Caspian Horse

Origin: Persia - Elburz Mountains, Caspian Sea.

Height: 10-12hh.

Color: Gray, brown, bay, chestnut.

Character: Gentle, tractable and quick-witted. It is an ideal mount for a small child in rough country.

Physique: In type more like a miniature horse than a pony. It is Arab-type head, with small ears and large, prominent eyes. Fine bone, short back, and tail set high and carried gaily. It has a fine and silky mane and tail. Sure-footed, quick on its feet, and has remarkable jumping ability.

The Caspian is thought, though not proven, to be the native wild horse of Iran which was used by the Mesopotamians in the third millennium BC and coveted by the Achaemenians and Sassanians for ceremonial purposes from the 5th century BC to the 7th century AD. For more than 1,000 years there-after this animal was believed to be extinct, until in the spring of 1965 a few Caspians were found pulling carts in the coastal towns on the Caspian Sea and grazing along the shoreline. Comparative bone and blood studies have been carried out and the great similarity of size, head structure, and slimness of bone has made researchers optimistic about tracing a connection between the Caspian of today and the ancient miniature horse of Mesopotamia.

Although bones of wild horses have been found in Mesolithic cave remains near Kermanshah in ancient Media, the area described by Greek writers as the homeland of the small horse, no miniature horses are to be found there now. Records suggest that some time during the last thousand years tribes from Kermanshah were exiled to Kalar Dasht on the northern slopes of the Elburz Mountains, and that these tribes took ponies with them.