Flames Over Persepolis

Louise Firouz, the renowned horse breeder who rediscovered the Caspian horse, has died in Iran. Although still very rare, the breed (which DNA analysis has demonstrated to be the likely ancestor of Arabians and other eastern breeds -- and thus, by extension, thoroughbreds) was recognized and revived by the American-born Firouz, at enormous personal cost due to the political situation in Iran. Although pony-sized (between 9-12 hands), the Caspian is a small horse, rather than a pony; similar horses appear in ancient near eastern art dating back to 3000 BCE; no less an authority than King Darius the Great (reigned 521-486 BCE) featured similar horses on his cylinder seal (now in the British Museum). They also appear in a frieze of Lydians bearing tribute to Darius on the monumental eastern stairway of the Apadana, the great hall at Persepolis (Pārsa, to the Persian kings), begun by Darius and completed by his son Xerxes. Even today, their diminutive size and early maturity are not the only unusual biological aspects of the Caspian; they also have an extra molar and other distinctive skeletal characteristics that set them apart from modern horse breeds. Although they can breed as early as 18 months, mares often do not come into heat again until their current foal is about a year old; that fact, combined with inconvenient politics, has contributed in no small way to their endangered status. Ensuring the future of this ancient breed would be a worthy tribute to Louise Firouz; without Caspian horses and thousands of years of careful breeding, we would not have a potential Triple Crown on the line in Big Brown.