The celestial horse, bred in France.

The Akhal-Teke is among the oldest riding-horse breeds in the world, its lineage kept for more than three thousand years in the oases of present-day Turkmenistan, where it remains a national emblem. Prized in Antiquity and revered to this day across the Middle East, it left its mark even on the Thoroughbred, through the Byerley Turk, one of the breed's three founding sires, held to have been a Turkmen horse.

Its signature is a coat like no other. The hollow, near-tubular structure of each hair scatters and amplifies light, giving the famous metallic sheen, a living mirror born of the Karakum desert. Longiline, fine-headed and remarkably enduring, the Akhal-Teke is known as a one-person horse: sensitive, intelligent and deeply loyal to the rider who earns its trust.