Akhal Teke UK
©Black Fox 2007-2008
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
"Pure Blood"
"Akhal Teke Inform" 2004, by A. Gaganova
"Akhal Teke Inform" 2004, by A. Gaganova
I am standing in the middle of a fenced
paddock, trying to touch a silver-coloured,
blue-eyed horse. Our interaction resembles
a ritual dance: I am dancing around the
horse and he is circling around me. It’s
clear that curious Pegasus is in no hurry to
trust a stranger.
paddock, trying to touch a silver-coloured,
blue-eyed horse. Our interaction resembles
a ritual dance: I am dancing around the
horse and he is circling around me. It’s
clear that curious Pegasus is in no hurry to
trust a stranger.
“Try offering him a biscuit”, a young show-jumper girl Vera tells me “ maybe then he won’t
run away”. Vera is giving me a dry piece of bread. Pegasus snorts noisily, inhales the warm
spring air and tensely stretches out towards me his long swan-like neck. He hurriedly grabs
the bread with his soft lips and takes off at a gallop in a flash.
Never once had I seen such a wild horse – would not even let me stroke him! And this
amazingly quick reaction – like lightening! He reads and predicts my body-language. He
isn’t a horse, he is more like a large bird that hovers and moves from branch to branch.
What a curious “bird”.
Vera comments: “Normal sports horse, only it’s an Akhal-Teke: this means it has a certain
temperament. It’s one of those rare breeds which chooses its master. They say a real
Akhal-Teke should have one and only rider. They are proud horses. Take this Pegasus –
he likes to remind us that it isn’t the rider who is riding him, it is him, Pegasus, who is
generously allowing a human to ride him. Give him a treat in a field or in his stable – he will
never refuse it. Take a treat to the training session – he might spit it out just like that – as if
he is saying: “I am not working here for treats! If I don’t want to work, you won’t make
me do it for a biscuit!”. That’s why our professionals refuse to work with the Akhal-Tekes.
They want easy horses who don’t demand friendship from the rider but simply work
quietly and obediently for any rider.
In fact, suspicious behaviour of a Teke stems not from wild nature, but on the contrary –
from the need for communication, continues Vera. Many horses are afraid of strangers.
Despite all its strength, horse is a peaceful herbivore. It has no claws, no horns, no teeth
that carnivore possess. Flight instinct is normal for any horse. But with a Teke the flight
instinct is combined with the need for communication. In the old days in Turkmenistan a
foal just born was brought into a yurt. Even in the first months of his life a future argamak
was brought up by people, not by horses. This is why Akhal-Tekes have such exceptional
intelligence and endless need for communication with humans.
As if to confirm this theory, Pegasus has now joined our conversation and looking at me
intently. I am looking back at him and thinking about the paradox of this breed. Fragile,
aristocratic stature, refined conformation and brave fighting spirit. Communicative and
cautious. Attachment to humans and independence. Loyalty to his owner and pride. I look
in Pegasus’ blue eyes and think to myself: “Who is studying whom?” My impression is that
this horse who keeps moving his head as if to “scan” a view of my person from a different
angle is trying to assess me, make a judgement on my good and bad characteristics. It
gives me the creeps.
A horse does not have an ability to reason like a human but it possesses a rich range of
emotional reactions. Any horseman will tell you that a horse can feel the emotional state of
even a very secretive person, and that the human’s emotions are passed to the horse, as if
the horse had read the rider’s mind.
I was recently in StPetersburg, crossing Anichkov Bridge. I was thinking that the famous
Klodt horses [bronze statues] are unlikely to have been Akhal-Tekes. An Akhal-Teke
cannot be tamed into submission, he can only be taught to trust. (There are two words in
Russian for “to tame” – ukrotit’ and priruchit’ – one means “to tame by force”, the other
means literally “to tame by the soft touch of your hands”)
“How come you got interested in this paradoxical breed?”, I ask the owner of the breeding
farm Russian Legend, Daniil Sukhachev.
