Karabakh Horse - Breed History

Breed History

The Karabakh has close links to the Akhal-Teke, which is bred in Turkmenistan, Central Asia, and the Turkoman horse, which is bred in Iran. Some historians believe that in ancient times these horses were of the same strain and had significant influence on the development of the Arabian breed. Some historical sources mention that during the Arab invasions of Arran in the 8th-9th centuries tens of thousands of horses with golden-chestnut coloring, characteristic for Karabakhs, were taken by the conquerors.

The breed attained its current shape and characteristics during the 18th and 19th centuries. There is some evidence that Ibrahim-Khalil (1763-1806), khan of the Karabakh khanate, possessed a horse herd numbering 3,000-4,000, mostly of the Karabakh breed. From the 19th century onwards this horse breed became increasingly popular in Europe. Thus, in one of the first big sales in 1823, an English company purchased 60 pure Karabakh mares from Mehdi-Kulu Khan, the last ruler of the Karabakh khanate. Karabakh numbers were initially hurt in 1826 during the Russo-Iranian war, but the breed remained intact. After Mehdi-Kulu Khan, his daughter Khurshidbanu Natavan took care of the breed. In a series of successes her Karabakh stallions received the highest awards in various exhibitions during the 19th century. As a result, the Karabakh horse Khan received a silver medal at an international show in Paris in 1867. At the second All-Russian exhibition in 1869, the Karabakh horse Meymun also won a silver medal, another stallion, Tokmak, won bronze. A third, Alyetmez (pictured), received a certificate and was made a stud-horse in the Russian Imperial stud.

The Karabakh played an important role in the formation of the Russian Don horse breed. In 1836 the heir of the Russian general Madatov sold all his horses, including 200 Karabakh mares, to a horse-breeder in the Don region. These Karabakhs were used for improving the Russian Dons' characteristics into the 20th century.

In the early 20th century the Karabakhs sharply decreased in numbers again, mostly because of civil and ethnic wars in the Caucasus in general and in the Karabakh region in particular. The horse breeding enterprise established by the Karabakh khans and developed by their heirs was destroyed in 1905. The offspring of many pure-blood Karabakhs became a mix of Karabakh and other, non-pure, horses, resulting in changes to some characteristics, such a reduction in size.

In 1949 the breed was revived at the Agdam stud in Azerbaijan, which brought together the most characteristic Karabakhs. In 1956 a Karabakh stallion named Zaman, along with an Akhal-Teke named Mele-Kush was presented by the Soviet government to the Queen of Britain, Elizabeth II.

The Karabakh horse breed suffered another setback during the Nagorno-Karabakh war. In the days before the capture of Agdam by the Armenian forces in 1993 most of the Karabakh horses were moved from the Agdam stud. These horses are currently bred in winter pastures in the lowland Karabakh plains between Barda and Agjabadi provinces.