The Karabakh fast horse is the symbol of Azerbaijan

 Alexandr Letov, especially for Vestnik Kavkaza

"When you see a horse - bow!" These words of Rasul Gamzatov can serve as an epigraph of how the Caucasians treat horses. It was Herodotos who noted that fine horsemen live in the Caucasus. The culture of horse breeding takes its roots here from these times. As was the case throughout the Caucasus, a special, sacred attitude towards the horse was observed in Azerbaijan. The horse was perceived as a symbol of honor, generosity, success and victory. For a long time in Azerbaijan one would have judged a man by his arms and his horse. There are several known cases when horses stood at the grave of a dead horseman for a few days, and then themselves died from anguish.

At all times, the Karabakh horse breed was widely known. Experts say that the Karabakh horse is one of the oldest breeds in Asia. For its improvement, Roman horses were involved. And in all later times the breeders worked to improve the horse, which is called keglyan. They achieved the greatest success in the 18th century, when the Karabakh horse actually experienced a rebirth. Already at that time in Karabakh there was a stud farm, owned by the Shah of Iran. After the assassination of Nadir Shah in 1747, this stud farm became the property of the founder and first ruler of the Karabakh khanate, Panah Ali Khan. Historians claim that this ruler was a good specialist in horses and appreciated the Karabakh breed. Half a century later, in 1797, after the assassination in Shusha of the other Iranian Shah - Agha Mohammad Khan - the best producers of his herd remained on the Karabakh stud farm.

During the conquest of the Caucasus, the Russians were surprised not only by the bold and daring deeds of horsemen, but also by the restiveness of their horses. Karabakh horses were not afraid of the enemy shots and would fly towards artillery redoubts. This courage so impressed the military that in the war of 1812 the Karabakh horse was involved on the front lines in the battle with the army of Napoleon. The keglyan showed itself particularly well in World War I - many warriors of the Caucasian Cavalry Division were fighting precisely on these horses.

Caucasian soldiers cared for their horses as much as for themselves. They would feed their horses not with grass, but with seedless raisins. A feature of these horses was the staying power in the mountains. Karabakh horses were beautiful and graceful. People would compare them with goitreds and gazelles. A distinctive feature of the Karabakh horse was its golden color, for which they were called in Karabakh "sarylyar", which means "golden". There were almost no grays or blacks among them. Many experts argue that the Karabakh horse looks more advantageous than the famous Arabian horse.

In the 19th century the Karabakh horse was successfully collecting prizes at many exhibitions. In 1867 at the exhibition in Paris the golden bay Karabakh stallion Khan got a large silver medal. Two years later, at the Second All-Russia Exhibition, Karabakh stallions received silver and bronze medals. In those days, it was not considered appropriate that the Karabakh breed should be improved with the help of full-blooded Arabian horses. Moreover, according to breeders, the exterior of the Karabakh horse was more correct than that of other breeds in the Middle East.

The keglyan influenced mounted horse breeding in Russia, including the improvement of the Don breed. European breeds of horses were also improved thanks to the keglyan: in France, England and Poland. In Karabakh there were many stud farms at those times. In the middle of the 19th century, for example, in Shusha alone there were eleven stud farms, with 250 stallions and 1450 mares. Stud farms were also located in other places of this mountainous region. But the two World Wars had a negative impact on this unique breed - it began to disappear.

In the middle of the 20th century the Azerbaijan authorities started to think about reviving the Karabakh breed. In 1949 in the Agdam region a stud farm was opened, where 27 of the most typical mares of the Karabakh breed were brought, they were selected by special commission in other regions of Azerbaijan. One version is that at the opening of the farm there only one  thoroughbred keglyan stallion named Sultan had miraculously survived. Specialists started breeding a new type of Karabakh horse with a large admixture of Arab horse blood. And the result was rather good – the 20th century keglyan became much faster in racing than its historical predecessor. By the 1970s, horse breeding in the Agdam region was flourishing again.

The war in Nagorno-Karabakh in the late 20th century threatened the disappearance of the unique breed of horses. Agdam is translated as "white roof" and is famous for its magnificent buildings with white roofs. The gunmen who seized the beautiful city with rich industry virtually destroyed it, together with the prosperous stud farm. There are ashes at the site of the farm now, there are ruins in place of the city. In the past 20 years neither the people nor the unique horses have been able to go back there. The gunmen destroyed the hard work of many decades overnight.

For over 20 years, this territory with a small population has remained a victim of global politics, which shares the principle of "divide and rule." The organizers of geopolitical artful design do not want justice to happen, which presupposes the restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. But the people returning to their homes might recover this flourishing site. As long as people are sitting here in the trenches, beautiful mountain meadows remain to be mined. The frozen conflict has frozen the fates of people. But the Nagorno-Karabakh territory could have been turned from a territory of devastation to one of pride for the entire Caucasus – so great is its potential.

The Karabakh horse still remains the pride of the Caucasus. Recently, the Azerbaijani authorities and scientists rescued it once again. There is a serious approach to the problem here. Last year there an order of the President of Azerbaijan was issued on additional support for Karabakh breed horses. The Ministry of Agriculture of the republic was allocated two million manats from the Presidential Reserve Fund. At this point in Azerbaijan 20 breeding companies are operating, which contain about 200 thoroughbred horses, which Mikhail Lermontov described in his poem "The Demon":

"Lathered under him, his bold

charger with that rare hue of gold,

Karabakh's brave offspring, ears with tension 

pricked, all taut in apprehension

snorts as he squints down

in the gloomon the careering's river spume”