“My friend, a photographic artist Vladimir Potapov, often showed me his work in
Turkmenistan. On many of the photographs I saw the proud-looking, slim horses, as if
made of bronze or gold. Vladimir knew Riabova, and had connections at VNIIK. I
thought to myself it might be nice to get a couple of horses for my estate, for hacking out.
Got the idea to buy purebred Akhal-Tekes because everything I do I try to do at the top
level. Then I learned that after the break-up of USSR the best horses were left in
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Many of them were slaughtered for meat. The main
problem as I got to understand it gradually is that you cannot create a “breed of the
century” and then rest on your laurels. Sure, Akhal-Teke were already known in the world
as the most ancient breed. The very beautiful, very fast horses with a lot of stamina which
Russia had given as gifts to VIPs around the world. But this “branding“ is already in the
past, a lost cause. Without the new blood, the breed won’t survive. To preserve the breed,
new blood is needed. I realised that we must bring to Russia good producers from
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. I took stock of my own possibilities and decide to make
my contribution to horse breeding and at the same time to realise my dream of acquiring a
couple of good-looking horses for my estate. In 1993-94 we made four trips and now we
have the studfarm Russian Legend. Thanks to AATK the quality of youngstock is getting
better”
Daniil Sukhachev grows vegetables for Moscow restaurants on his estate, and tells me that
breeding Akhal-Tekes doesn’t bring profit. You can get a good price for a horse of
Olympic standard, a horse which performs well in show-jumping, dressage and eventing at
a high level. Not many of our professionals work with Akhal-Tekes. Not because they don’
t feel like it. There simply aren’t enough of them… “The temperament is too proud” – is a
stereotype born out of individual incidents. The truth is that purebred Akhal-Tekes are rare
in our training facilities. Go and visit the training facility for Olympic reservists at Planernaia.
You will see Budennyi, Trakehners, and even more horses from Europe – heavy
warmbloods. “Don’t we have any Russian breeds?” – you will be tempted to ask (at the
beginning of the 20th century our country was first in the world for the overall number of
horses per head of population, we had more than 50 breeds). But after perestroika, the
market was opened and flooded with Western imports. In the same way as we started
watching Western films, and fly on Western Boeings and Airbuses, our riders quietly
moved over to foreign breeds.”
The best marketing tool for a breed in today’s world is still Olympic disciplines. So we are
in a vicious circle: a horse hasn’t got a sport record – so its best off-spring aren’t in
demand.
My first impression of this breed is superficial. Silvery Pegasus has posed more questions
for me than given answers. I must come back to this breed and to this Pegasus whose
name alone is a creative inspiration.
run away”. Vera is giving me a dry piece of bread. Pegasus snorts noisily, inhales the warm
spring air and tensely stretches out towards me his long swan-like neck. He hurriedly grabs
the bread with his soft lips and takes off at a gallop in a flash.
Never once had I seen such a wild horse – would not even let me stroke him! And this
amazingly quick reaction – like lightening! He reads and predicts my body-language. He
isn’t a horse, he is more like a large bird that hovers and moves from branch to branch.
What a curious “bird”.
Vera comments: “Normal sports horse, only it’s an Akhal-Teke: this means it has a certain
temperament. It’s one of those rare breeds which chooses its master. They say a real
Akhal-Teke should have one and only rider. They are proud horses. Take this Pegasus –
he likes to remind us that it isn’t the rider who is riding him, it is him, Pegasus, who is
generously allowing a human to ride him. Give him a treat in a field or in his stable – he will
never refuse it. Take a treat to the training session – he might spit it out just like that – as if
he is saying: “I am not working here for treats! If I don’t want to work, you won’t make
me do it for a biscuit!”. That’s why our professionals refuse to work with the Akhal-Tekes.
They want easy horses who don’t demand friendship from the rider but simply work
quietly and obediently for any rider.
In fact, suspicious behaviour of a Teke stems not from wild nature, but on the contrary –
from the need for communication, continues Vera. Many horses are afraid of strangers.
Despite all its strength, horse is a peaceful herbivore. It has no claws, no horns, no teeth
that carnivore possess. Flight instinct is normal for any horse. But with a Teke the flight
instinct is combined with the need for communication. In the old days in Turkmenistan a
foal just born was brought into a yurt. Even in the first months of his life a future argamak
was brought up by people, not by horses. This is why Akhal-Tekes have such exceptional
intelligence and endless need for communication with humans.
