2008 Akhal-Teke Society of America National Conference and US Akhal-Teke Championships

13 year old Callie and her Teke gelding Arzuw

Sengar and Craig Thompson Eventing for The Akhal-Teke Stud

Jas Shearer-McMahon and MV Moondancer on an endurance ride.

Goklen and Eron Owens competing in eventing.

Magic Valley Ranch's stallion MV Patrickhan.

The Akhal-Teke stallion Absent and Sergei Filatov competing in dressage

Akhal-Teke Society of America

To Preserve, Promote and Protect

US Akhal-Teke Championships and ATSA Annual Conference,

Run concurrently with the Equus Survival Trust’s

Festivale of Endangered Equines

Stewardship Awards of North America Show

September 4-7, 2008

Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington KY

The Akhal-Teke Society of America's US National Championships and 1st Annual Conference were held over the weekend of September 4^th through 7^thin Lexington, Kentucky at the Kentucky Horse Park. It was run concurrently with the Equus Survival Trust's Festivale of Endangered Equines, featuring the Stewardship Awards of North America ( SANA ). We had 24 horses come from Virginia, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, and North Carolina and people came specifically for the Teke part from as far as Washington, Florida, Colorado and BC, Canada. Our judge, Sabine Toepfer-Gebert and her husband, Eckhardt Gebert, came from Germany, so it was a very interesting and far-flung group. The Equus Survival Trust show itself was very ambitious and had somewhere around 120 horses and ponies from around the country and Canada, and included in-hand, dressage, jumping, and driving divisions. There were 12 breeds involved in the show, many of which were pony breeds. Some of the ponies were the Kerry Bog pony, the Dales, the Newfoundland, and the Fell; and the only other horse breeds competing alongside the Teke were the Irish Draught and the Cleveland Bay, as Caspians were judged alongside the ponies.

The Equus Survival Trust Show had some scheduling problems due to a lack of volunteers, but everyone seemed to be having a pretty good time, with everyone dealing with any delays with humor and tact. The judges were superlative as they really had to 'go with the flow'. Besides Sabine, Lendon Gray and Muffy Seaton were judging, which gives an idea of the level of expertise there. The breed booths in the main arena seemed to be well visited, with many questions answered.

ATSA had SANA (the Equus Survival Trust's classes) on Friday and Saturday, along with a very well received breed demo on both days. We had many very positive comments about our organization and how well our horses did and how our presentation looked. In fact, one lady was heard to mention their "presence" in a rather awed voice. We had some fabulous costumes in the breed demos and had three of our horses and riders in the "Historical Costume" class. That was something to see, with everything from our Turkmen warriors to a lady leading her pony and foal loaded with panniers heading to market. There were some very interesting costumes that took much thought and money!.

One of the Teke partbreds, Belgar, also competed in the Kentucky Classique C1C**/* Horse Trials, and finished 14th in his preliminary division with a clean, but careful slow cross country round.. There were also SANA dressage classes going on and show jumping in which the Akhal-Tekes took every jumping class over the Cleveland Bays and the Irish Draughts, and the Akhal-Teke stallion Koublet, owned by The Akhal-Teke Stud in Virginia, took the high score in dressage for the entire show. There was a 'versatility' award given by the Equus Survival Trust, where the horses entered had to compete in in-hand, and at least two other ridden disciplines, which Anne-Marie Rasch won on her purebred stallion, Metman, with the partbred division won by the 22 year-old partbred gelding Kazakhstan. The purebred award itself for Most Versatile was awesome, a wooden plaque with a golden Teke on it, and also engraved silver plates from the ATSA for both.

The ATSA 'best in show’ award went to Central Asian Equines' young stallion Samovar, who also won the stallion in hand class, as well as Best North-American Bred. All the horses presented were excellent examples of Akhal-Tekes and Sabine mentioned how hard it was to judge such a nice group of horses and to decide who was first, second and third. Sabine also did a Sunday presentation for us, where she explained why she placed the horses as she did, one at a time, which was very valuable and educational.

The results for the ATSA National Championships are as follows:

ATSA results:

Purebred Young Stallion : Gahar, owned by Eron Owens of Indiana

Reserve: Golden Winged Icarus, owned by Jennifer Ramirez of Indiana

Purebred Young Mare : Azmele, owned by Freedom Run Farm of Michigan

no reserve

Purebred Mature Stallion : Samovar, owned by Central Asian Equines of Virginia

Reserve : Magnatli, owned by Freedom Run Farm of Michigan

Purebred Mature Mare : Daga, owned by Freedom Run Farm of Michigan

Reserve : Aishet, owned by Freedom Run Farm of Michigan

Purebred Gelding : Gaman, owned by The Akhal-Teke Stud of Virginia

no reserve

Best North-American Bred : Samovar, owned by Central Asian Equines of Virginia

Purebred Best In Show : Samovar, owned by Central Asian Equines of Virginia

Partbred Mare : Stoli Gold, owned by Triple S Farms of Florida

Partbred Gelding : Belgar, owned by The Akhal-Teke Stud of Virginia

Most Versatile Purebred : Metman, owned by Freedom Run Farm of Michigan

Most Versatile Partbred : Kazakhstan, owned by Central Asian Equines of Virginia

.SANA under saddle classes

Partbred Under saddle-

1st- Kazakhstan

2nd- Belgar

Purebred Mares Under saddle-

1st- JBK Gulkusi

2nd- Gora

Purebred Stallions/Geldings Under Saddle

1st- Metman

2nd- Koublet

3rd- Gaman

4th- Murmansk

Ridden Champion- Gulkusi

Reserve- Metman

From the Equus Survival Trust website

SANA MOST VERSATILE (MV) AWARDS

one In-hand class, one Ridden class, and any one discipline class (Over Fences, Driven, or Dressage)

SANA Most Versatile Horse (MVH) - horse blanket Sponsored by Equine Journal Magazine

#114 Metman (stallion) Anne-Marie Rasch, MI

SANA - MOST VERSATILE BREED AWARDS

MV Akhal-Teke: engraved silver tray - sponsored by ATSA

& Rosette and purple heart-wood Teke plaque sponsored by Craig & Shannon Mayfield

#115 Magnatti (stallion) Anne-Marie Rasch, MI

-MV Partbred Akhal-Teke: engraved silver tray - sponsored by ATSA

# P-222 Kazakhastan (gelding) Central Asian Equines/Allegra Steck, VA

HIGH SCORING DRESSAGE

-Dressage: High Scoring Horse – Saddle Pad

Sponsored by SafetyTec EMT Services

72.5 #162 Koublet – Akhal-Teke stallion (Training Level II)

Akhal-Teke Stud/Phil & Margot Case, VA

-Dressage: High Scoring Purebred Akhal-Teke - Rosette

Sponsored Carolyn Busacca & Cypress Grove Akhal-Tekes

72.5 #162 Koublet – Akhal-Teke stallion (Training Level II)

Akhal-Teke Stud/Phil & Margot Case, VA

-Dressage: High Scoring Partbred Sporthorse Akhal-Teke – Quilted Dressage Pad

Sponsored Carolyn Busacca & Cypress Grove Akhal-Tekes

60.0 #222 Kazakhstan – Akhal-Teke SportX gelding (Training Level IV)

Central Asian Equines/Allegra Steck, VA

SANA class results are still forthcoming, and you can check on the Equus Survival Trust website for details

So, all in all, a fabulous Teke weekend with gorgeous horses, fun people, food and drink. What more can you ask for?

Cathy

There will be more photos coming—it’s taking a bit of time to pick out my favorites and get permission to use them, as there were SO MANY nice ones taken!