The Konik or Polish Konik, , is a Polish

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of small horse or pony. There are semi-

feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...

populations in some regions. They are usually mouse dun or striped dun. The Bilgoray, , of south-eastern Poland is a sub-type of the breed influenced by

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

and

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

blood; it is close to

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

. The extinct Sweyki or Schweike sub-type of

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

contributed to the development of the

Trakehner Trakehner () is a light warmblood breed of horse, originally developed at the East Prussian state stud farm in the town of Trakehnen from which the breed takes its name. The was established in 1731 and operated until 1944, when the figh ...

. The word "konik" means 'small horse'. It may be used in a wider sense to describe the Polish Konik and other similar breeds, among them the

Hucul pony The Hucul or Carpathian is a pony or small horse list of horse breeds, breed originally from the Carpathian Mountains. It has a heavy build and possesses great endurance and hardiness. The breed is also referred to as the Carpathian pony, Hucul ...

of the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

, the Polesian of

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

and the

Žemaitukas The Žemaitukas (plural: Žemaitukai, literally: ''little Samogitians, Samogitian'') is a historic horse breed from Lithuania. It may be classified as a pony, due to its relatively short stature (between 131–141 centimeters at the withers). ...

of Lithuania.

Etymology

The Polish word ''konik'' (plural ''koniki'') is the

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

of ''koń'', the Polish word for "horse" (sometimes confused with ''kuc, kucyk'' meaning "pony"). It means 'small horse'.

History

The Konik is a Polish

horse breed A horse breed is a selectively bred population of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a broader sense to define landrace animals of a common phenotype located within a ...

descending from very hardy horses from the

Biłgoraj Biłgoraj (, ''Bilgoray'', ) is a town in south-eastern Poland with 25,838 inhabitants as of December 2021. Since 1999 it has been situated in Lublin Voivodeship; it was previously located in Zamość Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located sou ...

region. These horses had a predominantly dun colour, but also

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

horses were present in the population. Some researchers claim these foundation animals were

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

s with

wild horse The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus Equus (genus), ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domestication of the horse, domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the Endangered species, endangered ...

breeding that had been sold to farmers by the zoo in

Zamość Zamość (; ; ) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. Zamość was founded in 1580 by Jan Zamoyski ...

in 1806, which were bred to local domesticated

draft horse A draft horse (US) or draught horse (UK), also known as dray horse, carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal hauling freight and doing heavy agricultural tasks such as plowing. There are a number o ...

s.Tadeusz Jezierski, Zbigniew Jaworski: ''Das Polnische Konik. Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Bd. 658'', Westarp Wissenschaften, Hohenwarsleben 2008, However, genetic studies now contradict the view that the Konik is a surviving form of Eastern European wild horse, commonly called the

tarpan The tarpan (''Equus ferus ferus'') was a free-ranging horse population of the Eurasian steppe from the 18th to the 20th century. What qualifies as a tarpan is subject to debate; it is unclear whether tarpans were genuine wild horses, feral domest ...

, nor is it closely related to them. The Konik shares

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

with many other domesticated horse breeds and their

Y chromosome The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in therian mammals and other organisms. Along with the X chromosome, it is part of the XY sex-determination system, in which the Y is the sex-determining chromosome because the presence of the ...

is nearly identical.Jansen et al. 2002: Mitochondrial DNA and the origins of the domestic horseCieslak et al. 2010: Origin and History of Mitochondrial DNA lineages in domestic horses During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, these horses were important transport animals for Russian and German troops and were called ''Panje'' horses. In 1923,

Tadeusz Vetulani Tadeusz Bolesław Vetulani (13 March 1897 – 24 February 1952) was a Polish agriculturalist and biologist, associate professor of Adam Mickiewicz University in animal husbandry. He was a pioneer of biodiversity research in Poland and conducted no ...

, an agriculturalist from

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, started to get interested in the'' Panje'' horses, a

landrace A landrace is a Domestication, domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural Environment (biophysical), environment of agric ...

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. In 1936, Vetulani opened a Konik reserve in the

Białowieża Forest Białowieża Forest is a large forest complex on the border between Poland and Belarus. It is one of the last and the largest remaining part of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to more ...

. He was convinced that if horses were exposed to natural conditions, they would redevelop their original

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological propert ...

. While Vetulani's experiments are well-known and widely publicized,Piotr Daszkiewicz (2003), "Konik Polski."
/ref> his stock actually had only a minor influence on the modern Konik population. However,

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

marked the end of Vetulani's "

breeding back Breeding back is a form of artificial selection by the deliberate selective breeding of domestication, domestic (but not exclusively) animals, in an attempt to achieve an animal breed with a phenotype that resembles a wild type ancestor, usually ...

