Akhal Teke UK
©Black Fox 2007-2008
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Milena Stoszek grew up in the Czech Republic where she
studied Animal Sciences. She emigrated to the US,
obtained a PhD from University of Oregon and taught
biochemistry and animal sciences at university. She
served as the Registrar for the Akhal-Teke Association of
America and is now breeding Akhal-Teke at her ranch in
Idaho.
______________________________________________
studied Animal Sciences. She emigrated to the US,
obtained a PhD from University of Oregon and taught
biochemistry and animal sciences at university. She
served as the Registrar for the Akhal-Teke Association of
America and is now breeding Akhal-Teke at her ranch in
Idaho.
______________________________________________
MM: What is your background? Horse-crazy, like many of us, but what breeds and
disciplines were you interested in before you got involved with the Akhal-Teke?
MS: Like most of us in this group, I was born with a genetic Horse-crazy abnormality. My
first admiration of horses manifested itself in my earliest childhood. At the outskirts of Prague
where my family lived, second world war increased numbers of horses in my immediate
neighborhood. They delivered meagre war amounts of groceries to the stores, coal and
potatoes to our homes, and daily milk and mail packages. They pulled machinery in vegetable
fields next to our home. Horses were everywhere, and without car traffic, we were free to run
outside and interact with horses as soon as we could walk. We knew most delivery men and
got rides just for asking. At the end of the war, many horses became lost. They were
confiscated by the soldiers, some escaped, some were turned out from breeding farms to fend
for themselves, running loose and caught again, often ending up hundreds of kilometers from
their homes. Fancy pure bred stallions were found used by farmers to plough their fields,
replacing their drafts confiscated by the soldiers. It was a time of chaos, chaos for the people
as well as for the horses. After the war, I started school and spent all my free time helping on
my uncle’s farm, driving his two Noric mares and taking care of their foals as often as I could.
My first real horse riding lessons were at the Nostic palace riding arena in the medieval Prague’
s Mala Strana. With my father’s birth place just around the corner, he knew the manager, and
I was in heaven. My horse heaven.
That is also where I met my first Akhal-Teke. He is a very mean horse, they told me, don’t go
anywhere near him. He bites and kicks. He was found somewhere, lost from the Russian
army. A dark buckskin with gold shining through his coat. My love, my sweetheart. I
promised to save him when I grow up. I was getting better as a rider, loved to gallop and
jump. When I returned one year after a few weeks in the countryside, my love was gone, and
I never saw him again.
After I finished high school, I entered Gregor Mendel University in Brno to study Animal
Sciences. Czech country was in the firm grip of Communism by then, and just like during the
war, life continued to be very hard. There were severe shortages of food and fuel. But
somehow I still managed to save a bit of bred for the horses, and to ride every day. Private
horse ownership was not allowed any longer, all horses were confiscated by the state and
belonged to the newly formed kolkhozes, or they were slaughtered. Horses that I rode
belonged to the University, a part of their ROTC military program. The “reliable” horses were
used in the military training of the students - all male students had a mandatory military service
of which horse riding was an essential part, often a pathetic sight. Our small group of actual
riders with abnormal horse insanity genes rode diligently every day our competition horses,
and the “hot” green horses, breeding stallions, and during each 6 week exam period also a
long list of regular horses that had to go out after being in the tie up stall for several days.
Speaking of a bucking horse rodeo! That all, of course, we did in addition to studying and
taking exams. I competed in dressage and jumping, and I also rode cross country, which we
called “military” then, something like an endurance ride with jumps, steep sliding hills, water,
mad gallop through the dense forest and all kinds of other fun stuff.
Horses were mainly warmbloods of Austrian blood lines Furioso, Nonius, and Gidran. There
were also several Lipizzan and Shagya breeding stallions. Our mentor was Professor Dr.
Vaclav Michal, who in his young years served at the Lipizzan stallion riding school in Vienna,
taught horse husbandry at our university, and was also involved with the Thoroughbreds at the
Napajedla Stud and Kladrub Stud breeding programs. A wonderful teacher, a very kind and
knowledgeable man.
After I got my degree, I worked at the Czech frontier in the Sumava mountains. There I rode
everything I could get my hands on, from the cold blood draft horses to green 3 year olds. I
also had a Jawa motorcycle issued to ride on my job. As I was most likely the only woman in
the entire district who actually drove the motorcycle and did not just sit behind a man, I
attained significant widespread visibility for both the motorcycle driving and for horse riding
through the fields and town of Vimperk. Often not an entirely friendly attention, I must say.
After I left my Czech homeland and emigrated to America, I studied and obtained a Ph.D.
degree in Animal Sciences from Oregon State University. After graduation I continued my
work in animal sciences and biochemistry, as a university professor, and later as a chief
scientist for the government. Appaloosa and Morgan were the family horses that we owned
for many years for our wilderness mountain rides and the many hunting trips. Then, ten years
ago, I met the Akhal-Teke again, this time here in America, and true to my word given to my
first love many decades ago, I am now trying to help his grandchildren, in my small and humble
way, to survive these new difficult times.
MM: Do you have a view on MAAK? Is the American Association a collective member?
