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Disappearing Horses of Karabakh

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  • Disappearing Horses of Karabakh

    Disappearing Horses of Karabakh
    Dilbaz (top) and Karabakh horse at the Baku hippodrome.

    Azerbaijanis breeders are struggling to keep alive a centuries-old horse
    rearing tradition.

    By Kamil Piriev and Samira Husseinova in Lenberan (CRS No. 222, 11-Mar-04)

    The green pastures of this village 360 kilometres west of Baku used to be
    home to cattle and sheep. Now a group of stables and barns dominates the
    landscape and herds of Karabakh horses graze across it, guarded by a
    herdsman and a dog.

    The village of Lenberan has been transformed by the arrival here of the
    staff of what used to be the stud farm of Aghdam, the Azerbaijani city now
    occupied by the Armenians and located on the other side of the Nagorny
    Karabakh ceasefire line.

    The famous Karabakh horses have suffered from the conflict, too. There are
    now just 130 of them, compared with some 400 twenty years ago.

    Azerbaijan's first stud farm was built near Aghdam in 1949 to rear the
    valuable Karabakh breed of horse. The farm was hard hit by the 1991-94
    conflict. The remaining horses were evacuated to Baku before Armenian troops
    captured Aghdam in 1993.

    It was only four years later that a proper new farm was built for the horses
    at Lenberan. However both the location and the farm leave much to be
    desired. The lowland climate is not ideal for the horses, and the farm is
    rather cramped.

    "Karabakh horses were bred in the mountains for centuries," farm manager
    Maarif Husseinov told IWPR. "That is why, apart from their beauty, these
    horses are valued for their endurance and ability to travel narrow mountain
    paths. Lenberan is not good for them. The climate is too humid and the grass
    is different here."

    The beautiful golden-brown Karabakh horse, believed to be of very ancient
    pedigree, is of medium height with a small head and strong muscles. Over
    many centuries the Muslim khans of the Karabakh highlands took great pride
    in breeding them.

    Traditionally the breed has been prized for its hardiness and its loyalty to
    its owners. Because of its size and temperament it has always been popular
    with woman riders. Its fame persisted into modern times and in 1956, Queen
    Elizabeth of Britain received a Karabakh stallion named Zaman as a gift from
    the Soviet government, along with an Akhal Tekke horse from Turkmenistan.

    There are some 65,000 horses in Azerbaijan, but only about 1,000 of them are
    thoroughbred. As well as the relocated Aghdam stud farm, there are two farms
    at Agstafa and one at Sheki which breed the grey Dilbaz, another famous
    Azerbaijani breed.

    But all the stud farms have fallen on hard times, because although they are
    officially run by the state, in reality they were left to fend for
    themselves years ago. Selling just a few horses a year, they can barely
    afford to buy food for the horses and pay their employees.

    This worries the experts. "Unless conditions improve, the Karabakh and
    Dilbaz may lose their pedigree status and become diluted in a few years,"
    warned Handam Rajabli, deputy director of the pedigree breeding department
    at the agriculture ministry.

    "Professional horse breeding in Azerbaijan suffers most from the lack of
    customer interest in our local breeds," complained Rajabli. "Many private
    customers these days prefer the English thoroughbred and the Turkmen Akkal
    Tekke to the Karabakh and Dilbaz."

    Azerbaijan's racing and breeding industries continue to suffer from a
    presidential ban on betting on horses that followed a big casino scandal in
    Baku five years ago. As a result racing lost popularity and racecourses and
    stud farms lost revenues. To maintain the Baku racecourse complex, the
    management has had to lease part of the premises to private businesses.

    Another major problem is the continuing export ban on Azerbaijani horses
    because of their failure to meet international identification standards. As
    an exportable commodity, horses need to come with all the necessary
    vaccinations properly documented, which is not the case with Azerbaijan's
    horses.

    This year, the agriculture ministry came up with a plan to improve breeding
    conditions for thoroughbred Azerbaijani horses and asked the government to
    foot the bill. The plan calls for around 400,000 dollars to be allocated to
    the horse breeding industry and the ban on horserace betting to be lifted.
    The government is still considering its response.

    But some enthusiasts think there is no time to be lost. Yashar Guluzade, an
    entrepreneur, has been breeding the Karabakh for seven years. On the 50
    hectares of land he owns outside Baku, he keeps 28 Karabakh horses and two
    Dilbaz.

    Yashar owes his love of horses to his father Alihussein, but never dreamed
    of owning his own stable. Then in 1997 he saw Senat, a young Karabakh stud
    horse, at the Baku racecourse and was so impressed by its beauty that he
    decided to buy it. After that he became so fascinated with local breeds that
    he travelled from village to village in search of pedigree animals.

    Guluzade, 39, is worried that the Karabakh and Dilbaz horses may be on the
    road to extinction. "I'm an amateur, but even I can see how the thoroughbred
    population has been dwindling year by year," he said. "Unless the government
    and real experts take action, the purity of these breeds will not last much
    longer."

    Experts at the ministry, while conceding that action must be taken, are more
    optimistic about the future. "I find it alarming that the government does
    not provide enough cash to stud farms and line breeders," said Rajabli. "But
    to talk about thoroughbred Karabakh and Dilbaz being close to extinction
    would be premature. These breeds have survived for centuries; they cannot
    just vanish into thin air."

    Kamil Piriev reports for Radio France Internationale and Samira Husseinova
    is a freelance journalist; both are based in Baku.

    To see photographs of two horses look at the web version of this story on
    our Caucasus website,
    http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/cau/cau_200403_222_4_eng.txt
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