BOOK OF QUEENS

The True Story of the Middle Eastern Horsewomen Who Fought the War on Terror

BY PARDIS MAHDAVI

LOUISE, 1984

Louise fell in love not only with Maryam’s horses but also with the mountains and the sea of the Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan Provinces of the North. Tired of the dusty chaos of the capital, she yearned for fresh air and ached to spend her days riding, not in a ring, but through the forest and into the sea. It took three months to convince Narcy they should move, but once he agreed, Louise wasted no time creating a new life for them in the North. She had a new purpose, too: bringing the Caspian horse out of the paintings of history into the living present.

From what she could glean, these horses were stronger, smarter, and more reliable than any breed she had ever met before. A er training more than ve hundred horses in the United States, Louise thought she could anticipate the movements and personalities of every horse a er meeting them once. But the Caspians continued to surprise— pleasantly. They rarely bucked their riders or their packs. No matter how much weight Louise piled on their backs, they continued forward, not missing a single hoo eat, tripping, or deviating from a straight line.

Growing up in the United States, Louise had always taught new riders that the hardest thing to make an American Quarter Horse do was walk in a straight line. They always wanted to fall in to the center of an arena or pasture, favoring one shoulder or another. The main objective for the rider was to know when to anticipate the fall or deviation and correct it with leg pressure. But Caspians were di erent. They walked perfectly, rarely favoring one side or the other. Louise had to teach them a trick only once or walk a new road one time, and they would remember it. They were un appable. The more she got to know them, the more Louise understood why these horses had been the perfect animals to ride into battle, to conquer empires, to deliver their riders safely.

As far as she could tell, however, they had fallen out of favor in the 1900s as locals grew taller and larger horses came into fashion. Caspians stood no more than fourteen hands from the ground. As such, riders over ve foot ten would nd their feet dragging on the ground. Louise had experienced this herself the rst time she mounted Asghar at Maryam’s house. Because of this, she worried she was too heavy for the animal. But Maryam had shown her how to fold her legs and rest them in stirrups against his sides, or how to curl her legs at the knee and lean forward so she could rest the tops of her toes on the back of his hindquarters. With the right posture, anyone of any height or weight could ride a Caspian. And sitting atop them was a dream. No more choppy gaits like American Quarter Horses. This was like riding in a rocking chair, Louise thought. It reminded her of nights curled up in her mother’s lap on their favorite upholstered chair.

Everyone who met the small, mighty creatures fell in love with them. Word spread, and soon the most prominent families in Iran were asking for their own Caspians. Even Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of Mohammad Reza Shah, fell hard for the animals; he particularly loved that their lineage traced back to the glory of the Persian Empire. He declared them a national treasure, founded the Royal Horse Society of Iran (RHS), and proclaimed himself the patron and protector of the Caspian horse and its history. The history of a horse that led the greatest empires of all time— Persians, Greeks, Romans, Mongols— to conquer territories and expand their reach: this horse, it seemed to the royals, was the key to geopolitics.

In 1969, the Duke of Edinburgh visited the RHS and became the second royal to fall under their spell. Prince Philip had been visiting the region on annual scouting trips where he would purchase new breeds for his wife, the queen of England, who was an avid equestrian. When he heard about the Caspian horses— word had traveled to Europe via Turkey— Iran jumped to the top of his list. He told Louise and Narcy that he simply must have Caspians of his own and tried to persuade them to export a few to England. Louise was reluctant, but Prince Philip promised not only to take excellent care of them but also to promote their story worldwide. For a devoted conservationist, the idea was tempting.

It had become Louise’s mission to ensure that the Caspian horse, which she and others believed was the oldest breed on the planet, did not go extinct.

Prince Philip’s Caspians wouldn’t be the rst of the breed to reside abroad. In 1966, Louise had taken a dark- brown liver chestnut named Jehan to Virginia. The journey had been exhausting, both for Louise and for the stallion. But it had meant something to bring the Caspian to her birthplace, a piece of her heart where she had le some of her soul. Jehan would go on to father many partCaspians, bringing the breed’s legacy to the United States.

Prince Philip told Louise if she sold him the horses he wanted, he would start his own Caspian breeding program in the

United Kingdom. A er discussing with Narcy and exchanging telegrams with Maryam in Mashad, Louise nally agreed to his request. Between 1971 and 1976, Louise exported twenty- six Caspian horses of di erent bloodlines to England via a caravan that traveled through Turkey and Germany and then boarded a boat in France. With the support of the Duke of Edinburgh, these became the European Formation Herd, eventually breeding ve hundred Caspians for distribution across Europe. The Europeans fell in love with them almost at rst sight and took up the modern- day breeding program, as they were seen as the most reliable horses for training children. And for adventurous trail riders on the Continent, their sure- footed nature was unparalleled. The worldwide legacy of the Caspian horse was taking root.

From the United Kingdom, the horses made their way to Germany, Sweden, and then the Caribbean. Caspians were bred to Norwegian Fjord Horses, Paso Finos in the Caribbean, and, when they made their way to the United States, to American Quarter Horses.

The Iranians were not impressed with the expansion of Louise’s global mission. The crown prince was particularly angry, going so far as to accuse Louise of betrayal. In 1971, he ordered the Royal Horse Society to punish her and Narcy by taking their twenty- three remaining horses. They le Louise with only her stallion and a gelding, which meant she needed to nd a mare to keep her work alive. Always the picture of calm in the face of adversity, Louise became uncharacteristically distraught. It pained her to share the news with Maryam, and, as she wrote to her dear friend, “an emptiness occupies my organs.”

As soon as Maryam read Louise’s letter, she knew it was time to leave Mashad. The pendulum had swung again, and it was home that needed her most. Despite her daughters’ protests, Maryam immediately put her house on the market. It was not an easy decision. She worried still for her daughter Shokat, who, despite a seeming détente with her husband, still shrank away from him, folding her body in two or leaving when he entered a room. Ezzhat had birthed three children, two boys and a girl. The boys’ faces reminded Maryam of her father, while the girl was the spitting image of her mother. She adored being with them but was also growing homesick.

Ten years in the city had made Maryam restless. She was ready to go back to the life of soil, sand, and sea. In 1972, Maryam said good- bye to her children, saddled up her horses, and rode north.