The Broader Picture: Mister Major's Little Pony

'CONFOUND all presents wot eat]' said Jorrocks. And John Major, presumably, can relate to the sentiments of Robert Surtees's fictional huntsman. For a horse has been causing nagging embarrassment to our Prime Minister for much of the year. The saga started back in March, when the President of the Turkmenistan, Saparmurad Niyazov, came to London to talk politics. His visit coincided with the PM's 50th birthday, and to celebrate the happy event and further cement stable relations between Britain and the former Soviet republic, Niyazov gave Mr Major a horse. But not just any horse. The beast - a three-year-old colt called Maksad - is a representative of the rare and valuable Akhal-Teke breed, the pride and joy of Turkmenistan and part of the country's heritage.

Gift-horses are all very well if the recipient is heavily into the equine species. The Royal Family, for instance, has been bombarded with them over the years, with varying degrees of success. The Queen Mother was given a splendid racehorse, Bali Ha'i, on a tour of New Zealand; brought back to Britain, he produced a fairytale result by winning the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot. Burmese, the Queen's favourite trooping the colour mount for many years, was a gift from Canada in 1969. But the Prime Minister is happier in a grey suit than green wellies, and more at home at Lord's than Newmarket. Mr Major's new galloper had him stumped, and a long delay in bringing the horse, valued at around pounds 10,000, to Britain had folks back at the Turkmenistan stud farm where he was bred starting to champ at the bit.

However, things are moving forward. Maksad has begun his journey to his new home, and should by now be in Moscow. He will spend three months in quarantine in Russia before continuing his journey by road across Europe.

Luckily, his breed is renowned for its endurance. In 1935, a group of riders mounted on Akhal-Tekes completed the 2,580-mile journey from the Turkmenistan capital, Ashkhabad, to Moscow in 84 days. The marathon included some 600 miles of desert, much of it crossed without water. The horses were wrapped in heavy felt to protect them from the cold desert nights and the heat of the midday sun.

But what sort of life awaits Maksad next year, once he reaches Britain and recovers from his journey? The Akhal- Teke is one of the oldest breeds in the world. Horses like Maksad have been bred around the oases of the Turkmenistan desert for something like 3,000 years. Their qualities include toughness, athleticism, and a beautiful golden coat with a unique metallic sheen. There are only about 1,000 pure-bred ones in existence. One recent theory is that some Akhal-Tekes, captured as spoils of war in Persia, were, along with Arabian breeds, the ancestors of modern thoroughbred racehorses. Today, in its native country, the breed is raced locally, used as a working horse, for shepherding in inhospitable hills, and is crossed with others to provide sports horses for dressage and jumping.

The task of bringing Maksad to Britain has been given to the Epsom-based horseman Ron Meddes and his wife Reggie, regular and experienced livestock importers through their company the Russian Horse Society. Reggie said: 'Akhal-Tekes are the greyhounds of the horse world - very athletic, but a bit lean and mean. They are extremely intelligent and would die for someone they trust, but they do not suffer fools gladly. They are very striking, with their metallic coats, and I would imagine one would do well as a parade horse.'

The Foreign Office, whose brief it has been to sort Maksad out, confirmed that he would very likely join one of the Household Cavalry regiments for ceremonial purposes at the taxpayers' expense. Richard Morgan, a spokesman, said: 'I gather that President Niyazov dishes these horses out as he travels round the world. President Mitterrand got one as well. The delay has been to get the paperwork and suitable transport to Moscow sorted out. And, of course, Mr Major was delighted to receive such a lovely present.' -

(Photograph omitted)