Yanardag (, born 1991) is an

Akhal-Teke The Akhal-Teke ( or ; from Turkmen language, Turkmen ''Ahalteke'', ) is a Turkmen horse breed. They have a reputation for speed and endurance, intelligence, thin manes and a distinctive metallic sheen. The shiny coat of the breed led to their ...

stallion A stallion is an adult male horse that has not been gelded ( castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cre ...

owned by the former

President of Turkmenistan The president of Turkmenistan (), officially the president and chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, is the head of state and head of government of Turkmenistan. The president is also the supreme commander in chief of the Armed ...

Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov (19 February 1940 – 21 December 2006) was a Turkmenistani politician who led Turkmenistan from 1985 until his death in 2006. He was the Secretary (title), first secretary of the Communist Party of Turkmenist ...

. The stallion is depicted on the coat of arms of Turkmenistan, on a 2001 miniature sheet Turkmenistan postage stamp, and in other Turkmen national representations, and he is also often featured in newspaper and magazine articles.

Biography and representations

Yanardag is an Akhal-Teke horse bred by Geldy Kyarizov, and

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt (horse), colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. Whe ...

ed in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

in 1991,Yanardag
at the official Turkmenistan webpage on Akhalteke horses
Archived page.
/ref> the year of Turkmenistan's independence from the Soviet Union. Yanardag was named world champion of the breed in 1999 in Moscow, and was subsequently acquired by

, who was President of Turkmenistan 1990–2006. He is described on the official Turkmenistan webpage on Akhalteke horses as having a "unique golden-dun colour, characteristic for all Akhalteke horses". According to the Akhal-Teke Association of America, "golden dun", called ''Bulanaya'', is the color buckskin, produced by the cream gene, sometimes overlaid with

sooty Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in '' The Sooty ...

shading. While ''bulanaya'' is the Russian word for the color called buckskin in the USA, ''bulanaya'' is sometimes translated "dun" when using an outdated

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

term for diluted colors. There are no Akhal-Tekes registered as ''savrasaya'' (the Russian word for the dun color) in the Russian stud books. A lifelike image of Yanardag, in a sphere of blue, has been the central figure of the coat of arms of Turkmenistan since 2003. His image is also on a 2001 Turkmenistan postage stamp, and on the reverse of the 2005 50- manat note. In 2014 a monument to Yanardag was completed and unveiled in Turkmenistan's capital city of

Ashgabat Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Yanardag
at official Turkmenistan webpage on Akhalteke horses 1991 animal births Akhal-Teke horses Individual animals in politics National symbols of Turkmenistan