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This page was designed to show you a variety of beautiful examples and to identify some really great similarities between todays horses and those from our ancient past. We hope
you enjoy what you see and that you will visit regularly. We especially hope you will want one of these for yourself, or be interested in breeding and help us to bring back their numbers. |
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Above left is an ancient example of an extinct Heavenly Horse. The rider is obvious mounted with a hunting bow. We have renamed our modern day reproductions (on the
right)Tiger Horses, because like their ancestor were once used to hunt the Siberian tiger.
No doubt the horses were also hunted by Tigers and man alike.
Indo-Europe still farms thousands of head of horses as table yield and at the foot of the Altai Mountains where pony sized horses with Appaloosa spots are kept, Farmers are now introducing draft horses into the
mix for larger size. The advantage of the Altai cross is they have proved to be disease resistant too.
Comparing ancient photos and clay horses unearthed
from their thousands of years old burial tombs, you will enjoy the remarkable likeness we are extracting for our modern day Tiger Horses.. |
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(right) Annandale's Storyteller is a modern day version of the now extinct Tiger Horses from the Heavenly Mountains district on the Chinese/Siberian border. We used
Storyteller to kick-start the Tiger Horse breed into the 21st century. He has many sons and daughters now carrying on our important work. |
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In the beginning, ie 1992, Victoria Varley went looking for modern day horses that closely resembled the ancient horses she had seen exhibited in antique paintings, and bronze sculptures
from burial tombs. A most remarkable discovery was made at a Museum in Seoull, South Korea where she discovered the amazing resemblance between Annandale's Pepper Stepper (below left) and the gaited horse (below right)
depicted in a tree bark carving. Annandale's Pepper Stepper is now registered as Tiger Horse #1 |
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(above) You will notice the incredible likeness between the modern day foal on the left and the ancient tree bark carving on the right. The caption in the museum referred to the
carving as a Heavenly Horse as it was carved on the bark of Birch, a tree found only near the foot of the Heavenly Mountains in Siberia. It is thought that while the Shaman and his horse died far from home, they were
nevertheless given a dignified and ceremonial burial. Eventually uncovered by archaeologists in one of three mound tombs near Seoull, South Korea, the exciting discovery included the bones of both Shaman and horse,
together with this tree bark carving and a gold crown from which dangled tiny gold leaves. One can imagine the sparkle as the gold leaves swayed back and forth and the Shaman travelled far and wide doing good works, on
his beloved horse. |
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(right) These foals are further examples of the antique connection to Heavenly or "Tiger Horses" from Siberia. They are exotic in the extreme and possess a 4th or "middle" gait, mimicking the examples shown in ancient art. The foal on the left is Annandale's Storyteller at 6 months of age, his companion to the right is Annandale's Pepper Stepper. These two colts were largely instrumental in founding the Tiger Horse Breed of today.
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Storyteller is a "Ghost Horse," while Pepper Stepper is a spotted roan. Ghost Horses are born white and tend to be homozygous which means they inherit two copies of the same coat
spotting gene and pass one copy to their foals. When Ghosts are bred to solid colored horses, the results can be exotic in the extreme. Of course breeding a Ghost Horse to another spotted horse, ensures all sorts
of beautiful results. These two types vary from one another, in their ability to perform the middle gaits, It is a mystery waiting to be solved by future generations of Tiger Horse breeding |
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(below left) One of thousands of life sized clay horses, unearthed recently in China by archaeologists.
Take a look at Annandale's Storyteller on the right and Storyteller's
son Annandale's Ghost Story beneath the clay horse. There can be no doubt that they are all closely related. |
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START AT THE TOP!
START WITH ANNANDALE |
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