Conformation
After receiving multiple emails demanding an explanation why the circle of foundation Teke breeders favors conformations which are in clear difference to what is considered the height of type and excellence by modern showhorse breeders, we will in this section add articles on various conformational topics.
One thing before every other: no, we do not favor "atypical" or "poor" conformation because our horses happen to lack excellence. In fact, today it is very difficult finding horses which show what most of us see as even a moderately good ancient sort of conformation, the severe warping of Akhal Teke/Turkoman conformation has been going on now for far too long for that.
But let us start with the real beginning.
The conformation of a breed largely depends on several factors:
Changing these factors may result in either phenotypical changes of conformation or in genotypical change.
As illustrations for these mechanisms:
An Arabian raised and bred in the deserts of Syria will look quite a bit different from one raised and bred in Great Britain. The changed factors here are basically only climate and geography. The more affluent and lush countryside of Great Britain, its ample food supply, the moderate climate and large amount of fresh, protein-laden greens will create larger foals, foals less dry and in the end horses taller and better fleshed than the desert-bred variant, even if we were to compare foals whose parents are both identical twins. This does not change genes though, this taller, roomier and heftier horse of the moderate climate is simply the kind of horse the desert Arab could have been, had it had the same opportunities and feed.
The majority of Friesians of 2-3 decades ago were very differently built from the contemporary Friesians. The main changes which caused this are general employ and riding style. Up to the seventies of the last century Friesians were a fringe breed mainly known in the Netherlands and there used as lighter carriage horses and often enough even still in front of the plow. They were but rarely ridden, if then only to show off their trot in short races or at folkloristic events. They came along in three basic types: medium tall carriage horse, smaller heavier all-purpose draft horse, smaller lighter horse for multiple employs including riding. The interest the breed received and the immense popularity generated over the last three decades caused a clientele to turn towards the Friesian, which it did not have before - mainly people wishing to ride it, either as a pleasure horse or as baroque style dressage horses. This change in employ and the needs to be met when riding rather than driving a horse caused the modern Friesian to be purposefully selected to now have a different, less steeply set crupper, a more sloping shoulder, a less heavy and less upright neck, along with less pronouncedly "high stepping" gaits, a lighter gallop and lighter heads. The breed in general became taller, narrower and lost the two smaller types. Instead the medium tall carriage type bifurcated into a sportive riding and an elegant tall driving type. These changes are, unlike the ones described for the Arabian above, indeed genetic. They are reproduced whenever modern Friesians are bred, wherever they are bred.
So, while the UK-bred Arabian (change of phenotype) of the same ancestrage as the desert bred one would, if the foals were returned to Syria and bred and raised under desert conditions, be once again returned to its former looks by a simple relocation, the genes which made the erstwhile broad and hefty draft-type Friesian (change of genotype) what it was, are gone in the modern breed and cannot be returned to it unless someone were to change breeding selection again!
It can be said, that the more a horse is specialised to a specific kind of work and riding style, the greater the changes in conformation will be, if employ and riding style are changed. The group of all the European warmblood breeds shows this quite well, during the past century they were consequently changed from being all-round farmers' horses or cavalry mounts into modern sports competition horses, with some breeds (like e.g. the Holsteiner) experiencing major changes in conformation.
Now, let us look at the Turkoman horses.
This group of horse breeds (for up to 1900 one cannot speak of "the" Akhal Teke) lived in a climatic region which - over the course of millenia - it adapted to (thin coat, little subcutaneous fat, dryness, sparse mane and tail) and a variety of geographic conditions which created slightly different strains, depending on ground, hilliness, fertility of the soil etc.. Employ ranged from generalist nomad horse to warhorses of belligerent tribes, however, they always were ridden, practically never used as carriage or draft horses (the area held other species to serve for these purposes rsp. made such usage obsolete).
The riding style was that of solitary, working riders and travellers, which quite universally means few aids, no conscientuous collection or dressage, as little expense on the rider's side as possible, on-cue-commands/aids, comfortable riding positions, one-handed reins, great freedom for the horse regarding self-carriage and allocation of the majority of decisions (to the horse) regarding basic execution of tasks.
We still get to see this kind of riding style in many areas on this world where nomads use horses as their main means of transport. Closest to the Turkoman area are the Mongolian nomads, but whether African aboriginal nomads on e.g. Basutos or Icelanders on their ponies or Indian or southern American trail riders - all these riding styles are very similar, share the salient points and create rather similar conformations in their most used horse breeds if you strip off those conformational points which are caused by breed derivation and geoclimate.
Another important fact to know is that up to roughly 1900 practically all Turkoman breeds were gaited horses, either tending towards pacing, or towards the amble. The Russian name for this fourth gait was "Perestrup". It was much valued by the nomads, especially in their travelling horses, as it was extremely comfortable and secure for the rider, fast and could be kept up for hours. Such gaits ask for several fine points of conformation and are never found in horses bred to function in formation (such as European cavalry horses) or bred to mainly exhibit a dressage style trot. This group of ambling horses stretched from northeastern Persia to the far Mongolian steppes and east towards and into India, in short to all areas where horses were mainly individual and important transportation means. As a short side note: even continental Europe had a prominent group of horses bred to amble, specifically as the transport of travellers and for ladies during the middle ages with the heavyset warhorses of that time usually led along and ridden only during combat. As to Akhal Teke showing amble, there exists turn of the century footage which shows several Teke horses in clearcut, 4-beat amble!
