Turkmenistan ~ Day 1 ~ The First Meeting of the International Akhal-Teke Horse Breeding Association

 I can report that when booking our flight from Seattle to Ashgabad... Amrita and I put our brain cells to good use and made a very wise decision. Coming from San Juan Island means we add a minimum 5 hours of exhaustion on each end of a trip (the price we pay for living in paradise)... so we scrupulously chose itineraries with the shortest overall travel time, and with an airline we trusted would be the least likely to lose our luggage. We booked our entire trip with Lufthansa and were very happy knowing our bags were checked all the way through to Ashgabad. All brains aside.... our trip duration was still about 25 hours each way. Which explains why it has taken me so long to cough up this first blog post!


We changed planes in Frankfurt, Germany where we met up with two friends (and a handful of fellow conference-attenders)... equine photographer Linda Welsch (who is from Czech Republic but resides in Spain), and Cynthia Swensen of Bold Vantage Farm Akhal-Tekes in Calgary, Alberta. We all shared the same flight from Frankfurt to Ashgabad, which included a stop-over in Baku, Azerbaijan, where most of the passengers departed. Traveling to a closed country in the middle of the night was a new experience for me... even in my state of delirium I was intrigued by who was still on board. It seemed that from every row of the plane there came the syllables of a different language. And closest by... an unmistakably mid-western accent! Two young American men were sitting directly behind us, and as we suspected, they were employees on oil rigs and had been working in the region for nearly six months.

Our plane landed in Ashgabad a little before midnight. The customs agents were expecting our arrivals and it all went very smoothly. After passing through half a dozen unnecessarily-placed metal detectors through which we were not required to remove metal objects... we were chaperoned to buses that promptly embarked for our hotel. That first nighttime drive through the lighted city of Ashgabad was an experience in itself. After hearing Amrita's stories from her trip to Turkmenistan ten years ago, I expected Ashgabad to be a somewhat sedate mixture of government buildings and hotels amidst a cluster of third-world development. What I DIDN'T expect was the extensive array of massive white marble buildings, ten-times-larger-than-life statues surrounded by flower gardens, swaths of tiled courtyards... rows upon rows of freshly-planted trees in parks lush with green grass and dandelions gone to seed. But the most striking characteristic of Ashgabad is probably the most symbolically-effective display of material wealth in a parched land... fountains. There are fountains everywhere.

And our hotel? Well, that was a surprise, too. Not knowing where we would be staying or whether the water would be safe to drink... we travelled to Turkmenistan with an arsenal of water purifying tablets, a portable water boiler, and bottles of water packed into Amrita's suitcase! Only to discover that we would be holed up in a brand-new 5-star French hotel. Who knew we would be eating French pastries and sipping espresso on our first morning in Ashgabad?! It all seemed a bit surreal... but honestly, nobody was complaining!

Photo courtesy of Linda Welsch.

The balconies inside our hotel were covered with beautiful Turkmen scenes. And on the walls of the lobby were paintings of the countryside and famous Akhal-Teke stallions. Coming from America where this breed is very rare, it was amazing to see Akhal-Tekes everywhere we looked. Interestingly enough, for the first two days of our stay, these would be some of the only horses we saw!

The view of the fountain in the lobby from the 11th floor:

Our first full day in Turkmenistan was Friday April 22, 2011. We attended the the First Meeting of the Akhal-Teke Horse Breeding Association. It was held at a large conference center located just outside Ashgabad. Most of the guests attending the conference were staying at the same hotel... so it wasn't long before we were all getting acquainted. It was very exciting to meet people from all over the world who had come to Turkmenistan for this unique event.

(On our way to the meeting... Amrita, myself, Tito Pontecorvo, and Tatiana Riabova). 

Photo courtesy of Jo Reser. 

(The conference center... as you can see, there was quite a lot of people gathered for the occasion!)

Photo courtesy of Linda Welsch.

Photo courtesy of Jo Reser.

The First Meeting of the International Akhal-Teke Horse Breeding Association was designed, per order of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, to bring together a diverse group of professionals representing associations and/or equestrian-related businesses from around the world, the majority of whom were individuals directly involved with the Akhal-Teke breed. Nationalities of breeders & associations included Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Canada, United States, Netherlands, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Uruguay, Austria, Spain, France, Germany, and more. But aside from all the "usual suspects," we also met writers, photographers, magazine editors, film producers, farriers, sport horse marketers, university professors, architects, engineers, doctors, equine quarantine administrators, and agricultural science experts. It was truly an international crowd and I was one of only a few non-trilinguals.. which made for some fascinating conversations (I'll take your word for it, Amrita)... and was one of the highlights of the entire trip.


