| The Caspian Pony was believed to have been | | | | period. A seal in the British Museum shows King |
| extinct for more than a thousand years. It was | | | | Darius riding in a chariot drawn by Caspian type |
| rediscovered by Zoologists in 1965 and found | | | | horses and there are other artefacts of the |
| roaming along the shores of the Caspian Sea and | | | | same period depicting similar small horses. |
| in the foothills of the Elburtz Mountains in northern | | | | Detailed scientific examination has revealed that |
| Iran. It was often found pulling carts in the coastal | | | | certain characteristics do not match those of |
| towns, an occupation well suited to this pony's | | | | other horses, The Caspian has an extra full-sized |
| gentle, quiet nature and its outward characteristics | | | | molar on each side of the upper jaw; a scapula |
| of a diminutive horse. | | | | that is a different shape from other horses and a |
| The Caspian Pony is believed to date back to the | | | | slightly different formation of the three parietal |
| ancient miniature horse of Mesopotamia, used by | | | | bones in the head. |
| the Mesopotamians from the third millennium B.C. | | | | Since the rediscovery of the Caspian efforts |
| until the 7th century A.D. when it was thought to | | | | have been made to safeguard its future by |
| have become extinct. Bones have been | | | | careful breeding programmes. It is found in |
| excavated in Iran that point to the existence in | | | | several European countries, Australia, New Zealand |
| the area of a very similar small horse at that | | | | and in the USA. |