MS: MAAK, in translation, stands for an International Association for Akhal-Teke Horse
breeding. In principle, international organization of all breeders is crucial for long term survival
and management of Akhal-Teke breed. Akhal-Teke population is very small. In the latest
Russian studbook number X, during the nine years from 1992 to 2000, a total of only 187
new breeding stallions and 480 new brood mares were registered and added to the breeding
population. While a good percentage of those horses still remained in Turkmenistan, Russia,
and Kazakhstan, more than 25% resided in Western Europe and in North America. A total of
18 countries were listed in 2000 as breeding Akhal-Teke horses, and that number increased
since the publication. It is likely that the percentage of breeding Akhal-Teke horses residing in
Western Europe and in North America today is also higher than the 25%. In any case, the
whole one fourth of the population is a very significant part of the whole gene pool. In
addition, countries of the former Soviet Union other than Russia, such as Turkmenistan,
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan, control very large portion of the Akhal-Teke
population, and some of their breeders expressed the need for an independent international
organization as well.
Therefore, a viable independent international organization, addressing all aspects of breeding,
such as a breed standard, selection criteria and associated indexes, testing, and other
techniques common in animal sciences, is essential if we intend to unify breeding efforts,
prevent genetic fractioning and isolation into small sub-groups, prevent increasing inbreeding,
and eventual deterioration and loss of the breed.
My information about the organization MAAK is from 2002, when I read MAAK
constitution, and when North American breeders discussed possibility of membership in
MAAK. It is possible that the constitution was updated since then, and that I just have not
seen such an update. While some individual North American breeders decided at some point
to join MAAK, majority refused to do so. The main objection was the MAAK constitution
itself, the way it was set up, and the way it was put to practice. While it claimed that it is an
International Association, it clearly identified and separated “Our Members” from “Foreign
Members,” favouring “Our Members”. It’s hard to imagine that United Nations would have
“Our members” and “Foreign members”, with privileges for the former. MAAK Constitution
lacked transparency and accountability. Voting by absentee ballots was impossible, personal
attendance at the meetings was required for any input and voting, all meetings were to be held
only in Russia, and all breeding, grading, and breed standard and testing decisions were to be
made only by the Russian Government institution. Those are just a few examples I can think of
that were undemocratic and unacceptable to the North American breeders, who do have a
desire to be full, equal, and participating partners in a truly international organization. The
Russian horse registration Passports and other similar documents that are being issued by
“VNIIK - MAAK” were interpreted by our breeders as VNIIK = MAAK, both actually
being one and the same Russian Government body, and not an independent democratic
international organization of breeders. Unless all those conditions are changed, most North
American breeders do not seem interested in joining MAAK.
In summary, I think that international organization is very much needed, and that it should be
established. It should be separate from any national government body, and it should allow
equal participation by all breeders regardless of their geographic location. It should have an
elected board of directors composed of representatives from various countries, and employ
professional animal scientists and input from accomplished breeders to help set up and
maintain breed standard and testing measures. I think it’s urgent to get it organized.
MM: You served for a number of years as a Registrar for the American Akhal-Teke
Association. What challenges does Akhal-Teke registration present outside Russia and
CIS, and in the US in particular?
MS: As a Registrar, I kept records of North American pure bred Akhal-Teke horses. For
registration, we required the same documents that are required by VNIIK, plus
additional photographs and a little more information. I personally checked all blood
and DNA records against those of the parents; in the absence of parental blood or DNA
records (for imported horses) I required registration documents from VNIIK, where
blood or DNA would have been checked and horses accepted as being pure bred. Once
organized, the registry itself did not present any significant problems. Certificates of
Registration were issued quickly, and owners appeared satisfied.
MM: What percentage of American Akhal-Teke, by your estimation, is VNIIK-
registered? Does American Association register nationally for owners who do not wish
to apply for VNIIK papers?
MS: As an Akhal-Teke Association of America (ATAA) Registrar, after completion and
acceptance of all application documents, I issued to the owner an ATAA Certificate of
Registration for each qualified horse. Many North American owners are satisfied with just the
ATAA Certificate of Registration as a proof of the pure bred status of their horses, and do
not need or wish to have any other documents.
However, I do believe that keeping the entire Akhal-Teke population in one overall registry is
essential to keep the population intact. I hope that VNIIK will speed up it’s effort of
recognizing and working with individual National Registries in each country involved in Akhal-
Teke breeding. To do that, each National Registry should be, as a minimum, required to
adhere to the common identical specific basic requirements for registration. In the absence of
National Registries working under the requirements currently used by VNIIK, I think that a
great number of pure bred horses are needlessly unregistered and thus are being lost from the
population - not only in the west, but also in great numbers for example in Turkmenistan.
As a Registrar, I sent information on each horse registered by the ATAA also to the VNIIK
for registration and inclusion in the General Studbook. Thus all pure bred horses registered
with ATAA are also registered in the VNIIK General Studbook. You may note registration
numbers of American horses in the Number X studbook.
Russian registration and specifically issuance of the VNIIK registration documents (Passports)
for North American horses was rarely done in a timely fashion, and led to a great
dissatisfaction by the North American horse owners. With dual American and Russian
registration, most owners were satisfied with the timely issuance of the ATAA Certificate of
Registration in their hands, and those owners who wanted Russian documents usually did not
mind having to wait a long time before they received them.
Since my resignation from the ATAA Registry almost 2 years ago, I have no information about
the current registration practices.
MM: Some owners who got caught out by the false pedigree papers feel that the
exclusion from the studbook of some horses was done for political reasons - do you
agree?