All guests attending the conference were asked to write a short essay, lecture, or speech which was to be submitted to the Turkmen officials before arriving in the country. The documents were translated into Turkmen, Russian, and English... and published in a book, titled: Turkmen Horse And Horse Breeding Art Of The World. Many people were also asked to present their speeches publicly during the conference, and over the course of the day we listened to a number of interesting discussions, mostly concerning topics relevant to the future of the Akhal-Teke breed, and/or its importance in Turkmen culture. Due to the fact that the presenters came from so many different parts of the world, translations were provided via headphone. 

(Here I am in the conference, studiously referring to the book of speeches. 

Yes... this is really me. Not sure where I go that hair-do though). 

Photo courtesy of Linda Welsch. 

(Snacks at the conference. Never seen a cell phone cookie? Neither had we!)

Photo courtesy of Linda Welsch. 

Shortly before noon, Amrita was one of a small group of people called to the podium and then promptly chaperoned to a special conference with Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. 

(At the head of the council in Ashgabad.... Amrita is on the far left, and next to her is Cynthia Swensen. Behind them is an image of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov that we would become very familiar with by the end of this trip). 

Photo courtesy of Linda Welsch. 

Very few of these attendees knew beforehand that they would be personally meeting the President of Turkmenistan that day! Individuals were chosen based on their performance as diplomats for the Akhal-Teke breed. And out of these people, the President presented official certificates of registration with the International Akhal-Teke Horse Breeding Association:

Meanwhile back at the main conference... Linda Welsch and I had hit it off right away and I was soooo grateful to have such a fun friend to share the day with!  We were quick to learn that our stay in Ashgabad would be heavily-scheduled but at times interestingly unorganized.


After the meeting with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Amrita's group was taken to Ashgabad's hippodrome where they viewed works by local artists in a celebratory art contest.

And little did Amrita know that on this day she would be made famous in Ashgabad by appearing in the local newspaper, admiring the exhibit:

The other group of people, Linda and I included, finished the afternoon at the main conference and were then taken by bus to a museum containing ceremonial carpets, historical items, and various gifts presented to Turkmenistan by the governments of foreign nations all over the world. The museum was one of the many enormous white marble palaces we had passed the night before en route from the airport. It's entrance is guarded by rows of massive bronze lions, an impossible stretch of (slippery) polished marble courtyard, and a dizzying arched facade entrance... the effect of which was slightly intimidating. 

As you can see here... all 6 ft. of me and I look like a midget in this courtyard built for giants.  

Photo courtesy of Linda Welsch. 

Photo courtesy of Linda Welsch. 

(The view from the entrance to the museum.) 

Photo courtesy of Linda Welsch. 

The museum itself, though fascinating in its own way, did not lend the peaceful feeling of public contemplation the way museums tend to do in The West. Alas, this one was probably not for public perusing at all. The only other apparent patrons were the ashen hoards of seemingly-comatose moths: Ethmia turkmeniella. 

(An interesting object on display at the museum... an artist-commissioned model of the previous president Despite it's appearance, this is no toy... the chair is made with pure gold). 

Photo courtesy of Linda Welsch. 

By nightfall both groups were finally reunited for dinner, and everybody seemed happy for the chance to just relax, converse, and eat. Before long we were on our way back to the hotel to get some sleep... the next day we would travel to a newly-built hippodrome located an hour or so outside the city of Ashgabad for an equestrian performance by the President, as well as an Akhal-Teke "beauty contest" (though these details were still unknown to most of us at the time). Everybody seemed relieved by the possibility of seeing some of Turkmenistan's famous horses actually in-the-flesh. But before saying goodnight, our hosts informed us that the next morning we were to be ready to leave the hotel by 4:00 am! It would be a whirlwind of a weekend in Turkmenistan, and this was just the beginning!! 

Stay Tuned for Turkmenistan Day 2... 

Read all about our Trip To Turkmenistan by visiting the following posts:

To Turkmenistan We Go

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/04/to-turkmenistan-we-go.html

Jet Lag  

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/04/jet-lag.html 

Turkmenistan Day 1 - The International Akhal-Teke Horse Breeding Association

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-1-first-meeting-of.html 

Turkmenistan Day 2 - The President Rides & An Akhal-Teke Beauty Contest 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-2-president-rides.html 

Turkmenistan Day 3, Part 1 - The Races 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-3-part-1-races.html 

Turkmenistan Day 3, Part 2 - A Bigger-Than-God-Himself Hippodrome-In-The-Works 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-3-part-2-bigger-than.html 

Turkmenistan Day 4, Part 1 - The Circus 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/05/turkmenistan-day-4-part-1-circus.html

Turkmenistan Day 4, Part 2 - The Stud Farms 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/06/turkmenistan-day-4-part-2-stud-farms.html 

Turkmenistan Day 5 - The Russian Bazaar 

http://eventingakhaltekes.blogspot.com/2011/06/turkmenistan-day-5-russian-bazaar.html