Equestrian Life September 2017 Issue

feature
Photos courtesy of Colin Barker
lot of people became interested in
receiving information about them.
In 1878, Louise Firouz dramatically
contacted the family to ask whether
they could rescue more of her
foundation animals, which were
being preyed on and killed by wolves
on the Turkoman Steppes, where
she kept the horses. With a harsh
Iranian winter coming and the
wolves likely to get even hungrier,
there was little time to waste. The
family quickly agreed and soon
another stallion and six mares were
making their way to the UK, arriving
to much media interest in their story
of survival.
During the late 1970s and early
1980s, Caspians were exported from
Hopstone to Australia and New
Zealand for the first time, where
they went on to produce some
impressive competition results from
a relatively tiny Caspian population.
In 1975 the Caspian Horse Society
was formed, to record breeding
and ensure adherence to Louise
Firouz’s Breed Standard, promoting
the breed via memberships and
enlarging the ‘work force’. The
Caspian Stud UK exhibited Caspians
at the Royal Show continuously
from 1972 to 1990, when more studs
were formed. The International
Caspian Society was formed in the
late 1990s to co-ordinate the stud
book and unify the preservation and
promotion of the Caspian by several
new overseas societies.
You can now see the Caspian Horse
at Horse of the Year Show
The first multi-Caspian display
ever seen at Britain’s greatest
international equestrian gathering
– the Horse of the Year Show - will
feature twenty pure-breds and
include four part-bred Caspians.
The mixed team of stallions, mares
and geldings will demonstrate just
a few of the strengths of a breed
once highly valued by the Kings
and Queens of the ancient Persian
Empire but thought to have become
extinct.
The performances will take place
once a day from Wednesday to
Friday and twice a day on Saturday
and Sunday during HOYS week.
The Hopstone Stud’s stallion
Maroun (who came over in the
first flight from Iran as a four
month old foal) is on the near side,
looking at the camera and Prince
Philip’s stallion Rostam is on the
far side. They were trained and
driven by the Head Coachman,
Mr Ernie Long of the Royal Mews .
The stallions were wearing leather
harness and drawing a miniature
Landau (presented to Queen
Victoria by the Saddlers’ Guild), on
the occasion of the Finals of the
Queen’s Cup at Windsor Great Park
in 1978, in a Parade of Rare and
Foreign Breeds before the Queen
and the Royal Family. Photo
courtesy of Sally Anne Thompson,
of Animal Photography Ltd.
16 September 2017 Equestrian Life