Date: May 1997
Q: Does anyone ride and compete an Akhal Teke Stallion - if so how do you
find him - I am getting conflicting information - many people have said
to me that they are very difficult and can be dangerous - more so than
any other breed. Some say they are great.

A: I do not find my Teke stallion different from other hot blooded stallions.
We use him for riding and breeding. I have done a bit of handling and
competing with stallions from different breeds and I cannot find any
difference beteween Almaz and the other stallion I 've handled.
Well, maybe he matured a little bit later than other breeds. I imported
Almaz as a three-year-old from Russia, he is now 9 years old.
In Sweden, we have a long tradition of gelding the horses we competet
with, but in the recent years it has become popular to ride stallions, why
you can find wrongly handled stallions that become very dangerous for
themselves and others. We have a lack of tradition on how to handle
stallions in Sweden, do you experience the same phenomena in the UK?
I asked Tatjana on the tradition on showing Teke stallions in Russia and
she said they have the same techniques as in the west, the Turkmenes
though, want their stallions to walk on two legs and wave furiously with
their front legs. Ergo, stallions from different horse cultures may be
considered bad in one culture and good in another.
Just imagine a Turkmene in a Halter Quarter Horse Showring(pardon my
terminology)!!
The people that have kindly informed you of the difference between Teke
stallions and other stallions, do they have"hands on experience" from the
breed ?