HISTORY OF THE AKHAL TEKE

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The Akhal Teke has suffered considerably over the past 150 years when the Russians invaded Turkmenistan at the Battle of Geok Tepe (1880). The tribes were and divided their horses taken to Russia.

This took away the strength of the local tribesmen who were now under Russian control.

Many of their horses were turned loose in the desert, the descendents of which remain wild in Northern Iran. Many tribesmen from Turkmenistan also fled into Persia and Afghanistan, taking their horses with them.

The Akhal Teke breed was taken to Russia and virtually decimated during the Russian Revolution, after the First World War.

This occurred again in the 1950s during the time of Mr. Krushchev and was due to the quota for sausage meat. These horses were used to fulfil this quota and so many Akhal Teke owners opted for the alternative by letting them loose again.

In the 1950's the breeder Vladimir Shambourant could see that the Akhal Tekes were not being kept purebred.

As a result he took Akhal Tekes from Turkmenistan to the stud in Caucuses in Southern Russia and to the Tersk Stud near Piatygorsk, not far from Stavropol. There he bred some of the new line founders, such as Gelishikli and Fakirpelvan.

LEGEND

Green region= The Caucuses

Red dot=Tersk Stud near Piatygorsk (Shambourant)

Yellow dot= Stavropol Stud

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