I got to talk briefly to an Akhal-Teke breeder here in the PDX area (well, okay, she's from Hood River so about 60 miles and another microclimate away). Cool horses in their thought processes as well as their looks. The kind of horse that you ask, not demand, to do something, and give them space to process and think. Kind of like Lipizzans, Arabs, or performance-bred (i.e., doing something besides pitty-patting on the rail at shows) horses from other breeds (the Mocha girl comes from cutting and reining bloodlines and she's one of that mental ilk).

One of these days I want to check out the Nimiipuu's Palouse horse breeding program. I'd like to see what the Appaloosa/Akhal-Teke cross is like, both physically and mentally. Could be one hell of a performance horse...or a real PITA to deal with (smart, athletic horses who don't want to work can be real challenges. Fortunately, most of the smart, athletic horses I've encountered really really like their riding jobs).