The Standard, the most comprehensive work on the Akhal-Teke breed and its history:

W.O. Witt (editor) - Horse Breeds of Central Asia published by Academy Nauk V. I. Lenin, Moscow 1937 published in Russian with a few short notes in English translated to German in 1990 with via Sabine Toepfer-Gebert. Contact me for info on how to obtain a copy in German.

About the development of the TB and its Central Asian ancestors:
W. Ridgeway - The Origin of the Thoroughbred Horse published by Cambridge University Press 1905

This book give you a short and illustrative overview of the first horsemen:
F. Tippett - The First Horsemen published by Time-Life Books 1974

The must have reference work on the Central Asian tribes and history:
René Grousset - The Empires of the Steppes a History of Central Asia published in English by Rutgers University Press 1970

Meet the Tekes together with the nicest English chap, an excellent introduction to the every day life of the Tekes at the end of the 19th century:

E. O'Donovan The Merv Oasis Travels and adventures East of the Caspian During the years 1879-80-81 including Five Months' Residence Among the Tekkés of Merv published by Arno Press and The New York Times in 1970.

There is also an interesting article on the breed in French publihed by The Department of Animal Genetics in 1986
"L'elevage du cheval en Union Soviétique by B. Langlois

there are more articles and books of interest and I know there are many more suggestions out there so please add interesting books to the list

1. Kerri-Jo Stewart02/26/2007 22:16:40
Homepage: http://Akhal-Teke.ca

Here is my blog posting on Akhal-Teke literature: http://www.stewartclan.ca/akhal-teke/2007/01/06/akhal-teke-literature/

And a Squidoo Lens on Teke literature: http://www.squidoo.com/akhal-teke

The best list I have found is here: http://www.achal-tekkiner.ch/htm/at_Literaturhinweise_060223.htm

I have bought many and need to update the sites. It's always good to read about Tekes! I still have not received my "Golden Collection" yet - hopefully soon!

Do you have the 1986 article from the Dept of Animal Genetics? That sounds interesting.

2. Blanca02/27/2007 05:18:01

Nothing to do with horses, but a book which has always been a must for for Central Asia lovers:
"The Great game" by P. Hopkirk.

Another i really liked (we have talked about it): nothing about tekes but about the life of a stallion in Central Asia in the collectivisation times: "Farewell to Gulsary" by Chingiz Aitmatov.

3. Jessica02/27/2007 08:07:19

Blanca, I second you suggestions, and like to suggest two more good books on travelling in Central Asia:
Capt. F. Burnaby "A Ride to Khiva"
O. Lattimore "The Desert Road to Turkestan"

4. Heather02/27/2007 08:30:14

While we're on the subject of literature, I have a question for you Tekephiles. Are there any reliable books on the folklore and/or oral traditions of the Teke tribes? For those of you who don't know, I'm up for some graduate fellowships at the moment, but am doing lots of preliminary reading related to my thesis proposal. It would take a longer time to explain all the details, but some literature on the antiquated folklore of the larger Central Asian area would be extremely useful.
Heather

5. Blanca02/27/2007 09:46:30

Heather, I don't know of any precise book on this.

But if you are interested I could put you in contact with scholars who could guide you. Although they people I know are more focused to Uzbek/Tajik culture

6. Jessica 02/27/2007 09:51:31

Heather, I am not sure how you define folklore, but there is a book "The Arts and Crafts of Turkestan" 1984 by Dr Johannes Kalter, head of the Oriental Department of the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
it is a very thorough work on the cultures of Turkestan (Turkmen, Uzbeks and Tadzhiks).

7. Carolyn02/27/2007 11:51:07

Heather- If you don't mind my asking, where are you doing your graduate degree and on what? It sounds as if you have some similar interests to me, though maybe at a later period (my dissertation covers the Scythians to the Huns).

8. Maria02/27/2007 11:58:51

Heather, contact Alexander Naymark at the Hofstra University in New York. He knows an awful lot about Central Asia, particularly Uzbekistan and the Silk Route and has loads of contacts and can give you many useful references on oral culture. He used to work at the Museum of Eastern Cultures in Moscow and took part in many archaeological excavations in Central Asia. His email address is faazn@hofstra.edu <faazn@hofstra.edu> and you can say I gave it to you (actually I took it from Hofstra website, so it's not a private address).

9. Kerri-Jo Stewart02/28/2007 01:03:22
Homepage: http://Akhal-Teke.ca

Heather - I have a book about the Teke tribe, but it is in German, "Die Akhal-Teke" by Wolfgang Koenig. Christoph also has the best collection I know of, try contacting him as well.

10. Leonid02/28/2007 02:13:53
Homepage: http://www.shael-teke.com

Read it: http://forum.eastbazar.info/lofiversion/index.php/t3565.html

11. Heather02/28/2007 09:38:33

Tapadh leibh! Grazie! Thank you! That will be most helpful, and is much appreciated.

Maria, Thank you for the email. I may be contacting him soon.

Carolyn, YOUR graduate research seems fascinating! I am jealous! Honestly, as soon as I win millions in the lottery I will quit teaching public school and become a full time professional student until I die... until then, I must rely on competing for fellowships. My graduate proposal actually deals with the Celtic tribes. My da's family is Scots Gaelic, Cornish and Welsh. My husband is Irish. My mom is Sicilian and Breton French. I sound like a typical American mut, but due to rather recent immigration to the US on all sides we've retained strong influences of the various cultures. I am looking to study the early Celtic oral traditions (including the UK, but also the Germanic tribes that Herodotus and Julius Caesar wrote so much about), and the proliferation of their themes/personas/etc. into the historical and contemporary literatures of their regions. Their is substantial overlap of the ancient continental European Celtic tribes and the Central Asian tribes, which is why I am so interested in their folklore, legends, deities, and oral traditions. I would be looking to find threads of Celtic folklore through their traditions, and vise versa. Ultimately my eventual aspiration is to apply to Harvard's doctoral program in Celtic Language and Literature, but I really WILL have to win the lottery for that... I don't admit defeat easily though, so I'm still plugging along in that direction. You can email me at heathermahoney@hotmail.com anytime to discuss project topics. I was a Classics-phile in school and even took an extra year of Latin as independent study in high school... which tells her how extremely popular I was!

Thanks again to everyone!

12. Jessica02/28/2007 15:22:51

Very interesting link Leonid, thank you, it opened up a lot if interesting info!

13. Carolyn02/28/2007 23:06:38

Your proposal sounds very interesting Heather. Good luck with those fellowships- the life of a grad student is half study and half filling out scholarship/grant/travel study applications! Trust me, you get pretty proficient at them.
I am a complete and utter Classics Geek, as is every other grad student in my dept. I've lucked out quite a bit with my grad experience- my supervisor is wonderful (and will even let me put him on a horse!) as are the other students. Greek and Latin are often the bane of my existence, I'm translating book 4 of Herodotus right now and then on to Strabo and his Scythians. I'm about to start Russian.
Please feel free to email me (anyone on the blog actually)- email is an excellent form of procrastination and if I am talking about horsey research then I don't feel quite so guilty!

cawillek@ucalgary.ca