Dreams are meant to come true, said Janek Ledecky, and when Janek Ledecky says it, it’s definitely true. And who else should make your own dreams come true but yourself. So I took the most wonderful day of my life and went on a five-hour ride into the desert on Akhalteke horses right in Turkmenistan.
There are three stud farms next to Ashgabat. There are about one thousand five hundred horses in each. As far as the ownership of Akhalteke horses is concerned, formally all Akhalteke horses are owned by the state as a national monument and cultural heritage. However, each horse has its own caretaker who takes care of it every day, feeds it, trains it, makes decisions about it and is responsible for it. It’s like it’s his – he just can’t sell it or travel abroad to race it. One caretaker could be in charge of ten horses. Basically, only stallions and geldings are ridden – the decision to castrate a sport horse is basically made by its groomer (who makes the recommendation). Mares are ridden in sport only until they are three years old, after that they are used in breeding.
The horses are tested in several disciplines – classical racing, distance racing over 60 kilometres, show jumping and then probably something like “beauty riding”. The races are organized by the state, and they have them once a year. At least the jumping or endurance. Otherwise, they have public training sessions where they compete against each other.
Coincidentally, I had the privilege of riding with the Turkmenistan parkour champion.
That’s all I have to say, best day of my life. And tomorrow will be another one.
