Was Byerly Turk carrying Akhal-Teke blood?

Jorge · Moderator Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 5479

The other day I was examining a lavish huge book (yikes, measuring about 1-1/2' by 2' feet) on different horse breeds and came across a statement that TB founder Byerley Turk had Akhal-Teke blood. Hmmm, quite interesting. Have you ever read about this angle? Shocked

Jorge · Moderator Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 5479

By the way, what a beautiful site full of nice photos:

http://akhal-teke.org/colors.html

color · Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 2:07 am Post subject:

Turk = horses from Turkmenistan and those have been the Achal-Tekkes, that is where the dilution came from.

Darcys Yellow Turk
Byerly Turk

all Achal-Tekke horses
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diomed · Grade III Winner Joined: 04 Oct 2004 Posts: 1107

There is no way to prove that the Byerly Turk was an Akhal-Teke.
I personally believe he was a Tukomene horse and possibly shared the same ancestors as todays modern Akhal-Tekes do.
There are a lot of similarities in the AT and the TB that cannot be denied, especially about the head and hip angle.

I wish they would do a DNA study on it. That would be very interesting indeed.

xfactor fan · Breeder's Cup Winner Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 2186

A while ago I ran across a website that claimed that the modern TB was related not to the Turkoman warhorses, but from the Turkoman pack horses. Not quite as romantic, but the these pack horses were bred to carry all the good from the encampment--tents, kids, clothing, pots & pans, the whole lot--then run along behind the lightly burdened war horses.
Carrying weight over distance at speed. Which sounds a whole lot like TB's.

Also there are a cluster of Turkoman breeds, of which the light race horse type is the Akhal Teke. Who knows what was running around the steppes when the Byerley Turk was imported.

On another note, anyone give have an opinion of the theory that the Byerly Turk was not imported but decended from Places' White Turk?

diomed · Grade III Winner Joined: 04 Oct 2004 Posts: 1107

I truly believe that there is as much Turk blood in the TB ancestry as Arabian.
I believe that(especially back then), when they call a horse a turk, that was exactly what it was.
I also believe the Godolphin was a Barb.

color · Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:42 am Post subject:

Yes that is correct they were Turks and later they formed the Akhal Tekkes but always they had dilution genes so that is from where it came. In fact those are the oldest "thoroughbreds" in the world, Arabians are only the second and the third was created by using ordinary British stock with the influence of Barbs, Arabs and Turks
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Jorge · Moderator Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 5479

A friend of mine just sent me one of these pictures (photo number 1) and I just found the rest. What a color huh?

Apparently it's cremello from the Akhal-Theke breed.

01. http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?sysreq=ignore
02. http://www.nerdnirvana.org/2012/03/05/albino-horse/
03. http://weirdanimalreport.com/tags/akhal-teke

Jorge · Moderator Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 5479

xfactor fan · Breeder's Cup Winner Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 2186

Any idea of the breeding?

Guesses include
The horse has a grey parent, and the grey gene got "switched off" over most of the body.

New roan mutation a la Catch a Bird

New Dominant white mutation.

Anyone have other ideas?

RiddleMeThis · Allowance Winner Joined: 13 Apr 2008 Posts: 371

Just a random somatic mutation. Happens a lot, but usually in smaller areas. This one just happens to be unusually large.
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Linda_d · Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 12:06 pm Post subject:

It looks like maybe the original color/marking pattern is there on the skin, but then overlaid with a layer of white hair. You can definitely see the outline of reddish color and all white under the general whitish layer. You see that happening down his leg, too, so it looks gray not black.

He seems to be a wild bay, too.
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RiddleMeThis · Allowance Winner Joined: 13 Apr 2008 Posts: 371

IMO thats just because it's roaned and not solid white. Id almost guarantee that his skin is just normal black.
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accphotography · Restricted Stakes Winner Joined: 29 Jul 2008 Posts: 962

I agree it's somatic. The question in my mind is what got switched on? Given that the roaning is all the way down the leg I would say it's not 'true' roan. I don't think it's right for gray either. Maybe just a mismark/anomaly.
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xfactor fan · Breeder's Cup Winner Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 2186

Would be interesting to see foal pictures, or follow the horse as it ages. Also to see if "roaning" progresses to white.