MS: I don’t. I have all studbooks and studied them very carefully, and as a professional animal
scientist I do not agree with all instances of how the studbook was closed. Poorly documented
retroactive exclusions of horses with all their progeny, decades after they died, seems odd, but
I certainly would not want to pass a judgment. We need to remember that last century was
very hard on Akhal-Teke horses and on their caretakers. We also need to be very thankful to
all those dedicated breeders who saved from slaughter whatever horses they could, under
very difficult circumstances, in very difficult times. In my opinion:
1) The studbook had to be closed to protect genetic uniqueness of the breed
2) It was done long time ago, right or wrong, it is finished, and we have to live with it as it is
and go on. Rehashing this issue only wastes energy that should be focused more productively
on current breeding and preservation efforts.
3) It is unfortunate that most western buyers could not read Russian studbooks and
documents that were issued to them. In most instances which I had seen, the information about
impurity was available. Horse dealers have their deserved reputation in all parts of the world,
and sadly some buyers were duped. I only hope that this will not happen again.
MM: If you could suggest three improvements in the current studbook registration and
evaluation system, what would they be?
MS: There are more than three improvements needed, in my opinion, all of them very
important.
Perhaps above all, the most important one is ensuring that all remaining pure bred horses
would get registered, and stay in the pure bred gene pool. Preservation of genetic variety is
crucial for survival of the breed. Within the international forum I think we could design a
system by which we could accomplish this goal, regardless of who’s horse it is, where
geographically it is located, or what the owner’s monetary situation is.
Equally important is the need to maintain updated inventory of all horses within the breed, with
the entire pedigree, picture(s), and performance records. As breeders we need to know what
horses are potentially available for breeding, or for purchase. With easy access to the web, we
could get a data base up and running in very short time. I myself have information on most
North American horses, ready to upload. International Akhal-Teke organization should take it
as one of it’s first priorities to create such a worldwide data base. We all would benefit from it.
Another important goal is ensuring the actual preservation of Akhal-Teke breed. Akhal-
Teke/Turkoman/Heavenly horses gained fame and widespread admiration over the millennia
for one reason, and one reason only: They could do what other horses could not! Are we
preserving that horse? In my opinion, we are not. I think we still have those genes in the
population, but we need to hurry to recognize and preserve them before we forever loose
them.
In my opinion, Turkoman horse was never bred for looks. Functionality of anatomy yes, but
not looks per se. The horse had to get his owner there and back, safely. Do the job for his
master. Cooperate. Help him make a living. All horse breeds were asked to do that for their
owners. But Turkoman could do it better. They were the ultimate best in technology.
I think our duty is to preserve that horse. You cannot improve on perfection. Anyone talking
about “improving the breed” is kidding himself, or others. Three thousand years of rigorous
selection and testing under fire already produced that horse. All we can do now is either to do
our best to preserve it, or to ruin it forever. By “improving” we may end up with tall exotic
looking horses unlike any others, but not with horses that can do what others can not. Just like
the fancy show hunting dogs that can stumble over a bird and never even notice.
The only testing criterion for Akhal-Teke for many decades now was testing of their sprint on
a short distance race track. It has been argued that Akhal-Teke are race horses, and any
other work aptitude for them is only secondary. I beg to differ here. Racing is fun, a frill, an
icing on a cake. But I would bet everything dear to me that in the old days Akhal-Teke were
never kept just for racing. Their purpose was to help their people make a living. To do the
work, be it herding the sheep, going to war, moving the nomadic household to another
location. To run tirelessly, outrun pursuing enemies, and disappear over the horizon to deliver
their masters safely home. In their spare time, when rested up, youngsters may have raced
them. Sure, we all love to race horses, that’s fun. As a kid I raced even our draft horse against
my friends’ horses a number of times - until an adult stepped in and said to let the horses rest
for the next day’s work. And that’s what most likely happened to the youngsters itching to
race Turkoman horses in the ancient times. Likely they were told to cool it, if they were
allowed to mount those precious mature horses at all.
But just as in my childhood, youngsters would have been allowed to play with young colts,
and more likely than not, that’s how racing of the 2 and 3 year old colts started. Not because
the 2 or 3 year old horses are better suited for racing, on the contrary, they are still just babies
with soft un-ossified tissues instead of a solid bone. But those young horses would have been
available to the young boys, it was a good way to tame the colts and practice riding skills, and
no damage was done. On festive occasions families would compete against each other, but
even that was for fun, not to make a living. Just like all other games on horse back which were
played for fun. Of course when Europeans brought Tukmen horses back to Europe, racing fun
became dead serious money producing business. Young boys were replaced by small adult
professional jockeys, young horses were put in rigorous training, run daily to “condition” them
until they either crumbled and died, or somehow survived and raced. Many young horses on
the race track brake down and die still.
But I think it’s absurd to believe that Akhal-Teke/Turkoman horses were raised and
maintained, grazing in a region with only sparse dry vegetation, in competition with valuable
meat producing livestock, just for a thrill of a short distance race. Even today, in times of
better agriculture and more plentiful food, racing is not a common use of horses, but a revenue
producing big gambling business. Here in the American West, when someone asks me “and
what are these horses good for?”, if I tell them “they are good for racing”, they’ll just say
“OH” and immediately loose interest. There are so many racing Thoroughbreds available here,
dirt cheap, and who in their right mind would pay a lot of money for a horse that can only
race, admittedly has a slower speed than a Thoroughbred, and cannot even be entered to race
against the Thoroughbreds?
