 There are estimates that as many as 30% of the horses in the Ashgabat hippodrome were not purebred.When the first horse minister of newly-independent Turkmenistan, Geldy Kyarizov, a lifelong advocate for the Akhal-Teke and former chair of the International Association of Akhal-Teke Breeders, began utilizing DNA to establish an Akhal-Teke studbook, he uncovered the pattern of adding in Thoroughbred blood.His decision to go public with this information was viewed as a threat to the profits of the horse-breeding establishment and he fell out of favor with the Turkmenistan government, and in particular, then-President Saparmurat Niyazov.