Horses were used by the Turkoman to go places and transport material. While donkeys and camels also were regularly kept and thus employed, the Turkoman culture was a horse culture. Stabling was unknown, the riding horses were tethered close to or inside the tent, the mares were kept in herds close to the temporary or stationary settlement. As carts make very little sense in most of desert Turkmenia, horses were either packed or ridden, almost never used as draft horses.

Apart from that, the Turkoman nomads hunted on horseback, often accompanied by sighthounds or falcons, close to Persia the use of cheetahs is also well known, they would sit behind the hunter on the horse until set onto the prey. On feast days racing was a well-documented pastime of the tribes, as were a variety of team sports, most notably versions of Kokpar, Buzkashi or Persian Polo.

The constant wars and the fact that several tribes lived at least partially on raiding settlements, farmers and the caravans on the Silk Road, with quite a few nomads also hiring out as mercenaries, means that the Turkoman horses were intensely used as warhorses. Apart from being the general means of transportation, they literally served as comrades in arms to the nomad warriors and were treated as such, receiving themselves part of the loot.

The Turkoman rode often long distances over rough and difficult country to the caravans or settlements they intended to raid, engaged, then fled with the added weight of loot on their backs. During fighting horses were expected to function without much direction from the rider. They also were expected to defend themselves and their riders against four and two legged enemies. Unlike European warhorses they were not expected to work in mass military formation, the lack of which allowed for gaited horses (warhorses in formation need to exclusively trot).

This results in the following basic aptitudes:

• great speed over large distances and long stretches of time
• climbing or jumping over or through obstacles, also at speed
• surefooted negotiation of any kind of terrain
• ability to repeat major exertion at short notice
• mastering work independantly
• tendency to cooperate intelligently with the rider
• hunting with and without dogs and falcons
• transport of people or material
• living in dry, arid climate on small amounts of water/fooder
• close bonding with their owners or keepers
• active aggressivity towards strangers and aggressors
• fearlessness in new and changing situations regardless of their nature
• ability to spare the rider effort

As is the case with all warhorse breeds, these basic aptitudes and their ensuing physical and psychological expressions ensure that the Turkoman horses can master a broad variety of equestrian employ, excelling where these come closest to nomadic lifestyle or warfare.