I think that we need to come up with a modern equivalent of performance that Akhal-Teke
can do better than any other horse. Endurance? Polo? Eventing? Dressage? Reining? We
need to think hard what our horses can do better than others, and then prove it. It’s not
enough to keep repeating that 50 years ago Absent won Olympic medals. We need new
medals, and we need them now. Big thanks to all of you who compete with your horses and
bring back victories. As a minimum, international organization should keep track of and
publish on the web all achievements to acknowledge success and inspire others to surpass it.
I think we need to re-evaluate currently used grading system and come up with much better
criteria for grading. Not just a short look, and the measurements of a horse, not just an
outdated ideal conformation of a refined warm blood, not just a short sprint. If we want to
preserve the horse that does it better than any others, then we have to step outside of the box,
take a fresh look, and throw away a yardstick that was developed for other horses.
Another important aspect stemming directly from the horse evaluation is culling of “unworthy“
horses. Under the VNIIK grading instructions, some horses may be directly graded as
“Culls”, while others may receive a polite Class 2 grading, which practically also excludes
them from the future breeding pool. This system is very legitimate for breed management with
any good breeding plan, and is being used for improvement of many livestock populations.
However, this tool should be used only in breeds with open studbooks where fresh blood can
be added any time, or with large numbers of registered animals within the closed breed. It is
not appropriate for management of a small, closed, threatened Akhal-Teke population.
Akhal-Teke population has a closed stud book. That means that theoretically not a single
horse from the outside of the registered population would be allowed to breed with a
registered Akhal-Teke, and produce registered pure bred offspring. We have to work only
within the genetic fund that we have in the population right now. And given the extremely small
worldwide numbers of registered Akhal-Teke horses, Akhal-Teke breed is officially
considered by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy as Critically Threatened with
Extinction.
Well known methods developed for preservation of threatened animal species and livestock
breeds are thus far completely ignored by the Akhal-Teke breed managers, breeders, and the
international and national Akhal-Teke organizations. Akhal-Teke breed is annually
haemorrhaging, through culling and castration, precious genes that likely do not exist in any
other breed of horses, and that are forever being lost from the population. That in turn
increases inbreeding within the population that is already significantly inbred, and may
ultimately lead to an increase in hereditary defects. The idea of unwarranted culling within this
critically threatened population is unpardonable. If we end up one day with only photographs
instead of live horses, those photos will be useless to the future breeders.
Let’s just remember that some exceptionally nice horses such as Murgab, 1231 Mangyt, 1151
Galabek, 1166 Gayaz and a number of others were recently obtained from a stallion 1150
Gaigysyz, who’s mother 2063 Syagul received a very low grading in all aspects with a
resulting overall Class 2, and who’s sire 990 Karaman was only a little better graded with an
overall Class 1. Yet those two quite undesirable horses, as measured by our current yardstick,
gave grandchildren of very high quality. This is just one of a number of such examples in the
records.
Conservation methods clearly demonstrate that we need to increase the numbers of horses
first, expand the population, and only then start well thought out selection. We also need to set
up frozen sperm banks and other safeguards for the future. If we truly want to see Akhal-Teke
survive and prosper into the next century, we need to finally admit that there is a problem, and
employ all newest scientific methods of breed preservation. We need to do it now, and hope
that it’s not too late.
MM: What are the rules in the US for registering partbreds? Do any of them end up in
the VNIIK partbred register? Do you differentiate between TekeXTB and TekeXArab on
the one hand, and TekeXanything else on the other? Or is it simply done on percentage
of blood?
MS: Horses with 50% or more of Akhal-Teke blood are registered as Akhal-Teke Sport
horses, regardless of the other breed(s) involved in the cross.
MM: Where do you see the breed in 10 years time?
MS: Ten years is too short to build up a breed, but long enough to destroy it many times over.
I hope that Akhal-Teke breeders will recognize and value genetic potential and greatness that
we still have in our hands. That they will set aside their differences, and cooperate. And that
they will do everything in their power to preserve this ancient breed, not a newly created
exotic luxury ornament, but the original hard working, useful, willing, powerful, undemanding,
intelligent Akhal-Teke that can do it better than any other horse.
Almost 50 years ago a great Akhal-Teke stallion Absent won his famous Olympic medals. His
father Arab in 1935 completed in 84 days the now famous 2,700 mile endurance ride from
Ashkhabad to Moscow, and then went on to a fantastic career as a record jumper. That was
true excellence and versatility. But that was a long time ago, yet we are proudly listing those
accomplishments to this day. Why is it that we don’t have an Akhal-Teke lined up to compete
in any current Olympic event? Russian breeders produce so many superior horses, some of
them tell us, yet I am still waiting to cheer for the first Olympian. Or are we hearing here only
about Potemkin’s villages?
It’s much easier to be negative and to put down other people’s efforts, be it as breeders or
competitors. Yet how much further would we all get if we combined our energy and helped
each other. We would be so much stronger together, something that we all desperately need in
our tiny worldwide owner/breeder community. We all share amongst us the last 944 surviving
Akhal-Teke brood mares! What a great responsibility we have. Let’s forget the “us” against
“them” feelings, let’s forget the “my horses are perfect, his horses are junk” expressions. All
our horses share the same small group of ancestors, closely intermixed, and if you say my
horses are junk, then yours are too! Let’s make every effort to breed the best horses we can,
all of us. Let’s test them. Let’s share our various strengths for the benefit of all, for if all Akhal-
Teke would do it better than any other horses, then we all win! And above all, let’s start to
communicate in a productive, constructive, and polite manner. That is my wish for right now.
