TURCOMAN HORSES
The four main strains of Turcoman horse are named for the tribes that breed them: the Akhal and Teke (sometimes combined as the “Akhal-Teke”), the Yomud (also spelled Yamud, Yomut, Jomud or Iomud); the Goklan (also spelled Guklân) and the Nokhorli. While there are differences between these strains, it is immediately obvious that Thoroughbreds resemble them much more than either Arabians or Barbs, both in conformation and in way of going. Most importantly, all of them are bred for middledistance racing.
Which strain of Turcoman horse is most likely to have contributed to the origin of the Thoroughbred? The reach of the tribes that breed these horses is great, extending from the Trans-Caucasus eastward through Azerbaijan to the Elburz Mountains that border the western and southern margin of the Caspian Sea, with major centers in the towns of Baku and Gorgan. Southeast from Gorgan there are many villages in the plateau region bordering the Atrek River, and this is the principal area from which the Yomud, Nokhorli, Goklan and Teke strains come. The Akhal type is a desert horse, bred by tribesmen ranging far to the east along the route of the ancient Silk Road through Ashkabad and Merv to Tashkent and Ferghana.
Breed authority Louise Firouz compares the desert-adapted Akhal strain to an “equine Saluki." Their build is more angular than that shown by the Duke of Newcastle’s Turcoman horse. Whereas the Duke’s Turcomans had high aptitude for the collected paces of the manège, the action of the Akhal’s trot is low and sweeping, and its neck is thin and flat, not at all cresty, and with little tendency to arch. Whereas 17th century British “Turks” often ambled, the Akhal horse rarely exhibits lateral gait. And while the Duke’s horse shows a lush, full mane and tail, that of the Akhal is sparse. For these reasons the Akhal strain is probably best regarded as the Thoroughbred’s first cousin, but not a contributor to its ancestry.
The other Turcoman strains, that come from the lusher and greener plateau and mountain country that lie nearer to the Ottoman Empire, are better candidates. Yomud horses look almost exactly like Thoroughbreds, having similar action, aptitude for collection, and most important, middle-distance speed. An AzerbaijaniKarabakh stallion
painted in 1865 by Nikolai Sverchkov (left, below) bears striking resemblance to the Duke of Newcastle’s prized stallion of 200 years earlier, and like the Duke’s horses, it possessed a natural amble. The so-called “Plateau Persian” in a recent photo (bottom, left) is likewise of south-Caspian origin, as is the 1940s image of a Karabakh (bottom, right). It is this type of horse— with long shoulders, high withers, arched neck, full mane and tail, shorter back, and long steep pelvis and croup with low tail-carriage—that was the type of animal on which the Ottoman sultans based their “diplomatic” strains and which in turn became the majority Oriental ancestor of the Thoroughbred.