This is Mazali, one day to be my horse, She is nearly two years old and here is her history... "They come from the great Nisaean plain in Media, where horses of unusual size are bred…" (Herodotus, The Histories) Second century B.C. the Roman historian Oppian wrote of them: "These horses, worthy of the most powerful rulers, are strikingly beautiful in appearance, they move lightly under the rider and lightly accept the bit; the head with its Roman nose is carried high and their golden manes flow majestically in the wind." ~ Akhal-Teke horses bond with their owners and have a loyalty that is akin to that normally associated with a dog. Many are friendly to everyone, but some retain an ancestral awareness of strangers. ~Performance of the Century ~ 1935 ~ the Akhal-Teke was tested as perhaps no other horse has ever been, An epic ride was designed to test the strength and stamina of the Turkmen breed and their suitability as army remounts. ~A group of 28 Turkmen riders mounted on Akhal-Teke stallions set off from Ashkhabad to Moscow. In only 84 days, they covered 2,700 miles, passing through some of the most varied topographical and climatic regions in the Soviet Union. ~ At one point they crossed 225 miles of desert in three days, virtually without water. ~ This feat convinced the authorities that the Akhal-Teke should be preserved in its pure form and all out-crossing stopped. ~The Akhal-Teke is a globally rare breed, with an estimated population of ~5,000 world wide, 400 of whom reside in the United States. Their Status is ~Threatened~