Now, having detailed as much, there are further demands made on the conformation of such an enduring travel and warhorse, which simply come with the job per se. It must be clear that no horse breed or strain could survive this sort of intense work which exhibits conformational extremes.
Not without cause even today the vast majority of world-class endurance mounts never exceed 1,60m in height, in fact most serious contenders are between 1,45m and 1,55m. This (1,45-1,60m at the withers) is the height margin to be found among practically all work and nomad horses worldwide. Some of the pony breeds for adult riders, such as Basuto or Icelander, range between 1,30 and 1,45m, achieving the same performances. The bigger and taller the horse, the less efficient is the ratio of inner organs, the more demanding is the need for forage and feed not to be found everywhere easily and the greater is the expense on the rider for simple tasks as mounting the horse or general comfort on the horse.
Most other extremes also are naturally absent from these travelling/nomad breeds, meaning the conformation is geared to function without stress in all respects. The backs are of a built which allows for carrying weight for long distances, the legs are sturdy and not too long, the angles of shoulder and crupper are such as to function with the least expenditure and the biggest comfort, the neck is of moderate length and a built which neither causes stress on the horse nor the rider - in short, moderation is the cue, not extremes. Anything which would buckle under such work, e.g. something which puts too much weight on frontlegs or which would result in a tendency to stumble, would be naturally culled from breeds serving such a purpose and employ.
The few photos, sketches and also the descriptions of the Turkoman horse strains prior to 1900 depict a conformation going exactly with what is written above. Variations existed between tribes and tribal areas, but none were really major. Where Turkmenian tribes had the use of grassland close to the rivers, the breed strains were slightly taller - as can be expected as a result of phenotypical changes due better and more fodder - and where breeders bred for warhorse capabilities horses became more enduring and faster over long distances, but in general the differences were not very marked.
What is most important, these horses were a long, a very long way from what today is described as the height of type and excellence. They had an excellence of their own, which is not reflected at all in modern conformational quirks, in fact what is reported of the old Turkoman horses speaks of animals quite diametrically opposed to what we get to see as show-winners today.
The difference between show-horses and the breeds they derive from is a mechanism of its own, adding to and heightening even more the differences caused by changes of the forming points of conformation. Here it is best to let pictures speak:
One thing before every other: no, we do not favor "atypical" or "poor" conformation because our horses happen to lack excellence. In fact, today it is very difficult finding horses which show what most of us see as even a moderately good ancient sort of conformation, the severe warping of Akhal Teke/Turkoman conformation has been going on now for far too long for that.
But let us start with the real beginning.
The conformation of a breed largely depends on several factors:
- base evolutionary type
- climatic conditions
- geographic conditions
- general employ
- riding style of the conceiving breeders
- specific needs to be met
Changing these factors may result in either phenotypical changes of conformation or in genotypical change.
As illustrations for these mechanisms:
An Arabian raised and bred in the deserts of Syria will look quite a bit different from one raised and bred in Great Britain. The changed factors here are basically only climate and geography. The more affluent and lush countryside of Great Britain, its ample food supply, the moderate climate and large amount of fresh, protein-laden greens will create larger foals, foals less dry and in the end horses taller and better fleshed than the desert-bred variant, even if we were to compare foals whose parents are both identical twins. This does not change genes though, this taller, roomier and heftier horse of the moderate climate is simply the kind of horse the desert Arab could have been, had it had the same opportunities and feed.
The majority of Friesians of 2-3 decades ago were very differently built from the contemporary Friesians. The main changes which caused this are general employ and riding style. Up to the seventies of the last century Friesians were a fringe breed mainly known in the Netherlands and there used as lighter carriage horses and often enough even still in front of the plow. They were but rarely ridden, if then only to show off their trot in short races or at folkloristic events. They came along in three basic types: medium tall carriage horse, smaller heavier all-purpose draft horse, smaller lighter horse for multiple employs including riding. The interest the breed received and the immense popularity generated over the last three decades caused a clientele to turn towards the Friesian, which it did not have before - mainly people wishing to ride it, either as a pleasure horse or as baroque style dressage horses. This change in employ and the needs to be met when riding rather than driving a horse caused the modern Friesian to be purposefully selected to now have a different, less steeply set crupper, a more sloping shoulder, a less heavy and less upright neck, along with less pronouncedly "high stepping" gaits, a lighter gallop and lighter heads. The breed in general became taller, narrower and lost the two smaller types. Instead the medium tall carriage type bifurcated into a sportive riding and an elegant tall driving type. These changes are, unlike the ones described for the Arabian above, indeed genetic. They are reproduced whenever modern Friesians are bred, wherever they are bred.
