Our hotel gave us the best exchange rate. Armed with manates to the markets we went! Personally I love going to the fabric store, they have fabulous material that is great for a photo shoot background, or table cloth, put over a hay bale for a jump....

Walking down the isles looking for pieces to make horse jewelry is never ending fun. The hotels have great gift stores and the carpet stores are just amazing.

As long as you put your wool in the freezer once you are home, the moth are fluttering in every corner of the city it seems.
The spices and nuts and dried fruit are to die for.
Turkmen saffron is dirt cheap, Iranian is still cheap by our standards.
Then there is the walk back till you find a good spot to hitch hike your way back to the hotel.

Eating is a big deal in our family, and since my husband has never been,...here's the scoop!
breakfast in our deluxe hotel Yulduz was very worldly with a buffet that has cereal to hot items including pizza.
in previous hotels less star rated we would have more traditional breakfasts like a kind of oatmeal that was so delicious I miss it...the eggs on the other hand taste and look just like our hens eggs at hone who run around free all day and eat a variety of seeds and insects.

Lunch is the big meal of the day. Everyday we would have lunch in a ballroom size room, tables already set with different salads, a plate of greens,tomatoes and hebs and a type of mild feta cheese, breads and a plate of desserts.
After eating salads you get a bowl of clear broth soup with potato and mutton, then the plov is served, rice and carrots and mutton very nicely spiced.
To end with a little dish of ice cream.

The last Sunday in April came early this year. It is the opening day for the Spring races. The front of the stadium is decorated, carpets laid out, dancers in place, students line the streets flag in hand to welcome the president while singers sing!

The winners of the horse races get a new car, same for the jumpers and endurance riders.

This was the day of the beauty contest. The horses and handlers are all dressed up and looking fabulous!
And the president of Turkmenistan rides a stallion and makes it rear for the crowd....
Seriously...America could learn something here...maybe the elections should be won by how pretty your rear was...

There also was a Turkmen wedding, the procession was huge, horse riders, a crowd, and a camel with the bride, the president declared them wed and the groom took the bride on a horse and they rode off together! 

On Friday we started the day with the opening of a new housing development behind the big race track facility just outside Ashgabat. There were beautiful dances performed, every year the costumes are more eye catching. After the president went trough we could walk around and go inside to have a look if we wanted.

After a while we started to wander towards the race track and visited stallions in the barn and then came upon the mares and foals!

Show jumping was on the agenda today! It is not a national sport here, in fact no one jumps except a hand full of people. Last year did not go well and the Asian games are coming up.
At last help has been on the way....from Germany ....2 weeks a month....Katarina Jacob has been a brave woman to take this on. Yes, brave, because the horses have no formal training and neither have the riders. It used to be "chase the horse" over a jump, no matter the speed, head up high, no turning, knocked a jump over?...go again with all the poles on the ground! Yes, because there was no ring crew. Amazing no one broke their leg.
not only has Katarina to correct bad riding practiceses, combined on horses that are used to be man handled is almost like a loose loose situation.
But she managed...most riders had their leg under them and some were almost on the bit, horses were jumping again and 3 even managed to take the short turn to gain time.
​my hat goes off to her!

We also got to see some "pre" races where we were given a book written by the president. The Italian cavalry was present and made the line up for the president look very pretty each day!

Everything is televised, this year Chinese TV was hard at work!

Every year a handful of breeders and Akhhal-Teke admirers get invited to Ashgabad for the international Akhal-Teke Association conference and race day celebrations.
​First on the agenda was the Association meeting where some people give a nice speech and the president is thanked for having us here.

I loved the woodwork...hence the picture...basically the meeting is the same every year, and it is already decided it will be held in Ashgabat again next year.
After that we went to the opening ceremony of the Expo, at a new location this year. Most booth are from the TM government, and others are businesses that have been invited to participate.

The TM natural museum had the animals of the country on display, I visited the museum in 2000 and missing are the tiger and zemzem lizard, they may be extinct.

The circus did a small performance for us! They are amazing as usual!

During my short stay in Holland we went to the hunt competition at the Royal palace in Soesdijk.
i did not even know such a competition existed!
Teams are in pairs of 2 and in the morning horses are trotted out in front of the jury to be evaluated for conformation and gaits. Then they have to finish a course much like eventers do on XC day except they have to open a gaite and close it and the water crossings are natural ponds, quite muddy and deep water!
In the end the 12 best horses get chosen and ridden by the juries who check their galloping abilities and obedience.
after the winners were announced there was a little hunt demonstration with the dogs.
What a fun day!!!

For those who slowed down to a walk the water complexes were easy...

But for those entering at gallop...better have a set of dry clothes!
​no horse got hurt by the way.