Help save one of the rarest horse breeds in the world:
the Kyrgyz Chaar Horse
The Chaar horse nearly disappeared. Shaped by centuries of nomadic life in Central Asia, this rare spotted breed came close to being lost forever. Today, We're working to bring them back.
Not a reconstructed breed. Not a concept. A living lineage, shaped by centuries of nomadic life in Central Asia.
The Chaar is a native spotted horse, forged by the land, the climate, and the people who rode alongside it for generations. No breeding programme created it. No registry invented it. It simply survived, until it almost didn't.
Today, more than 70 Chaar horses lives at Chaar ranch, with new foals arriving each season. A lineage that nearly vanished is being rebuilt, one horse at a time.
From 4th to 14th of July 2027
Join the 2027 Chaar Expedition
Once a year, we ride into the high summer pastures to visit the herds where they roam. A rare, small-group journey into living nomadic culture. Places are limited.
Spotted Stories:
News & Updates
Foal updates from the steppe. Stories of nomadic culture. Dispatches from Kyrgyzstan. Follow the progress of the breeding programme and the people behind it.
Read our latest stories >
True Appaloosa: The film that started it all
“True Appaloosa”, also known as “The Secret Horse: Quest for the True Appaloosa”, is a documentary directed and produced by Conor Woodman and co-produced by Munarbek Kuldanbaev.
The film brings together filmmaker Conor Woodman, Appaloosa breeder Scott Engstrom, and Kyrgyz horse breeder and researcher Munarbek Kuldanbaev on a journey into the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
The Appaloosa is one of the world’s most recognisable spotted horse breeds. Its modern history is closely associated with the Nez Perce people of North America, who became renowned for selectively breeding horses with strength, speed, endurance and distinctive spotted patterns.
But the story of the spotted horse may reach much further back.
In Central Asia, horses known as Chaar have long been found among the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Their distinctive spotted coats raise an intriguing question: could there be a connection between the spotted horses of Central Asia and the Appaloosa of North America?
This question lies at the heart of True Appaloosa.
Follow the journey through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and discover the story for yourself.
The story continues…
The journey documented in True Appaloosa became the starting point for an ongoing effort to preserve and revive the Chaar horse in Kyrgyzstan.
film True Appaloosa available on
with multiple language subtitles
