Akhal Teke UK
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©Black Fox 2007-2011
High up in the mountains of the breath-taking Austrian province of Steiermark lies an
Akhal-Teke paradise. Helmut and Andrea Rauter who spent some years working in
Russia (Andrea has translated a number of important articles about the Akhal-Teke) are
true connoisseurs of the breed. Their first encounter with Akhal-Teke was in the 1990s
when they used to ride at weekends at the stables outside Moscow and where they
found and bought their stallion Mirab – he is in his twenties and is still with them. Over
the years, they made numerous visits to Stavropol and brought back three mares,
including one in foal to Piastr – the result was Golubtchik, now four and starting his
training. They have chosen to import their horses and ride, rather than breed them. “We
prefer to leave the breeding to the Russians”, says Andrea “they are the real experts, they
have the range of genetics and they have a market which appreciates these horses”. They
were tempted to try Mirab on Zariadka but gave up: “She really hates him, that’s the
problem. She prefers the old Arab gelding in her herd.” Still, Mirab did give them one
foal, as a result of sheer insistence on the part of their warmblood mare. “She forced
us!”, tells Andrea, “and we said – you only have one chance! And she got in foal the first
time around”. The result is a ten-year-old bright-yellow buckskin gelding, a miracle
cross, trained to an advanced level in Western dressage.
All the horses are ridden in Western saddles and Swiss Horse Boots, and receive regular
training in Western dressage. The Rauters have a well-thought-out system of
management: eight horses live as a herd, every morning they make their way down a
steep mountain path in a file to their grazing paddocks, and every afternoon they file back
to the yard where they are greeted by Mirab and fed in individual walk-in stalls from one
long trough – freshly-ground oats and barley and hay. There are no head collars, no rugs
and no shoes. I have never seen so many perfectly-shaped hooves! “We have found this
system works well for us, as Helmut is often away and I have to manage on my own”,
says Andrea, “this way I don’t have to muck out too many stables and the horses seem
happy and sociable but we do have to put up with them looking like teddy bears in the
winter”. Happy and sociable they certainly are – the epitome of everything we love
about this breed.
We also made a one-day trip to Budapest where we met Agnes Gaal and their advanced
show-jumping mare by Akhal-Teke stallion Karador out of a Furioso mare. Karador
stood at stud in Hungary for some years. So successful is Kincso that Agnes is interested
in breeding more 50-50% show-jumpers in interesting colours. We are hoping to see
Agnes, her husband and their excellent trainer in England soon.
Photos from the trip.
Video of Kincso loose.
Video of Kincso under saddle.
Akhal-Teke paradise. Helmut and Andrea Rauter who spent some years working in
Russia (Andrea has translated a number of important articles about the Akhal-Teke) are
true connoisseurs of the breed. Their first encounter with Akhal-Teke was in the 1990s
when they used to ride at weekends at the stables outside Moscow and where they
found and bought their stallion Mirab – he is in his twenties and is still with them. Over
the years, they made numerous visits to Stavropol and brought back three mares,
including one in foal to Piastr – the result was Golubtchik, now four and starting his
training. They have chosen to import their horses and ride, rather than breed them. “We
prefer to leave the breeding to the Russians”, says Andrea “they are the real experts, they
have the range of genetics and they have a market which appreciates these horses”. They
were tempted to try Mirab on Zariadka but gave up: “She really hates him, that’s the
problem. She prefers the old Arab gelding in her herd.” Still, Mirab did give them one
foal, as a result of sheer insistence on the part of their warmblood mare. “She forced
us!”, tells Andrea, “and we said – you only have one chance! And she got in foal the first
time around”. The result is a ten-year-old bright-yellow buckskin gelding, a miracle
cross, trained to an advanced level in Western dressage.
All the horses are ridden in Western saddles and Swiss Horse Boots, and receive regular
training in Western dressage. The Rauters have a well-thought-out system of
management: eight horses live as a herd, every morning they make their way down a
steep mountain path in a file to their grazing paddocks, and every afternoon they file back
to the yard where they are greeted by Mirab and fed in individual walk-in stalls from one
long trough – freshly-ground oats and barley and hay. There are no head collars, no rugs
and no shoes. I have never seen so many perfectly-shaped hooves! “We have found this
system works well for us, as Helmut is often away and I have to manage on my own”,
says Andrea, “this way I don’t have to muck out too many stables and the horses seem
happy and sociable but we do have to put up with them looking like teddy bears in the
winter”. Happy and sociable they certainly are – the epitome of everything we love
about this breed.
We also made a one-day trip to Budapest where we met Agnes Gaal and their advanced
show-jumping mare by Akhal-Teke stallion Karador out of a Furioso mare. Karador
stood at stud in Hungary for some years. So successful is Kincso that Agnes is interested
in breeding more 50-50% show-jumpers in interesting colours. We are hoping to see
Agnes, her husband and their excellent trainer in England soon.
Photos from the trip.
Video of Kincso loose.
Video of Kincso under saddle.
