“Akhal-Teke Horses: Heavenly Creatures”: A film on the Akhal-Teke, the culture surrounding them as a national emblem in Turkmenistan, and an overview of their history–currently available to watch online with English subtitles.

In addition to showing the beauty contests and racing of Akhal-Tekes in Turkmenistan, it gives an inside look of the practice and significance of creating Turkmen horse jewelry and carpets, primarily practiced by women, which is a cultural tradition and art recognized by UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. Includes rare footage of Akhal-Teke stallion, Arab, who became sire of the later Olympic Gold dressage stallion Absent and grandsire to great stallion Gyrat who was ridden in the 65th Moscow Victory Day Parade. Also touches on the history of Akhal-Tekes on the Nisean plain and the pressing need to carefully manage breeding with genetic research.

Screenshots from the film produced by Artyom Somov, Elena Norkunaite, Anton Meshcheryakov.

Watch the full film here.