Foundations of the Akhal-Teke Breed

Foundations of the

Akhal-Teke Breed

After the fall of Geok-Tepe, the Russian army is said to have killed off or shipped out many Turkmen horses in order to prevent the Turkmen from regrouping into a fighting force (see Vitt, Maslow and The Turkmen History Website below). Yet one Russian had the foresight to preserve this wonderful horse in an age which had no use or reason to preserve the past. In the 1890's, Russian cavalry officer A.N. Kuropatkin began searching Turkmenistan for the last remaining "Argamaks." Records of his original purchases were scarce then and are moreso today--but he collected such remaining Turkmen horses as he could find. Having gathered a few together, including the famous 2a Boinou or "Long Neck", a foal of 1885 who more than any other horse might be thought of as the foundation sire of the modern breed (photo above), he began the Makhtum-Kala Akhal-Teke Stud in the Zakaspiiski (= "Trans-Caspian") Region in 1897. The stud was located at Aul Kishe, outside Ashkabad. Kuropatkin chose Mr. G. A. Mazan to run it for him.

In 1912, Tsar Nicholas II signed articles of organization making Makhtum-Khala into the Zakaspiisky Regional Horse Stud. By 1915, the stud boasted over 40 purebred mares.

In his introduction to the first Akhal-Teke Studbook, Belenogov notes that Iomuds, Karabairs and other "tribal" horses (the Russian word used here, plemmenoi, means either "tribal" or "purebred") were brought here to be bred to supply mounts for the cavalry, with Kuropatkin and Mazan still in charge of it. The breed then became known as the Akhal-Teke, after the Turkoman tribe which lived in the area.

Under Kuropatkin and Mazan, the Makhtum-Kala stud travailed. It kept acquiring horses--including the extremely influential stallions Bek Nazar Al (Bek Nazar's Chestnut) and Bek Nazar Dor (Bek Nazar's Bay, photo at right, shown with Bek Nazar up), from one of the best breeders of Tekke horses left in Turkmenistan. The ever-looming collapse of Makhtum-Kala/Zakaspiiski was not for lack of trying on the part of those who were running it; but from the complete and obstinate refusal of the Tzarist government to fund it. In addition, the state regularly exported Zakaspiiski's best horses to countries in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as to Iran and. Belonogov writes:

"According to materials in the Ashkabad Central Archives, the stable manager, Mr. Mazan, had been writing letters to the Central State Horse Breeding Department detailing the poverty of the Tekke [horses], and reiterating that without sufficient supplies of winter fodder being produced, their foals quite often died of starvation. Mazan, who greatly admired this breed, gave many examples of how every year the stud's best horses were exported, trying to give signals that the Akhal-Teke was a collapsing breed. He asked that at least the horse should be promoted as a means to improve the breeding of other steppe horses.

"But it was all in vain. The CSHBD refused even to include this Zakaspiiski stud in its budget, showing complete indifference to the Akhal-Teke. The government remembered it only during the Imperialistic War, but not as a reserve of valued purebreds, yet simply as a source of replacement mounts for cavalry officers. This is to say, it did everything it could to destroy this breed."

Despite this, the number of horses seems to have increased somehow, from less than two dozen in 1900 to an unspecified number by the 1920s, so that Russia was able to sell 214 Akhal-Teke mares to the British in 1905-1906, and 60 stallions in 1919-1920. (What happened to these horses is unknown, but it is believed they were sent to India for use in the cavalry there, since the English Thoroughbred could not cope with the Indian climate). The stud also sent its horses to be seen at various horse shows in "European Russia," where typically they were greeted with mixed feelings by people who were used to the heavier lines of English and German horses, and for whom the Akhal-Teke's conformation was something new and unknown. For example, at the Kiev Horse Show in 1913, Professor M. I. Pridorogin was impressed with them, but also saw what he considered to be flaws:

"The group here has almost as much virtue as the Kabardin, but longer lines. This gave me, on the one hand, pride in the fact that we have suchlike equine material, but on the other hand the horse is slight and appears to need improvement."

To learn more about the establishment of the Akhal-Teke breed, please see:

Sacred Horses by Jonathan Maslow

The History of the Akhal-Teke Horses, Yesterday and Today, by T. N. Riabova and N.V. Abramova, Translated by Dr. Tito Pontecorvo, 1997

Introduction to the Third Stud Book, by M. I. Belonogov (the third overall studbook is actually the first volume of the Akhal-Teke Stud Book) (out of print but available through many Akhal-Teke associations or through the International Akhal-Teke Breeders Association in Russia).

"Heavenly Horses," article by Alexander Klimuk, which was sent to us without note of the magazine in which it appeared.

The Turkmen History Website

This page was last updated on Sunday, January 17, 1999