In ten years, I would like to see Akhal-Teke horses benefiting from this change in our attitude
by gaining back their past fame and glory, one horse, one victory, one big achievement at a
time, doing it better than any other horse.
disciplines were you interested in before you got involved with the Akhal-Teke?
MS: Like most of us in this group, I was born with a genetic Horse-crazy abnormality. My
first admiration of horses manifested itself in my earliest childhood. At the outskirts of Prague
where my family lived, second world war increased numbers of horses in my immediate
neighborhood. They delivered meagre war amounts of groceries to the stores, coal and
potatoes to our homes, and daily milk and mail packages. They pulled machinery in vegetable
fields next to our home. Horses were everywhere, and without car traffic, we were free to run
outside and interact with horses as soon as we could walk. We knew most delivery men and
got rides just for asking. At the end of the war, many horses became lost. They were
confiscated by the soldiers, some escaped, some were turned out from breeding farms to fend
for themselves, running loose and caught again, often ending up hundreds of kilometers from
their homes. Fancy pure bred stallions were found used by farmers to plough their fields,
replacing their drafts confiscated by the soldiers. It was a time of chaos, chaos for the people
as well as for the horses. After the war, I started school and spent all my free time helping on
my uncle’s farm, driving his two Noric mares and taking care of their foals as often as I could.
My first real horse riding lessons were at the Nostic palace riding arena in the medieval Prague’
s Mala Strana. With my father’s birth place just around the corner, he knew the manager, and
I was in heaven. My horse heaven.
That is also where I met my first Akhal-Teke. He is a very mean horse, they told me, don’t go
anywhere near him. He bites and kicks. He was found somewhere, lost from the Russian
army. A dark buckskin with gold shining through his coat. My love, my sweetheart. I
promised to save him when I grow up. I was getting better as a rider, loved to gallop and
jump. When I returned one year after a few weeks in the countryside, my love was gone, and
I never saw him again.
After I finished high school, I entered Gregor Mendel University in Brno to study Animal
Sciences. Czech country was in the firm grip of Communism by then, and just like during the
war, life continued to be very hard. There were severe shortages of food and fuel. But
somehow I still managed to save a bit of bred for the horses, and to ride every day. Private
horse ownership was not allowed any longer, all horses were confiscated by the state and
belonged to the newly formed kolkhozes, or they were slaughtered. Horses that I rode
belonged to the University, a part of their ROTC military program. The “reliable” horses were
used in the military training of the students - all male students had a mandatory military service
of which horse riding was an essential part, often a pathetic sight. Our small group of actual
riders with abnormal horse insanity genes rode diligently every day our competition horses,
and the “hot” green horses, breeding stallions, and during each 6 week exam period also a
long list of regular horses that had to go out after being in the tie up stall for several days.
Speaking of a bucking horse rodeo! That all, of course, we did in addition to studying and
taking exams. I competed in dressage and jumping, and I also rode cross country, which we
called “military” then, something like an endurance ride with jumps, steep sliding hills, water,
mad gallop through the dense forest and all kinds of other fun stuff.
Horses were mainly warmbloods of Austrian blood lines Furioso, Nonius, and Gidran. There
were also several Lipizzan and Shagya breeding stallions. Our mentor was Professor Dr.
Vaclav Michal, who in his young years served at the Lipizzan stallion riding school in Vienna,
taught horse husbandry at our university, and was also involved with the Thoroughbreds at the
Napajedla Stud and Kladrub Stud breeding programs. A wonderful teacher, a very kind and
knowledgeable man.
After I got my degree, I worked at the Czech frontier in the Sumava mountains. There I rode
everything I could get my hands on, from the cold blood draft horses to green 3 year olds. I
also had a Jawa motorcycle issued to ride on my job. As I was most likely the only woman in
the entire district who actually drove the motorcycle and did not just sit behind a man, I
attained significant widespread visibility for both the motorcycle driving and for horse riding
through the fields and town of Vimperk. Often not an entirely friendly attention, I must say.
After I left my Czech homeland and emigrated to America, I studied and obtained a Ph.D.
degree in Animal Sciences from Oregon State University. After graduation I continued my
work in animal sciences and biochemistry, as a university professor, and later as a chief
scientist for the government. Appaloosa and Morgan were the family horses that we owned
for many years for our wilderness mountain rides and the many hunting trips. Then, ten years
ago, I met the Akhal-Teke again, this time here in America, and true to my word given to my
first love many decades ago, I am now trying to help his grandchildren, in my small and humble
way, to survive these new difficult times.
MM: Do you have a view on MAAK? Is the American Association a collective member?
MS: MAAK, in translation, stands for an International Association for Akhal-Teke Horse
breeding. In principle, international organization of all breeders is crucial for long term survival
and management of Akhal-Teke breed. Akhal-Teke population is very small. In the latest
Russian studbook number X, during the nine years from 1992 to 2000, a total of only 187
new breeding stallions and 480 new brood mares were registered and added to the breeding
population. While a good percentage of those horses still remained in Turkmenistan, Russia,
and Kazakhstan, more than 25% resided in Western Europe and in North America. A total of
18 countries were listed in 2000 as breeding Akhal-Teke horses, and that number increased
since the publication. It is likely that the percentage of breeding Akhal-Teke horses residing in
Western Europe and in North America today is also higher than the 25%. In any case, the
whole one fourth of the population is a very significant part of the whole gene pool. In
addition, countries of the former Soviet Union other than Russia, such as Turkmenistan,
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan, control very large portion of the Akhal-Teke
population, and some of their breeders expressed the need for an independent international
organization as well.
