TEHRAN—A festival dedicated to the beauty of the Turkmen horse breed was held in Bojnurd, North Khorasan province on Friday after three years halt over the outbreak of the coronavirus.

A selection of 35 horses from different Iranian provinces, including Tehran, Golestan, Semnan, and Khorasan Razavi, took part in the festival, the provincial tourism chief has said.

Besides promoting the region as a tourist destination, the festival also aimed to encourage horse breeders, CHTN quoted Ali Mostofian as saying on Saturday.

The festival is annually held in North Khorasan, one of the world’s largest genetic reserves of pure Turkmen horses, the official added.

The Turkmen horse is noted for endurance, bravery, smartness, and slender body. Many locals believe that breeding such horses is one of the toughest jobs in the world.

Such animals are dominantly found in the pasturelands of Turkmen Sahra, a region sandwiched between Iran and Turkmenistan.

Iran and Turkmenistan seek to put forward the Turkmen horses and their safeguarding practices as a candidate for inclusion in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Local travel insiders believe that traveling in North Khorasan is gaining momentum by degrees, creating lucrative opportunities for the tourism industry.

According to Lonely Planet, most foreign tourists pass straight through North Khorasan in transit between Mashhad and Gorgan, but if you have time to explore, it's worth diverting south from the capital, Bojnurd, towards Esfarayen, famed for its wrestling tournaments, the remarkable citadel of Belqays and the partly preserved stepped village of Roein some 20km north.

ABU/AM