When in November 1998 we flew over London and Jerevan to Ashgabat, the ticket officer in London asked: By the way, Sir, where is Ashgabat? The following years many people have asked the same question. We did not know at that moment that, over the next 12 years, we would travel more than 100 times to Turkmenistan!
In this blog we will tell you the story of the "Divine Akhal-Teke Horse" of Turkmenistan.
The profile of the Akhalteke horse Yanardag is depicted in the inner circle of National Emblem. Yanardag became the world champion at the international exhibition of the Akhalteke breed in Moscow in 1999 an won numerous races. The carpets (see later) in the second circle, cotton and wheat in the third with the symbol of the five regions.
The Akhal-Teke is the only remaining pure strain of ancient Turkmene horse, a breed whose common ancesters bear a sucession of different names over time. Massaget, Parthian, Nisean, Persian, Turkmene and finally, Akhal-Teke. Excavations in southern Turkmenistan have uncovered skeletal remains of tall, fine-boned horses dating back to 2400 BC. The breed name, however, dates back only to the end of the nineteenth century. It consists of two words: "Akhal," the long oasis nestled in the foothills of the Kopet Dag Mountains (once a part of the kingdom of ancient Persia, now present-day Turkmenistan and "Teke," after the Turkmen tribe, the dominant nomadic people who inhabited the oasis and for centuries raised the Turkmen horse.
Geography significantly contributed to the unusual characteristics of the breeed. The volative waves of human and equine movement throughout much of Central Asian histary (wars, raids, trading), often bypassed the isonated Akhal oasis. The Caspian Sea to the west, mountains on the south and desert to the north created a protective barrier to the Teke tribe and contributed to the relative genetic stability to their prized horses. The region's harsh desert conditions - the sandy Kara Kum desert occupies 90% of Turkmenistan - favored survival of a horse that could tolerate extreme heat, dry cold and drought.
With a solid russian jeep, we drove up to the Kara-Kum mountains to the Iranian border.
The cult of the horse, a common feature among many Asian cultures, was an essential part of the bellicose Turkmen culture. A good horse could make the difference between life and death for its rider. More that that, the Akhal-Teke was a source of great personal pride to its owner and an esteemed part of the human family to which it belonged: blanketed in cold weather, often fed byj hand and decorated with neck and chest ornaments.
