006 17:44:02
Homepage: http://www.akhalt-service.ru

I agree with that conformations differ in croup. Gazyr it is absolutely not similar to himself in this photo. There are his more successful photos. Garant is very typical horse without a bridle. The bridle simplifies his head.
For me - Gazyr one of examples of a fine combination of conformation and type.
Garant
http://www.akhalt-service.ru/images/pics/garant01.jpg
http://www.akhalt-service.ru/images/pics/garant02.jpg
http://www.akhalt-service.ru/images/pics/garant03.jpg
Gazyr
http://www.akhalt-service.ru/images/pics/gazyr01.jpg
http://www.akhalt-service.ru/images/pics/gazyr02.jpg

5. Darya10/13/2006 03:06:22
Homepage: http://www.avatstud.com

What lovely pictures, thank you Nadja. I have taken much better liking to Garant after seeing those pictures. I was saying that they are similar when referring to length of neck and legs. That was the question anyways.

6. Jessica 10/13/2006 09:17:08

Hans-Jürg, I can understand you are hesitant and feel that there is a tangible difference between the stallions. One of them is a warmblood. He is approved by the Swedish Warmblood studbook and has the famous Florentin stallion line on his paternal side.
What I wanted to illustrate with the three black stallions is that the modern warmblood is selected for a noble, long legged elegant look. I think that quite many warmbloods are more noble and elegant than some Tekes.
Like I have said before, Tekes in the west enter a very competetive market with tons of super quality noble and elegant horses. No type-conformation - world championship monopoly can change that.

7. Nathalie10/16/2006 16:03:58

you mean that the second stallion is a warmblood ? in the akhal teke breed there are horses who looks like warmblood , that's a reality ! And when I see Absent, even if he had an elegant type, for me he has not the akhal teke look. I'm sure that the russian did selection of horses with warmblood conformation and type in the 20th century. The want to have an akhal teke who can compet with warmblood horses. But with this aim, we're going to loose the akhal teke breed. That's my opinion.

8. Jessica 10/17/2006 08:27:09

The second stallion is First Wish a warmblood. And yes yesterday and today the goal from the Russian state and many breeders is to make the Akhal-Teke a competetive breed for the sport horse market.
However, it is not necessarily the same as the goal is to make them into warmbloods.
I would like to look at it the other way around, if you follow the inspections and development of the breeding goals for the successful sport horse (horses that are bred and trained for elite level competetion) producing studbooks, you can see that the type of horse they are breeding for today, is actually more similar to the ideal Teke, a horse with longer legs than the depth of the chest, a long high carried neck, longer pasterns and a lively and fast (electric) temperament. In the 70's the typical warmblood had short front legs, low carried neck a heavy type and a docile temperament.
So the warmblood studbooks that have a very efficent way of reaching the breeding goals for the population are actually coming closer to the Teke breed type much faster than the Teke breed is improving its sport horse capacity and overall quality (because we are not testing the population for temperament,rideability, gaits etc). With high selection pressure and motivated breeders as the warmblood studbooks have they might even produce better Tekes than we do if they decided to. Interestingly enough is that the type of horse that was created by Central Asian equestrians thousands of years ago have traits that are very sought after today in sport horse breeding. Let's show the sport horse world the real high quality, typical, well raised Tekes (not the failed warmblood look alikes that spent their first years in starvation camp) under talented riders and see what happens! Maybe the Tekes will set the standard for the sport horse in the future.

9. Hans-Jurg Buss10/17/2006 17:32:03

Jessica, now I understand the intention of your first comment with the three fotos. In fact I could hardly believe that the second one was an Akhal Teke. But I thought you used the picture to demonstrate that the actual breeding goals in Russia tend to produce warmblood like Tekes! And my comment was - slightly ironically - accordingly. Judging from fotos only is always difficult. But I am glad to see after reviewing and your comments that I was right at first sight: there is a great, great difference. And that is what makes us Teke lovers hope, as you explained in your last comment.

10. Steffie10/22/2006 07:17:57

I don't know if anyone else has seen this but I found video of Absent on Youtube. Not very long but lovely to watch.

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=Filatow

11. Hans-Jurg Buss10/22/2006 09:45:18

Thank you Steffie for this link. Does anyone know of other videos of Absent?

12. Todd Keith10/22/2006 10:41:16
Homepage: http://www.beknazar.com/

Here is another.
http://www.karakumstud.com/absent.mpeg

13. Blanca10/23/2006 12:40:23

Thanks a lot Steffie, for this video, that I didn't know.

Does anybody know how much did he get for his passage and piaffe in Rome?

Todd, I can't open your link