Catching up on Turkmenistan’s love affair with Akhal-Teke horses: on November 21, 2015, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov issued a decree requiring all Akhal-Teke horses to be named at birth. Further, according to Radio Free Europe, “The new order makes it illegal to change an Akhal-Teke horse's name during its lifetime. The name of each horse must remain as recorded at birth in the studbook, or genealogical record, kept for the breed by the government.”
The decree also requires that when an Akhal-Teke horse dies, it must be given a “proper burial”. This is mostly a formality since Turkmen who have owned horses, such as farmers, have for centuries given them burials as though they were family members, somewhere on their farmlands in a simple ceremony with the farmer, his family, and friends. No longer. The decree requires that the burial must be “in an area designated by local authorities and in the presence of an official, who will register the death. What kind of area is to be designated is not immediately clear.”
Catching up on Turkmenistan’s love affair with Akhal-Teke horses: on November 21, 2015, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov issued a decree requiring all Akhal-Teke horses to be named at birth. Further, according to Radio Free Europe, “The new order makes it illegal to change an Akhal-Teke horse's name during its lifetime. The name of each horse must remain as recorded at birth in the studbook, or genealogical record, kept for the breed by the government.”
The decree also requires that when an Akhal-Teke horse dies, it must be given a “proper burial”. This is mostly a formality since Turkmen who have owned horses, such as farmers, have for centuries given them burials as though they were family members, somewhere on their farmlands in a simple ceremony with the farmer, his family, and friends. No longer. The decree requires that the burial must be “in an area designated by local authorities and in the presence of an official, who will register the death. What kind of area is to be designated is not immediately clear.”
Ain't bureaucracy wonderful?
http://www.rferl.org/a/turkmenistan-dont-change-horse-names/27438392.html
Fred Patten