"In a small village there lived a proud horse, fawn-like in build and posessing invincible speed over the harshest of desert terrain. The village elders, doubtful of the animal's ability, ruled that this unbeatable horse should compete with a falcon. Word soon spread as wildfire, and thousands gathered to see with their own eyes the horse said to challenge the very wind. As the falcon took flight, the horse sprang into unfathomable movement, a gallop which carried him far beyond the falcon's eye into the horizon...and into the hearts of man forever."
-Turkmene Legend
The Akhal Teke is one of the oldest and purest breeds of horse left in the world today, a living piece of history. Traceable for the past three thousand years, many great historians call them priceless and "possessing the last drop of that valuable blood from which all the breeds of well-bred horses have been developed." Due to it's ancient origins the Akhal Teke has been called 'divine horse', 'equine aristocrat', 'fabled steed' and 'heavenly horse' by Roman emperors, Alexander the Great, Darius the Great, Genghis Khan and Marco Polo.
The Akhal Teke is the only remaining pure strain of ancient Turkmene horse, a breed whose common ancestors bear a succession of different names over time: Massaget, Parthian, Nisaean, Persian, Turkmene and finally, Akhal Teke. The breed name consists of two words: "Akhal," the long oasis nestled in the foothills of the Kopet Dag Mountains and "Teke," after the Turkmen tribe, the dominant nomadic people who inhabited the oasis and for centuries raised the Turkmene horse.
Today the Akhal Teke's popularity soars, as new generations are created from the 20 original Akhal lines. Their role has has changed from primary usage in desert races and warrior raids to the endurance, eventing and hunter arenas. Each year more and more Western nations are beginning to appreciate this exoticly mysterious, outlandishly stunning and truly unique equine.
The Akhal at Horseweb -------------------------------------------------
Akhal Teke Network
Proceed to Nisaean...