Koniki

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History

Free-ranging koniks in the Oostvaardersplassen The Konik is a Polish horse breed descending from very hardy horses from the Biłgoraj region. These horses had a predominantly dun colour, but also black and chestnut horses were present in the population.[4] Some researchers claim these foundation animals were hybrids with wild horse breeding that had been sold to farmers by the zoo in Zamość in 1806, which were bred to local domesticated draft horses.[4] However, genetic studies now contradict the view that the Konik is a surviving form of Eastern European wild horse, commonly called the tarpan, nor is it closely related to them. The Konik shares mitochondrial DNA with many other domesticated horse breeds and their Y-DNA is nearly identical.[5][6] During World War I, these horses were important transport animals for Russian and German troops and were called Panje horses.[4] In 1923, Tadeusz Vetulani, an agriculturalist from Kraków, started to get interested in the Panje horses, a landrace of Biłgoraj and coined the name “Konik” (Polish for “small horse”), which is now established as the common name for the breed. During the 1920s, several public and private studs were created to conserve this animal.[4] In 1936, Vetulani opened a Konik reserve in the Białowieża Forest. He was convinced that if horses were exposed to natural conditions, they would redevelop their original phenotype.[4] While Vetulani's experiments are well-known and widely publicized,[7][8] his stock actually had only a minor influence on the modern Konik population.[4] However, World War II marked the end of Vetulani’s "breeding back" project. His stock was moved to Popielno, where they continued to live in semiferal conditions. Popielno became the breed’s main stud during the 1950s, but the herd was also preserved by buying animals from Germany.[4] Between the two world wars, the German brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck crossed stallions of Przewalski's horse with mares of the Konik horse, as well as mares of other breeds such as the Dülmen pony, Gotland pony, and the Icelandic horse, to create a breed resembling their understanding of the tarpan phenotype. The result is called the Heck Horse.[9] Other breeders crossed Koniks with Anglo Arabians or the Thoroughbred to increase their quality as a riding horse.[4]

Wild horses ancestors were Polish tarpans similar to those discovered in Asia by the Russian explorer Nikolai Przewalski in 1876 year Przewalski's horse . They lived until the end of the 17th century in the wooded areas of eastern Poland , Lithuania and Prussia . In the vicinity of the Bialowieza Forest survived until 1780 , when it was taken and placed in the zoo of Counts of the Zamoyski near Biłgoraj . Around 1806 , due to poverty, they were distributed to nearby peasants . In 1914, Jan Grabowski and Stanislaw Schuch described small peasant mussels from Bilgoraj [1] . "The first attempts at conducting an organized primitive horse breeding , called Polish horses, were undertaken in Poland in 1923, at the State Stud of Janów Podlaski and in 1928 at the Dworzyszcze Folwark, belonging to the Krzemieniec Lyceum " [1] . Professor Tadeusz Vetulani introduced the name "Polish horse", he also proposed the existence of a forest tarpaulin . Thanks to his efforts, a horse with typical tarpana characteristics was started in the reserve conditions in the Białowieża Primeval Forest [1] . In September 1939 the herd numbered 40. During World War II, Germany stole horses and transported them to the Reich for tests conducted by German researchers [2] . After the end of the war, the rebuilding of the farm with the participation of a few horses scattered around the country and reindeer from Germany (outside the Białowieża) began. In 1949 a stud in Popielno was opened . In 1952 there was also a group of horses from Białowieża. In 1955 the stud in Popielno was taken over by the Polish Academy of Sciences , followed by the interrupted experiment by prof. Vetulani [1] [3] . Recently a different vision for the genesis of Polish horses has been published [4] [5] [6] .