Spotted by Marshal Semyon Budyonny, this son of the stallion Arab obtained the first world record for the number of Olympic titles in the dressage discipline, with Soviet horseriders Sergei Filatov and Yvan Kalita.
His performance at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where he and Filatov won the individual gold medal in dressage, was highly regarded and has since become a benchmark in the discipline.
After retiring from competition, he was returned to stud in Kazakhstan by Budyonny and sired more than sixty foals, several of whom went on to join the Soviet dressage team in the 1970s and 1980s.
[7] According to the Kazakh media outlet Vox Populi, Absinthe began its dressage apprenticeship in 1955 at the Almaty riding school, where he was trained by Karim Assenov.
[11] Filatov utilized a long pole with a bar angle from the saddle while training Absinthe on the passage, substituting it for the horse's forelimbs to teach the movement.
[13]Мягкие длинные линии, лебединая шея, необычайная легкость и грация движений были свойственны [...].
Long smooth lines, swan neck, extraordinary lightness, and grace of movement were characteristic [...].However, Absinthe is criticized for having a model closer to the Thoroughbred and Trakehner than to that of a typical Akhal-Teke.
[19] The stallion is known for a stubborn character and difficult temperament, which was mentioned in the memoirs kept at the Central State Archives of the Republic of Kazakhstan, by K. Sh.
[20] Sergei Filatov discussed his experiences working with Absinthe in his 1962 book, Рим рукоплещет (Rome Applauds): В работе Абсент был послушен, как ребёнок.
И я никогда за всю свою работу с ним не наказал его строго.
[23] Olympic equestrian sports, particularly dressage, were dominated at the time by rather heavy European horses, the result of crosses between Thoroughbreds and warmbloods.
[24] Russian authors O. Kostikova and M. Ivanov noted that Absinthe was nicknamed the "Black Swan of the East" due to his remarkable lightness.
[25] Absinthe and his rider, Sergei Filatov, achieved significant victories during a period when the Soviet Union's Olympic equestrian dressage team was making considerable progress.
[27] Together with Soviet horse rider Sergei Filatov, Absinthe won the individual dressage gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
[17] The performance of Absinthe and Filatov, characterized by light riding, elicited many comments from the spectators, who are usually silent during dressage competitions.
Все было настолько четко, красиво, изящно и грациозно, что и самым придирчивым судьям мы не дали повода снизить нам балл – С. И. Филатов, Sergei Filatov[21] My faithful friend and partner walked perfectly, obeying my will completely, and not once did he allow himself to make an indistinct figure or to be inaccurate.
Arab (nicknamed Kazbek in the army) took part in the famous horse raid between Ashgabat and Moscow in 1935, after which he was presented to Marshal Budyonny.
[39] Ak-Bulak (or Akbulak, depending on transcriptions), a son of Absinthe born in Kazakhstan and closely resembling him, won the red rosette (the highest title) at the 1978 Soviet National Championship, ridden by the young Latvian horserider Gune Loja.
[10][38] According to the study by Victor and Jennifer Louis, Absinthe and Filatov's Olympic performance in 1960 remained a sporting landmark throughout the USSR for at least two decades.
[10] In 1975, a documentary film directed by Oraz Abishev and entitled Absinthe – the son of Arab and Bakara, was released by Kazakhfilm.
[7][13] The press of the time commented on the fact that no horse in the world had yet received such an honor, which Boris Valiev analyzed in hindsight as an offense against the horserider Sergei Filatov.
[13] According to several commentators, including Tatyana Livanova, author of numerous publications on horses, "the Absinthe represented by this monument is not at all like him".