So, while the UK-bred Arabian (change of phenotype) of the same ancestrage as the desert bred one would, if the foals were returned to Syria and bred and raised under desert conditions, be once again returned to its former looks by a simple relocation, the genes which made the erstwhile broad and hefty draft-type Friesian (change of genotype) what it was, are gone in the modern breed and cannot be returned to it unless someone were to change breeding selection again!
It can be said, that the more a horse is specialised to a specific kind of work and riding style, the greater the changes in conformation will be, if employ and riding style are changed. The group of all the European warmblood breeds shows this quite well, during the past century they were consequently changed from being all-round farmers' horses or cavalry mounts into modern sports competition horses, with some breeds (like e.g. the Holsteiner) experiencing major changes in conformation.
Now, let us look at the Turkoman horses.
This group of horse breeds (for up to 1900 one cannot speak of "the" Akhal Teke) lived in a climatic region which - over the course of millenia - it adapted to (thin coat, little subcutaneous fat, dryness, sparse mane and tail) and a variety of geographic conditions which created slightly different strains, depending on ground, hilliness, fertility of the soil etc.. Employ ranged from generalist nomad horse to warhorses of belligerent tribes, however, they always were ridden, practically never used as carriage or draft horses (the area held other species to serve for these purposes rsp. made such usage obsolete).
The riding style was that of solitary, working riders and travellers, which quite universally means few aids, no conscientuous collection or dressage, as little expense on the rider's side as possible, on-cue-commands/aids, comfortable riding positions, one-handed reins, great freedom for the horse regarding self-carriage and allocation of the majority of decisions (to the horse) regarding basic execution of tasks.
We still get to see this kind of riding style in many areas on this world where nomads use horses as their main means of transport. Closest to the Turkoman area are the Mongolian nomads, but whether African aboriginal nomads on e.g. Basutos or Icelanders on their ponies or Indian or southern American trail riders - all these riding styles are very similar, share the salient points and create rather similar conformations in their most used horse breeds if you strip off those conformational points which are caused by breed derivation and geoclimate.
Another important fact to know is that up to roughly 1900 practically all Turkoman breeds were gaited horses, either tending towards pacing, or towards the amble. The Russian name for this fourth gait was "Perestrup". It was much valued by the nomads, especially in their travelling horses, as it was extremely comfortable and secure for the rider, fast and could be kept up for hours. Such gaits ask for several fine points of conformation and are never found in horses bred to function in formation (such as European cavalry horses) or bred to mainly exhibit a dressage style trot. This group of ambling horses stretched from northeastern Persia to the far Mongolian steppes and east towards and into India, in short to all areas where horses were mainly individual and important transportation means. As a short side note: even continental Europe had a prominent group of horses bred to amble, specifically as the transport of travellers and for ladies during the middle ages with the heavyset warhorses of that time usually led along and ridden only during combat. As to Akhal Teke showing amble, there exists turn of the century footage which shows several Teke horses in clearcut, 4-beat amble!
Now, having detailed as much, there are further demands made on the conformation of such an enduring travel and warhorse, which simply come with the job per se. It must be clear that no horse breed or strain could survive this sort of intense work which exhibits conformational extremes.
Not without cause even today the vast majority of world-class endurance mounts never exceed 1,60m in height, in fact most serious contenders are between 1,45m and 1,55m. This (1,45-1,60m at the withers) is the height margin to be found among practically all work and nomad horses worldwide. Some of the pony breeds for adult riders, such as Basuto or Icelander, range between 1,30 and 1,45m, achieving the same performances. The bigger and taller the horse, the less efficient is the ratio of inner organs, the more demanding is the need for forage and feed not to be found everywhere easily and the greater is the expense on the rider for simple tasks as mounting the horse or general comfort on the horse.
Most other extremes also are naturally absent from these travelling/nomad breeds, meaning the conformation is geared to function without stress in all respects. The backs are of a built which allows for carrying weight for long distances, the legs are sturdy and not too long, the angles of shoulder and crupper are such as to function with the least expenditure and the biggest comfort, the neck is of moderate length and a built which neither causes stress on the horse nor the rider - in short, moderation is the cue, not extremes. Anything which would buckle under such work, e.g. something which puts too much weight on frontlegs or which would result in a tendency to stumble, would be naturally culled from breeds serving such a purpose and employ.
The few photos, sketches and also the descriptions of the Turkoman horse strains prior to 1900 depict a conformation going exactly with what is written above. Variations existed between tribes and tribal areas, but none were really major. Where Turkmenian tribes had the use of grassland close to the rivers, the breed strains were slightly taller - as can be expected as a result of phenotypical changes due better and more fodder - and where breeders bred for warhorse capabilities horses became more enduring and faster over long distances, but in general the differences were not very marked.
What is most important, these horses were a long, a very long way from what today is described as the height of type and excellence. They had an excellence of their own, which is not reflected at all in modern conformational quirks, in fact what is reported of the old Turkoman horses speaks of animals quite diametrically opposed to what we get to see as show-winners today.
The difference between show-horses and the breeds they derive from is a mechanism of its own, adding to and heightening even more the differences caused by changes of the forming points of conformation. Here it is best to let pictures speak:
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