Sacred horses : the memoirs of a Turkmen cowboy

354 Pages·1994·12.8 MB·English

by  Maslow, Jonathan Evan

Jonathan Maslow
SACRED
HORSES
The Memoirs of
a urkmen
1
Cowboy
R A N D O M H O U S E
N E W Y O R K
Copyright 0 1994 by Jonathan Maslow
Map copyright 0 1994 by Amta Karl and Jim Kemp
rights reserved under International and Par-American Copyright
Conventions. Published in the United States by Random
House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by
Random House of Canada Lunited, Toronto.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maslow, Jonathan Evan.
Sacred horses: the memoirs of a Turkmen cowboy/Jonathan Maslow.
p. cm.
"Published in the United States by Random House, Inc.,
New York and simultaneously in Canada by Random House
of Canada Limited, Torontow-CIP t.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-679-40875-4
1. Turkmenistan-Description and travel. 2. Maslow, Jonathan
Evan-Journeys-Turkmenistan. 3. Horses-Turkmenistan. I. Title.
DK934.M37 1994 915.8'50484~20 93-11382
Manufactured in the United States of America
Book design by 1. K. Larnbert
24689753
Fist Edition
F O B L I L I Y A

I do not portray being; I portray passing.
-Michcl dc Montaiqnc
Fill up your time, to escape nostalgia and regret,
and travel the earth, for perhaps it is your heaven.
-Sinbad thc Sailor

Acknowledgments
The malung of this book over several years would have been impossible
without the support and assistance of many inhviduals and institutions,
only some of whom are named within its pages. Therefore, I would Me
to acknowledge and thank my silent partners in h s e ndeavor: The John
Simon Guggenheirn Foundation, for initially hnding my study of the
Russian language; my Russian teachers Svetlana Guo Hong Xu, LAan
Giverts, Mark and Marina Maymind, and my dear Professor Merle
Barker of Rutgers University/Carnden; my equestrian guru, Ilona Uj-
helyi, and my riding philosopher and companion, Professor Betsy
Bowden of Rutgers University/Camden; my wonderful Cape May
County librarians Marie Jones, Tom Leonard, and Robert Geddis, who
have never rehsed me a single query or request for materials, no matter
how arcane or outlandsh; my colleagues at the Louisiana Scholars
College in Natchitoches, Louisiana, where I started and finished writing
h s b ook; and Northwestern State University, which gave me a tempo-
rary home whde writing.
I would also like to thank new hends made during h sp roject, whose
advice and encouragement helped enormously: and Gaha Fet;
Phil and Margot Case; my fellow delegation members fiom Al-
buquerque, Sally Alice Thompson and Professor Greg Gleason of the
University of New Mexico; and Steven Weeks, for holding down the
fort.
Heartfelt thanks go, too, to my editor at Random House, my rock,
always there with the right answers to my most ridiculous questions, and
to my agent, Kathy Robbins, along with her user-friendly staff.
For their able assistance in the photographing and filming of the
Akhal-Teke horses, I must express my deep appreciation to my old friend
Edde Marritz for all his camera help; Moira Ratchford, who survived the
expedtion to Turkmenistan with flying colors; Peter Rolufs for his help
in putting together the filming kit; Charles Cox for his fantastic faithhl-
ness to the documentary project; Dina Levitt and Claire Downey for
their professional succor to a fly-by-night filmmaker; and Peter Blum of
Technisphere and Bob Manners of Camera Stop for technical assistance
beyond the call. Finally, a posthumous salute to my dear friend Marion
Zunz, who helped me shape my journeys to Central Asia, saw me off at
the airport, and who never failed to believe in me for a single second.
Hail and farewell: We will travel together on that dstant shore.
Con tents
Acknowledgments xi
Map xiv
I. Sofarawayistan 1
11. The Delegation 29
111. In the Shadow of Bucephalus 215
IV. Afterword 329
Selected Bibliog~apby 335
Index 339
1 R A N