State Stud Farm of Talas

Behind a wooden paddock rail, a glossy chestnut mare and a cream mare stand with three pale foals on bare earth, between old brick stables with tin roofs, with tall cypress-like trees and dry mountains behind — Akyel mares and foals in a paddock at the State Stud Farm of Talas

The State Stud Farm of Talas is a government horse-breeding farm in the Talas District of the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ), about 15 kilometers east of Talas. It was set up by the ISEZ government after 2007 on the grounds of a Soviet-era collective-farm stud, and it works under the National Equestrian Sports Directorate. It keeps breeding stallions and mares of the Akyel breed and a smaller herd of Chongtor horses, and it holds annual auctions of young horses of both breeds.^[1] Governor Erlan Toktarov has been its best-known patron. Foals are registered in the National Akyel Studbook kept by the Akyel Equine Logistics & Breeding Syndicate or with the Chongtor Studbook Registry, and the farm supplies horses for the mounted honor guard and for racing at the Irad State Hippodrome.^[1]^[2]

References

^ National Equestrian Sports Directorate (2022). Annual Report: State Breeding and Racing Programs. Talas.
^ Central Asian Equine Studies (2020). 'Breeding for the State: Horses and Patronage in the ISEZ.' Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 40–58.