An Akhal-Teke horse standing in front of the mountains in Turkmenistan. Photo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. Fair use.
Turkmenistan is home to one of the oldest and most beautiful horse breeds known as Akhal-Teke. These horses have been bred for thousands of years by the Turkmen Teke tribe in the Akhal oasis in the south of the country.
Known for their intelligence, speed, endurance, loyalty, and stunning beauty, Akhal-Teke horses have always been prized possessions of the Turkmen people, who have historically relied on them for transportation, raiding, and companionship.
A Turkmen rider with his Akhal-Teke horse. Photo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. Fair use.
Their history dates back to 1,000 BCE, making the breed at least 3,000 years old and arguably the oldest purebred horses in the world. It's hard to overstate the importance of horses for the nomadic Teke tribesmen, who used the animals for raiding.
Their breeding practices were also influenced by the geographic terrain and scarcity of pastureland in the surrounding Karakum desert. Thus, the number of horses was kept low, with only the finest specimens remaining and producing offspring. The result of this meticulous breeding process carried out in the harsh desert climate over thousands of years is unrivaled beauty and endurance.
The Akhal-teke horses’ most distinctive physical trait is the metallic sheen of their coats, a byproduct of the unique structure of their hair that reflects light. It is this trait that has earned them the name of “Golden Horses,” by which they are known worldwide. Behind this beauty are extraordinary stamina, strength, and resilience.
An Akhal-Teke horse of a rare Isabella color. Photo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. Fair use.
One of the earliest cases when the modern world learned of these qualities was the 1935 endurance race from Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat, to Moscow. Turkmen riders covered 4,300 kilometers on Akhal-Teke horses in 84 days, including a 360-kilometer crossing of the Karakum desert without water and food for three days.
The Akhal-Teke horses have done exceptionally well in other equestrian sports as well. The most notable example is a stallion named Absinthe, which holds the record for the most (six) medals won at international competitions by a horse, including the gold in dressage at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and two more Olympic medals.
Expectedly, the Akhal-Teke horses are revered the most in their native Turkmenistan, where they constitute a national symbol and a key element of the local culture and everyday life. In 2023, UNESCO added the Art of Akhal-Teke horse breeding and traditions of horses’ decoration to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Turkmenistan’s bid for this inclusion reflected how the horses are intertwined with Turkmen customs and traditions, history, and crafts. An example of this is wedding ceremonies when a groom arrives at his bride’s house on an Akhal-Teke horse decorated with jewelry made by women.
Jewelery items worn by Akhal-Teke horses. Photo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. Fair use.
The Turkmen people's love for their horses can be traced in movies, music, and literature. One of the most famous movies in Turkmenistan is a 1972 comedy named “Menin dostum Melegush” (My Friend Melegush), in which a young hippodrome worker named Alty Velladov tries to save an Akhal-Teke stallion named Melegush from being sold and shipped overseas.
The full film is available on YouTube.
There is also a song called “Melegush” (Orange bird) by a popular Turkmen singer Hajy Yazmammedow dedicated to the Akhal-Teke horses.
Find the music video of the song “Melegush” below.
The biggest fans of these horses have been Turkmenistan’s autocratic presidents, who have turned Akhal-Teke horses into an element of their personality cults. The country’s first president Saparmurat Niyazov placed his horse Yanardag (Fiery mountain) on Turkmenistan’s coat of arms and established the Ministry of Horses, becoming the only country in the world to do so.
His successor, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, went even further by constructing three different statues dedicated to Yanardag, Polatly (Steel), and his horse Ak Khan (White Khan), which holds the world record for walking on its hind legs for 10 meters.
The Akhal-Teke horses can get a bad rep in foreign media due to their association with the country’s eccentric dictators. However, they are not just an obsession of Turkmenistan’s autocrats, but a true national symbol — a living part of Turkmenistan’s storied history, and a source of national pride and joy.
