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Horse Tours. Turkmen Akhalteke Horse Ride

These horse tours in Turkmenistan are simply  & unique. They take place in Akhal region. This is an area of extraordinary historical interest: in 334 BC. Alexander the Great swept the area in search of its legendary horses for his conquering armies on their way to India. It was the centre of the mighty Parthian Empire (Old Nissa), which crushed a Roman army in 53 B.C., its archers mounted on Turkmen horses (hence the «Parthian Shot»). The Turkmen nomadic tribes raided the rich cities of their Persian neighbours for centuries, trading their slaves and booty into Central Asia. 

The area is still famous for its horses. Your riding would be based on a stud farm and you would be using original hot-blooded Turkmen horses - Akhalteke. Partners or friends who do not want to ride can take where it is possible same or a different route in a 4WD vehicle and meet up with the riders for some of the breaks or at the end of the day. They will be able to visit local nomads and perhaps spend a little time seeing how the Turkmens live. Photographers and painters would find plenty to keep them busy. These horse tours are a unique opportunity to ride the world’s original hot-blooded Turkmen horses - Akhalteke, the rootstock of both the Thoroughbred and the Arab - through a part of Turkmenistan seldom visited by outsiders.

The Turkmen horse is the key to hot-blooded horses the world over.  Valued above all other possessions by the kings, emperors and aristocrats of three continents throughout three millennia of history, the Turkmen horse was famed for its mythical speed, endurance and beauty. The Han Chinese risked armies to get hold of just a few of the breed, the guards of the Caliphs of Baghdad were mounted on them, Alexander the Great captured hundreds if not thousands of the horses to return to Europe after his Parthian campaigns, and the modern Thoroughbred owes everything to Turkmen blood bred directly and indirectly through the great lines. The Turkmen Tribesmen have used their horses for generations to wage warfare across the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. At peace now, the tribesmen still race their horses, training them in the traditional way, and keeping them under felts to sweat them to the lithe lines of catwalk models. The Turkmen horse is the product of millennia of evolution, built to survive heat, drought, the cold winter storms, predations by wolves and leopards, and capable of impressive feats of endurance and great speed.