Therefore, a viable independent international organization, addressing all aspects of breeding,
such as a breed standard, selection criteria and associated indexes, testing, and other
techniques common in animal sciences, is essential if we intend to unify breeding efforts,
prevent genetic fractioning and isolation into small sub-groups, prevent increasing inbreeding,
and eventual deterioration and loss of the breed.
My information about the organization MAAK is from 2002, when I read MAAK
constitution, and when North American breeders discussed possibility of membership in
MAAK. It is possible that the constitution was updated since then, and that I just have not
seen such an update. While some individual North American breeders decided at some point
to join MAAK, majority refused to do so. The main objection was the MAAK constitution
itself, the way it was set up, and the way it was put to practice. While it claimed that it is an
International Association, it clearly identified and separated “Our Members” from “Foreign
Members,” favouring “Our Members”. It’s hard to imagine that United Nations would have
“Our members” and “Foreign members”, with privileges for the former. MAAK Constitution
lacked transparency and accountability. Voting by absentee ballots was impossible, personal
attendance at the meetings was required for any input and voting, all meetings were to be held
only in Russia, and all breeding, grading, and breed standard and testing decisions were to be
made only by the Russian Government institution. Those are just a few examples I can think of
that were undemocratic and unacceptable to the North American breeders, who do have a
desire to be full, equal, and participating partners in a truly international organization. The
Russian horse registration Passports and other similar documents that are being issued by
“VNIIK - MAAK” were interpreted by our breeders as VNIIK = MAAK, both actually
being one and the same Russian Government body, and not an independent democratic
international organization of breeders. Unless all those conditions are changed, most North
American breeders do not seem interested in joining MAAK.
In summary, I think that international organization is very much needed, and that it should be
established. It should be separate from any national government body, and it should allow
equal participation by all breeders regardless of their geographic location. It should have an
elected board of directors composed of representatives from various countries, and employ
professional animal scientists and input from accomplished breeders to help set up and
maintain breed standard and testing measures. I think it’s urgent to get it organized.
MM: You served for a number of years as a Registrar for the American Akhal-Teke
Association. What challenges does Akhal-Teke registration present outside Russia and
CIS, and in the US in particular?
MS: As a Registrar, I kept records of North American pure bred Akhal-Teke horses. For
registration, we required the same documents that are required by VNIIK, plus
additional photographs and a little more information. I personally checked all blood
and DNA records against those of the parents; in the absence of parental blood or DNA
records (for imported horses) I required registration documents from VNIIK, where
blood or DNA would have been checked and horses accepted as being pure bred. Once
organized, the registry itself did not present any significant problems. Certificates of
Registration were issued quickly, and owners appeared satisfied.
MM: What percentage of American Akhal-Teke, by your estimation, is VNIIK-
registered? Does American Association register nationally for owners who do not wish
to apply for VNIIK papers?
MS: As an Akhal-Teke Association of America (ATAA) Registrar, after completion and
acceptance of all application documents, I issued to the owner an ATAA Certificate of
Registration for each qualified horse. Many North American owners are satisfied with just the
ATAA Certificate of Registration as a proof of the pure bred status of their horses, and do
not need or wish to have any other documents.
However, I do believe that keeping the entire Akhal-Teke population in one overall registry is
essential to keep the population intact. I hope that VNIIK will speed up it’s effort of
recognizing and working with individual National Registries in each country involved in Akhal-
Teke breeding. To do that, each National Registry should be, as a minimum, required to
adhere to the common identical specific basic requirements for registration. In the absence of
National Registries working under the requirements currently used by VNIIK, I think that a
great number of pure bred horses are needlessly unregistered and thus are being lost from the
population - not only in the west, but also in great numbers for example in Turkmenistan.
As a Registrar, I sent information on each horse registered by the ATAA also to the VNIIK
for registration and inclusion in the General Studbook. Thus all pure bred horses registered
with ATAA are also registered in the VNIIK General Studbook. You may note registration
numbers of American horses in the Number X studbook.
Russian registration and specifically issuance of the VNIIK registration documents (Passports)
for North American horses was rarely done in a timely fashion, and led to a great
dissatisfaction by the North American horse owners. With dual American and Russian
registration, most owners were satisfied with the timely issuance of the ATAA Certificate of
Registration in their hands, and those owners who wanted Russian documents usually did not
mind having to wait a long time before they received them.
Since my resignation from the ATAA Registry almost 2 years ago, I have no information about
the current registration practices.
MM: Some owners who got caught out by the false pedigree papers feel that the
exclusion from the studbook of some horses was done for political reasons - do you
agree?
MS: I don’t. I have all studbooks and studied them very carefully, and as a professional animal
scientist I do not agree with all instances of how the studbook was closed. Poorly documented
retroactive exclusions of horses with all their progeny, decades after they died, seems odd, but
I certainly would not want to pass a judgment. We need to remember that last century was
very hard on Akhal-Teke horses and on their caretakers. We also need to be very thankful to
all those dedicated breeders who saved from slaughter whatever horses they could, under
very difficult circumstances, in very difficult times. In my opinion:
1) The studbook had to be closed to protect genetic uniqueness of the breed
2) It was done long time ago, right or wrong, it is finished, and we have to live with it as it is
and go on. Rehashing this issue only wastes energy that should be focused more productively
on current breeding and preservation efforts.