As if to confirm this theory, Pegasus has now joined our conversation and looking at me
intently. I am looking back at him and thinking about the paradox of this breed. Fragile,
aristocratic stature, refined conformation and brave fighting spirit. Communicative and
cautious. Attachment to humans and independence. Loyalty to his owner and pride. I look
in Pegasus’ blue eyes and think to myself: “Who is studying whom?” My impression is that
this horse who keeps moving his head as if to “scan” a view of my person from a different
angle is trying to assess me, make a judgement on my good and bad characteristics. It
gives me the creeps.
A horse does not have an ability to reason like a human but it possesses a rich range of
emotional reactions. Any horseman will tell you that a horse can feel the emotional state of
even a very secretive person, and that the human’s emotions are passed to the horse, as if
the horse had read the rider’s mind.
I was recently in StPetersburg, crossing Anichkov Bridge. I was thinking that the famous
Klodt horses [bronze statues] are unlikely to have been Akhal-Tekes. An Akhal-Teke
cannot be tamed into submission, he can only be taught to trust. (There are two words in
Russian for “to tame” – ukrotit’ and priruchit’ – one means “to tame by force”, the other
means literally “to tame by the soft touch of your hands”)
“How come you got interested in this paradoxical breed?”, I ask the owner of the breeding
farm Russian Legend, Daniil Sukhachev.
“My friend, a photographic artist Vladimir Potapov, often showed me his work in
Turkmenistan. On many of the photographs I saw the proud-looking, slim horses, as if
made of bronze or gold. Vladimir knew Riabova, and had connections at VNIIK. I
thought to myself it might be nice to get a couple of horses for my estate, for hacking out.
Got the idea to buy purebred Akhal-Tekes because everything I do I try to do at the top
level. Then I learned that after the break-up of USSR the best horses were left in
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Many of them were slaughtered for meat. The main
problem as I got to understand it gradually is that you cannot create a “breed of the
century” and then rest on your laurels. Sure, Akhal-Teke were already known in the world
as the most ancient breed. The very beautiful, very fast horses with a lot of stamina which
Russia had given as gifts to VIPs around the world. But this “branding“ is already in the
past, a lost cause. Without the new blood, the breed won’t survive. To preserve the breed,
new blood is needed. I realised that we must bring to Russia good producers from
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. I took stock of my own possibilities and decide to make
my contribution to horse breeding and at the same time to realise my dream of acquiring a
couple of good-looking horses for my estate. In 1993-94 we made four trips and now we
have the studfarm Russian Legend. Thanks to AATK the quality of youngstock is getting
better”
Daniil Sukhachev grows vegetables for Moscow restaurants on his estate, and tells me that
breeding Akhal-Tekes doesn’t bring profit. You can get a good price for a horse of
Olympic standard, a horse which performs well in show-jumping, dressage and eventing at
a high level. Not many of our professionals work with Akhal-Tekes. Not because they don’
t feel like it. There simply aren’t enough of them… “The temperament is too proud” – is a
stereotype born out of individual incidents. The truth is that purebred Akhal-Tekes are rare
in our training facilities. Go and visit the training facility for Olympic reservists at Planernaia.
You will see Budennyi, Trakehners, and even more horses from Europe – heavy
warmbloods. “Don’t we have any Russian breeds?” – you will be tempted to ask (at the
beginning of the 20th century our country was first in the world for the overall number of
horses per head of population, we had more than 50 breeds). But after perestroika, the
market was opened and flooded with Western imports. In the same way as we started
watching Western films, and fly on Western Boeings and Airbuses, our riders quietly
moved over to foreign breeds.”
The best marketing tool for a breed in today’s world is still Olympic disciplines. So we are
in a vicious circle: a horse hasn’t got a sport record – so its best off-spring aren’t in
demand.
My first impression of this breed is superficial. Silvery Pegasus has posed more questions
for me than given answers. I must come back to this breed and to this Pegasus whose
name alone is a creative inspiration.