Herodotus writes:
Horse breeding in Iran is of such importance that each year, the number of horses in all herds must reach a minimum of one hundred and twenty thousand horses, to be used for the cavalry.
Johannes Hertel writes of Cyrus the Great’s royal command to raise pure blood horses and take part in horse races.
The green pastures of the Zagros mountain range of Iran, the way the power of Emperors and dynasties depended at the time on the horses at their disposal, and the way of life of the region’s people alongside the absolute best horses of Asia – which were brought regularly to the central Kingdom as gifts from all over the empire – gave way to the formation of a horse that acquired global acclaim as the Nisean Horse.
In 580BC, Cyrus the Great comes to power in Persia and makes the Nisean the imperial horse of Persia, dedicating it to Ahura Mazda and Mithra, and sacrificing it to Mithra on December 25 and New Year’s Day. Cyrus is said to have drained a river for drowning one of his white stallions.
The First “Pony Express” began in Persia. The riders would go the entire day and change off at the end. Herodotus said this about them: “Neither snow, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
The people of the Dareshuri tribe whether as per Herodotus’s account resided in the Zagros region from the Parthian’s times, or by account of modern researchers came down and settled into the regions of Persia from Caucasia, definitely had access to the Nisean horse. They were renowned in the ancient times and are to this day for ownership and structured breeding of beautiful pure blood horses, with characteristics which still tell a tale of their ancient lineage coming from the well sought after Niseans from China all through Rome.
This breed of horses, which closely resembles the Assyrian Oriental types now in the British Museum, has never under the observation and care of the Dareshuri tribal chiefs been mixed with any other type of horse. [International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds][Donyaye Asb Magazine, Issue no. 24, p. 27]
The main factors that have contributed to the formation of the breed, and it’s distinction from other Iranian breeds of horses has been the pure blooded nature of the initial foundation horses used for breeding and the effects of natural selection due to the ecological life style and the paths of yearly nomadic migrations of the Dareshuri tribe. [Bijan Farhang Dareshuri]