Well, if the Turkmenian breeders never bred for type, where does this idea spring from?

A close look at the 3rd studbook reveals that as originating with the first evaluation of the Russian/Soviet breeding specialists who took the breed management over from the nomads. Just to make this very clear, let us stress it with due definitude:

"Type" was made a selection criterion for the first time with the Russian/Soviet takeover of the breed

Boinou was declared to epitomize the "most effective Akhal Teke breed type" by Belonogov and Gorelov, never mind that at the same time that he lived there were a myriad of other equally pure, equally achieving and equally well regarded Teke and Turkoman sires around. Fact is that Boinou belonged to a toi-at strain of quite extraordinary, outlandish looks, compared to either warmbloods or the other hotbloods. Horses of his looks were not exactly rare, but also not exactly common either at the time, they often were bred as statehorses, meaning representative horses of the tribes' khans.

Being by strain, conformation and calibre quite clearly a racehorse, Boinou proved this aptitude on the racecourse. As far as currently known he never was an actual warhorse, nor was he tested across longer distances or under heavy load. In the beginning he belonged to the Saryk tribe. Still he was declared the benchmark against which from then on all Akhal Teke bred by the Russian/Soviet breed experts would be measured.

Actually two different "breed types", as in specific "look", developed - a Russian/Soviet one and a Turkmenian one over the next few decades. The first was epitomized by sire Boinou and Gelishikli, the latter by sires Everdi Teleke and Karader.

When talking about "Turkmenians" in this respect it needs to be clarified, that what we talk about here are the civil servants serving in the statefarms, who for quite a long time after the demise of old Turkmenia were no Akhal Teke nomads. What we also need to realize is that between the main Turkmenian tribes there always has been and up to the day still is quite a pronounced amount of centuries old enmity, envy and quite a few open accounts. It was and is not self-understanding that Ersari nomads e.g. are very friendly towards Saryk or Akhal Teke, or even Mary Teke towards Tetschen or Akhal Teke. The Akhal Teke themselves were once one of the most feared and hated tribes, belligerently living off raids, wars and slavery. What we also need to take into account is that after the Russian victory and very much so after the final Soviet supremancy, the nomads were purposefully alienated from their former pride and war machinery: their horses.

In short, post-1900 Turkmenian breeding can be regarded to have deviated quite a bit from pre-1900 breeding. Some of this can be detected by such notions as "an AKhal Teke muzzle should fit in a teacup". It is quite impossible that any Turkoman nomad, depending on his horses' capacities to breathe well and masticate whatever fodder was set in front of it, would actually have bred muzzles as tiny and weak as that. Teke and Turkoman horses never had their nostrils slit, as was a habit with Arabians warhorses, precisely because they had a completely different physical architecture in that respect. The oldest pictures detail horses with straight or convex profiles, often with considerable distance between top and underline, with strong jaws and roominess in every direction: perfect for the endurance and stamina demanded of it as an everyday chore.

The same applies for a variety of "type" ideas we find after 1900, whether in Russia or in Turkmenia. The majority of them are not functional, they are actually hindering perfect function.

With "type" being the current most important selection criterion, apart from size and calibre, the breed is being severely developed away from both the old physical and psychological values, as well as homogenized in a manner it never was before either. Along this, well, it has to be properly named, show or halterbreeding, the Teke horse breed also loses - very quickly now - its old strains. With Boinou declared the epitome of type, whereas uniformly the old warhorse sires were held to be "of no good type" or "without type", the Turkoman and Teke breed is rapidly evolving into an artificial showhorse breed with little connection to its roots.