3) It is unfortunate that most western buyers could not read Russian studbooks and
documents that were issued to them. In most instances which I had seen, the information about
impurity was available. Horse dealers have their deserved reputation in all parts of the world,
and sadly some buyers were duped. I only hope that this will not happen again.
MM: If you could suggest three improvements in the current studbook registration and
evaluation system, what would they be?
MS: There are more than three improvements needed, in my opinion, all of them very
important.
Perhaps above all, the most important one is ensuring that all remaining pure bred horses
would get registered, and stay in the pure bred gene pool. Preservation of genetic variety is
crucial for survival of the breed. Within the international forum I think we could design a
system by which we could accomplish this goal, regardless of who’s horse it is, where
geographically it is located, or what the owner’s monetary situation is.
Equally important is the need to maintain updated inventory of all horses within the breed, with
the entire pedigree, picture(s), and performance records. As breeders we need to know what
horses are potentially available for breeding, or for purchase. With easy access to the web, we
could get a data base up and running in very short time. I myself have information on most
North American horses, ready to upload. International Akhal-Teke organization should take it
as one of it’s first priorities to create such a worldwide data base. We all would benefit from it.
Another important goal is ensuring the actual preservation of Akhal-Teke breed. Akhal-
Teke/Turkoman/Heavenly horses gained fame and widespread admiration over the millennia
for one reason, and one reason only: They could do what other horses could not! Are we
preserving that horse? In my opinion, we are not. I think we still have those genes in the
population, but we need to hurry to recognize and preserve them before we forever loose
them.
In my opinion, Turkoman horse was never bred for looks. Functionality of anatomy yes, but
not looks per se. The horse had to get his owner there and back, safely. Do the job for his
master. Cooperate. Help him make a living. All horse breeds were asked to do that for their
owners. But Turkoman could do it better. They were the ultimate best in technology.
I think our duty is to preserve that horse. You cannot improve on perfection. Anyone talking
about “improving the breed” is kidding himself, or others. Three thousand years of rigorous
selection and testing under fire already produced that horse. All we can do now is either to do
our best to preserve it, or to ruin it forever. By “improving” we may end up with tall exotic
looking horses unlike any others, but not with horses that can do what others can not. Just like
the fancy show hunting dogs that can stumble over a bird and never even notice.
The only testing criterion for Akhal-Teke for many decades now was testing of their sprint on
a short distance race track. It has been argued that Akhal-Teke are race horses, and any
other work aptitude for them is only secondary. I beg to differ here. Racing is fun, a frill, an
icing on a cake. But I would bet everything dear to me that in the old days Akhal-Teke were
never kept just for racing. Their purpose was to help their people make a living. To do the
work, be it herding the sheep, going to war, moving the nomadic household to another
location. To run tirelessly, outrun pursuing enemies, and disappear over the horizon to deliver
their masters safely home. In their spare time, when rested up, youngsters may have raced
them. Sure, we all love to race horses, that’s fun. As a kid I raced even our draft horse against
my friends’ horses a number of times - until an adult stepped in and said to let the horses rest
for the next day’s work. And that’s what most likely happened to the youngsters itching to
race Turkoman horses in the ancient times. Likely they were told to cool it, if they were
allowed to mount those precious mature horses at all.
But just as in my childhood, youngsters would have been allowed to play with young colts,
and more likely than not, that’s how racing of the 2 and 3 year old colts started. Not because
the 2 or 3 year old horses are better suited for racing, on the contrary, they are still just babies
with soft un-ossified tissues instead of a solid bone. But those young horses would have been
available to the young boys, it was a good way to tame the colts and practice riding skills, and
no damage was done. On festive occasions families would compete against each other, but
even that was for fun, not to make a living. Just like all other games on horse back which were
played for fun. Of course when Europeans brought Tukmen horses back to Europe, racing fun
became dead serious money producing business. Young boys were replaced by small adult
professional jockeys, young horses were put in rigorous training, run daily to “condition” them
until they either crumbled and died, or somehow survived and raced. Many young horses on
the race track brake down and die still.
But I think it’s absurd to believe that Akhal-Teke/Turkoman horses were raised and
maintained, grazing in a region with only sparse dry vegetation, in competition with valuable
meat producing livestock, just for a thrill of a short distance race. Even today, in times of
better agriculture and more plentiful food, racing is not a common use of horses, but a revenue
producing big gambling business. Here in the American West, when someone asks me “and
what are these horses good for?”, if I tell them “they are good for racing”, they’ll just say
“OH” and immediately loose interest. There are so many racing Thoroughbreds available here,
dirt cheap, and who in their right mind would pay a lot of money for a horse that can only
race, admittedly has a slower speed than a Thoroughbred, and cannot even be entered to race
against the Thoroughbreds?
I think that we need to come up with a modern equivalent of performance that Akhal-Teke
can do better than any other horse. Endurance? Polo? Eventing? Dressage? Reining? We
need to think hard what our horses can do better than others, and then prove it. It’s not
enough to keep repeating that 50 years ago Absent won Olympic medals. We need new
medals, and we need them now. Big thanks to all of you who compete with your horses and
bring back victories. As a minimum, international organization should keep track of and
publish on the web all achievements to acknowledge success and inspire others to surpass it.
