The Caspian is an Iranian

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

pony A pony is a type of small horse, usually measured under a specified height at maturity. Ponies often have thicker coats, manes and tails, compared to larger horses, and proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier , thicker necks and s ...

or small

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

type. The breed was rediscovered in 1965 by an Iranian aristocrat in Tehran, Narcy Firouz, and his American-born wife, Louise Laylin from a base stock of a small number of small horses found in the

Elburz Mountains The Alborz ( ) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs northeast and merge ...

Amol Amol ( ; ) is a city in the Central District (Amol County), Central District of Amol County, Mazandaran province, Mazandaran province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Amol is located on the Haraz River bank. It is ...

. In 2011, the remains of a small horse dating back to 3400 B.C.E. were found at Gohar Tappeh, Iran, giving rise to claims that today's Caspian originates from the oldest known breed of the domestic horse. It is also one of the rarest horse breeds and its population status is critically endangered.

History

The Caspian is said to originate from the mountainous regions of northern Iran, which explains how the breed is tough, athletic, and nimble. Indeed, the oldest known specimen of a Caspian-like horse was found in 2011, in a cemetery dating back to 3400 B.C.E., in the archaeological dig at Gohar Tappeh in the province of

Mazandaran Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari, Iran, Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range and Hyrcanian forests, it is border ...

in northern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, between the cities of

Neka Neka () is a city in the Central District of Neka County, Mazandaran province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. History Not much is known about this area in geographical or historical accounts of the past, until ...

and

Behshahr Behshahr () is a city in the Central District of Behshahr County, Mazandaran province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. It is located at the foot of the Alborz mountains, approximately east of Sari and west of ...

. Small horses were depicted in ancient art where they appeared in scenes pulling chariots. The Persian Empire required land transport on a huge scale. They were the first people to breed horses especially for strength and speed. That these horses were very small by modern standards is shown by a miniature golden chariot, a toy or perhaps a votive offering, found in the so-called Oxus Treasure,Both c. 500 BC, British Museum, London discovered in the extreme east of the empire but apparently made in central Persia. The vehicle was obviously built for speed. Its wheels are taller than the horses, which are themselves of lesser height than the two passengers – and not because of the status of the passengers. Neil MacGregor likens this vehicle to a Ferrari or Porsche amongst cars – fast and luxurious. King Darius (the Great) trusted his life to the little horses during lion hunts, and honored them on his famous Trilingual Seal. As seen on the bas comfortes on the great staircase at Persepolis, the Persian Shah demanded tributes of only first class animals.

Characteristics

The Caspian generally stands about at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

. It has concave profile and a vaulted forehead; the back is straight and short, the

croup Croup ( ), also known as croupy cough, is a type of respiratory infection that is usually caused by a virus. The infection leads to swelling inside the trachea, which interferes with normal breathing and produces the classic symptoms of "bar ...

level and the tail is set on high. The Caspian Horse is extremely hardy, with strong hooves that rarely need shoeing unless they are consistently worked on very hard or stony ground. Their base coat colors are

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

, and

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and other color modifiers include

grey Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

and

dun Dun most commonly refers to: *Dun gene, which produces a brownish-gray color (dun) in horses and other Equidae * Dun (fortification), an ancient or medieval fort Dun or DUN may also refer to: Places Scotland * Dun, Angus, a civil parish in ...

. White markings may appear on the head and legs, but minimal white or no white markings are usually favored. Some lack

chestnuts The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description C ...

or ergots.

Genetics and phenotype

There are experts who classify the Caspian horse as one that does not directly fall into the four ancestral types, namely the Northern European, Northern Steppe, Southern Steppe, and the Iberian/Mediterranean, making it unique and an important link to ancient horses. It is this reason the Caspian is considered to be one of the rarest breeds of horses, along with the Akhal Teke. Research has shown that Caspian and Turkoman horses occupy positions in phylogenetic analysis that has given rise to a hypothesis that they carry genetics that are ancestral to all other oriental type breeds studied to date.E. Gus Cothran, Ph.D., Animal Genetics, Texas A & M University. (Initial studies took place at Kentucky University, 1990).

References

External links

{{Commons category, Caspian Pony
Caspian Horse Society of the Americas (CHSA)Caspian Horse Society UK

Caspian Conservation SocietyInternational Caspian Society (ICS)The Livestock Conservancy

A cytogenetic study of the Caspian pony
H Hatami-Monazah and RV Pandit
Tiny Caspian horse breed back from the brink
Horsetalk, 19 July 2007

Horse breeds Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy Horse breeds originating in Iran Amol County

History

Characteristics

Genetics and phenotype

References

See also

Further reading

External links