The One and Only

After the recent successful shows with her prized Akhal Tekes and Arabians and the winnings from her Thoroughbred Abaddon, Dara Black had more than enough to cover the costs of running both Obsidian Farm and Desert Sands Stud. It was a good thing she had excess wealth, for she began to hear rumors of a strange and almost mythical creature in the legendary sands of Turkmenistan: a white Akhal Teke.

At first, Dara had her doubts. Marcus White, her stallion manager and the co-operator of Desert Sands Studs, expressed his concerns as well regarding this 'white' horse. They both knew that Tekes could come in almost any color known to equids, but a solid white Akhal Teke was unheard of. Not a single one had ever been documented. Both Dara and Markus figured this stallion was a mislabel: a gray, or perhaps a perfectly colored cremello. The Akhal Teke was known to carry the sabino and splash genes...perhaps this one horse was a maximum expression of either gene? A sabino-white, or splash white? Dara didn't know for sure...and it was this uncertainty that led her to purchase a two way ticked to the capitol city of Turkmenistan: Ashgabat.

After landing in the foreign country, Dara immediately set herself up with an English speaking guide, who was also horse savvy. He had been a jockey riding Tekes in the Hippodrome for several years, and he knew the Teke better than anyone else. When Dara mentioned a white Akhal Teke, the man smiled and told her he knew where to take her.

The six hour car trip was over an unpaved, unmarked road and by the time Dara and her guide reached a small, unmarked village. Her guide asked her to remain in the vehicle while he asked around about the "spirit horse". Dara was dubious; she expected a white-gray; maybe a cremello or perlino, which were very common the Akhal Teke. After a few minutes, her guide returned to the car and beckoned her forth.

"The chief has the horse you are looking for." he said, his English heavily accented.
"Are you sure its a white horse and not a gray or cream colored animal?" Dara asked, frowning. The man shook his head.
"Come and see!"
Dara followed his footsteps to a round tent near the back of the village and was stopped just outside of it. A grizzled and older looking man spoke in the native tongue with the guide, then disappeared inside the tent. A moment later, he re-appeared, leading the most magnifcient animal Dara had ever laid eyes upon.

What she beheld was not a gray Akhal Teke. Nor was it a perlino, or a cremello. It was a dominant white named Dagastan...perhaps the dominant white was expressed in its maximum in the sabino or splash form...but if it had been a splash, its eyes would have been blue, and this stallion's eyes were dark brown, almost black. Not a single colored hair marred his pristine white hide. The metallic bloom on his coat reflected the sun and he literally glowed; the sight was painful to Dara's eyes and she had to shield them. Areas of pink could be seen beneath the colorless hair, which was another sign of the DW gene. Dark eyes, pink skin, white fur.

Dagastan had to be a TRUE dominant white!

And if that was the case...then this stallion was perhaps the only known dominant white Akhal Teke in existence.

Dara wondered if that color, that rare trait, could be brought back into the US. It was a daring thought...but what if she could buy this stallion? Would his proud owner relinquish him? She spoke to her guide about her thoughts and he grimaced. He asked the chieftain anyway. The answer was a curt 'No', backed up with an almost hateful glare. Dara moved to plan B. What if she could collect semen from the stallion and have it flash frozen and sent back to her Farm? Would the chieftain be alright with that?

The guide asked. The stallion's owner considered, then named his price. It would equal $50K US...almost everything Dara had to her name. She winced. It was almost outside her budget. She looked at the stallion again, at his proud carriage, his regal bearing, his kingly appearance, and she knew that she could not walk away from the deal of a lifetime.

If she couldn't have the stallion himself, she would take back with her the hope of re-creating him.

But there was that ominous 50% chance that the foal born would not be a dominant white. If that was the case, then her trip and her $50,000 would have been for nothing.

Dara took the risk, and agreed to pay the $50 grand. The semen was collected from the fairy-tale stallion, then he was hid away from prying eyes. That same week, Dara wired the money from her account to the guide's account, who transitioned the $50K into Turkmenistan currency.

That chieftain became a rich man, and Dara saw to it that the stallion's genes were flash frozen at a local Stud and sent back to the United States. After twelve days of being away from her home, Dara caught a plane back to the USA.

During her flight, she prayed hard that the dominant white gene would shine through when she artificially serviced one of her Teke mares. But which one did she choose?

Who had the honor of being the dam of the 2nd possible dominant white Akhal Teke in existence?
______________________________________________________________________________


I was doing some research on the Akhal Teke, and I kept running across the term that the Teke could literally be any color found in the horse.

That includes Dominant White, which is extremely rare and found in some breeds, including the Arabian, Thoroughbred, Camarillo White Horse, and a couple others. There is much debate as to what exactly causes the DW gene in horses, but it seems that there are several factors: 1) there is the Sabino pinto gene that can cause the sabino-white (solid white or nearly white with colored patches here and there); 2) splash-white, which can cause a horse to be solid white, but usually carries blue eyes; and 3) a freak mutant gene that pops up out of nowhere and causes white horses to be born from solid colored parents who have no DW genes in their bloodlines (this has happened with Thoroughbreds, which carry Akhal Teke blood, by the way)

What is known is that the DW gene has a 50% chance of being passed to its offspring, once it crops up. If the foal born is not white, it has not inherited the DW gene, and it fades out of that bloodline.

Soooo, with that research, I formulated an idea: what if the Akhal Teke produces dominant white horses, but its a freak mutation? What if studbooks mistakenly label true dominant white horses as 'gray' or 'cream'? The possibility is there...so I took the chance and made it happen!

Only in HARPG, right?!

This stallion is NOT in my stallion roster...but his offspring should be I have the genes, or rather, Dara does. Now I just need to choose which mare to breed too...