I think we need to re-evaluate currently used grading system and come up with much better
criteria for grading. Not just a short look, and the measurements of a horse, not just an
outdated ideal conformation of a refined warm blood, not just a short sprint. If we want to
preserve the horse that does it better than any others, then we have to step outside of the box,
take a fresh look, and throw away a yardstick that was developed for other horses.
Another important aspect stemming directly from the horse evaluation is culling of “unworthy“
horses. Under the VNIIK grading instructions, some horses may be directly graded as
“Culls”, while others may receive a polite Class 2 grading, which practically also excludes
them from the future breeding pool. This system is very legitimate for breed management with
any good breeding plan, and is being used for improvement of many livestock populations.
However, this tool should be used only in breeds with open studbooks where fresh blood can
be added any time, or with large numbers of registered animals within the closed breed. It is
not appropriate for management of a small, closed, threatened Akhal-Teke population.
Akhal-Teke population has a closed stud book. That means that theoretically not a single
horse from the outside of the registered population would be allowed to breed with a
registered Akhal-Teke, and produce registered pure bred offspring. We have to work only
within the genetic fund that we have in the population right now. And given the extremely small
worldwide numbers of registered Akhal-Teke horses, Akhal-Teke breed is officially
considered by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy as Critically Threatened with
Extinction.
Well known methods developed for preservation of threatened animal species and livestock
breeds are thus far completely ignored by the Akhal-Teke breed managers, breeders, and the
international and national Akhal-Teke organizations. Akhal-Teke breed is annually
haemorrhaging, through culling and castration, precious genes that likely do not exist in any
other breed of horses, and that are forever being lost from the population. That in turn
increases inbreeding within the population that is already significantly inbred, and may
ultimately lead to an increase in hereditary defects. The idea of unwarranted culling within this
critically threatened population is unpardonable. If we end up one day with only photographs
instead of live horses, those photos will be useless to the future breeders.
Let’s just remember that some exceptionally nice horses such as Murgab, 1231 Mangyt, 1151
Galabek, 1166 Gayaz and a number of others were recently obtained from a stallion 1150
Gaigysyz, who’s mother 2063 Syagul received a very low grading in all aspects with a
resulting overall Class 2, and who’s sire 990 Karaman was only a little better graded with an
overall Class 1. Yet those two quite undesirable horses, as measured by our current yardstick,
gave grandchildren of very high quality. This is just one of a number of such examples in the
records.
Conservation methods clearly demonstrate that we need to increase the numbers of horses
first, expand the population, and only then start well thought out selection. We also need to set
up frozen sperm banks and other safeguards for the future. If we truly want to see Akhal-Teke
survive and prosper into the next century, we need to finally admit that there is a problem, and
employ all newest scientific methods of breed preservation. We need to do it now, and hope
that it’s not too late.
MM: What are the rules in the US for registering partbreds? Do any of them end up in
the VNIIK partbred register? Do you differentiate between TekeXTB and TekeXArab on
the one hand, and TekeXanything else on the other? Or is it simply done on percentage
of blood?
MS: Horses with 50% or more of Akhal-Teke blood are registered as Akhal-Teke Sport
horses, regardless of the other breed(s) involved in the cross.
MM: Where do you see the breed in 10 years time?
MS: Ten years is too short to build up a breed, but long enough to destroy it many times over.
I hope that Akhal-Teke breeders will recognize and value genetic potential and greatness that
we still have in our hands. That they will set aside their differences, and cooperate. And that
they will do everything in their power to preserve this ancient breed, not a newly created
exotic luxury ornament, but the original hard working, useful, willing, powerful, undemanding,
intelligent Akhal-Teke that can do it better than any other horse.
Almost 50 years ago a great Akhal-Teke stallion Absent won his famous Olympic medals. His
father Arab in 1935 completed in 84 days the now famous 2,700 mile endurance ride from
Ashkhabad to Moscow, and then went on to a fantastic career as a record jumper. That was
true excellence and versatility. But that was a long time ago, yet we are proudly listing those
accomplishments to this day. Why is it that we don’t have an Akhal-Teke lined up to compete
in any current Olympic event? Russian breeders produce so many superior horses, some of
them tell us, yet I am still waiting to cheer for the first Olympian. Or are we hearing here only
about Potemkin’s villages?
It’s much easier to be negative and to put down other people’s efforts, be it as breeders or
competitors. Yet how much further would we all get if we combined our energy and helped
each other. We would be so much stronger together, something that we all desperately need in
our tiny worldwide owner/breeder community. We all share amongst us the last 944 surviving
Akhal-Teke brood mares! What a great responsibility we have. Let’s forget the “us” against
“them” feelings, let’s forget the “my horses are perfect, his horses are junk” expressions. All
our horses share the same small group of ancestors, closely intermixed, and if you say my
horses are junk, then yours are too! Let’s make every effort to breed the best horses we can,
all of us. Let’s test them. Let’s share our various strengths for the benefit of all, for if all Akhal-
Teke would do it better than any other horses, then we all win! And above all, let’s start to
communicate in a productive, constructive, and polite manner. That is my wish for right now.
In ten years, I would like to see Akhal-Teke horses benefiting from this change in our attitude
by gaining back their past fame and glory, one horse, one victory, one big achievement at a
time, doing it better than any other horse.