August 23, 2007 @ 6:45 pm
Rare Konik Horse Breed
Konik means small horse in Polish. I recently came across some pictures of this rare breed and thought they were extremely pretty and had an interesting history. They are mouse grey in colour with dark manes and tails and zebra-type markings on their legs.
They are descended directly from the Tarpan, a wild European forest horse which survived in central Europe until the late 1800s when the last were captured in Poland, and then kept in captivity in zoos until the last died in 1910. However, around the time of World War 2, Polish scientists noticed that Tarpan-like foals called Bilgoraj Konik were being born to domestic ponies. Scientists have managed to back-breed over generations and recreate the extinct forest horse.
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