" project. Part of his stock was moved to Popielno, where they continued to live in

semi-feral A semi-feral animal lives predominantly in a feral state but has some contact and experience with humans. This may be because it was born in a domesticated state and then reverted to life in wild conditions, or it may be an animal that grew up i ...

conditions. Popielno became the breed's main stud during the 1950s, but the herd was also preserved by buying animals from Germany. Between the two world wars, the German brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck crossed stallions of

Przewalski's horse Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered wild horse originally native to the steppes of Central Asia. It is named after t ...

with mares of the Konik horse, as well as mares of other breeds such as the Dülmener,

Gotland Russ The Gotland Russ or Gotland Pony is an old Swedish breed of pony or small horse. Until the twentieth century it was found only on the small island of Gotland on the south-eastern coast of Sweden. It is now distributed through much of Sweden and i ...

, and the

Icelandic horse The Icelandic horse ( ), or Icelandic, is a Horse breed, breed of horse developed in Iceland. Although the horses are smaller (at times pony-sized) than other breeds, most Breed registry, registries for the Icelandic refer to it as a horse. Th ...

, to create a breed resembling their understanding of the tarpan phenotype. The result is called the

Heck horse The Heck horse is a horse breed that is claimed to resemble the tarpan (''Equus ferus ferus''), an extinct wild equine. The breed was created by the German zoologist brothers Heinz Heck and Lutz Heck in an attempt to breed back the tarpan. Alt ...

.Bunzel-Drüke, Finck, Kämmer, Luick, Reisinger, Riecken, Riedl, Scharf & Zimball: ''Wilde Weiden: Praxisleitfaden für Ganzjahresbeweidung in Naturschutz und Landschaftsentwicklung''. Arbeitsgemeinschaft Biologischer Umweltschutz im Kreis Soest e. V. (ABU), Bad Sassendorf-Lohne, 2. Auflage, 2009. Other breeders crossed Koniks with

Anglo-Arabian The Anglo-Arabian, also known as the Anglo-Arab, is a horse breed that originated in France by cross-breeding a Thoroughbred with an Arabian. The Anglo-Arabian has origins tracing back to the Limousin Horse. It was officially recognized by Empe ...

s or the

to increase their quality as a riding horse.

Characteristics

The breed has a strong and stocky build, small head with a straight profile, and a neck set low out of the chest. The Konik has a deep chest, a thick mane, and the hair coat is blue dun, often colloquially called "mouse-gray". The Konik is short in height, ranging from .Stud-book of Origin of Konik polski breed
. Polski Związek Hodowców Koni (Polish Horse Breeders Association). Accessed 4 December 2013. Minimum heartgirth measurement is , and minimum cannon bone measurement for

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

s, for

stallion A stallion is an adult male horse that has not been gelded ( castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cre ...

s. Weight is .

Breeding centres and nature reserves

Konik horses rolling in sand Schoenower Heide north Germany

Koniks today are bred either in barns or open reserves and under human guidance. The Konik was bred for a larger shoulder height in past decades, to improve its value as a working horse. A more graceful appearance, especially of the head, was established, as well. Black and sorrel horses have been largely selected out, but still appear on occasion, as do

white markings Markings on horses are usually distinctive white areas on an otherwise dark base coat color. Most horses have some markings, and they help to identify the horse as a unique individual. Markings are present at birth and do not change over the ...

. The simultaneous management of Koniks in both barns and reserves made it possible to compare the health and behaviour of the horses under different circumstances. For example, hoof diseases and hay allergies are more common in Koniks raised in barns than in reserves. In Poland, Koniks currently live on nature reserves at Popielno,

Roztocze National Park __NOTOC__ Roztocze National Park () is a national park in Lublin Voivodeship of southeastern Poland. It protects the most valuable natural areas of the middle part of the Roztocze range. Its current size is , of which forests occupy 81.02 km ...

, Stobnica Research Station of the

University of Life Sciences in Poznań The University of Life Sciences in Poznań (, literally "University of Nature in Poznań") is a higher-education institution in Poznań, Poland. It officially gained university status on 11 April 2008. Its previous name was ''Akademia Rolnicza i ...

. They are bred in controlled conditions at a state stud at Popielno,

Sieraków Sieraków () is a town in western Poland with 8,768 inhabitants (2012). Located by the Warta River, it is situated in the Międzychód County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Sieraków is known as a holiday destination with well-developed touris ...

. Private breeders currently own 310

s and 90 stallions; the state studs own 120 mares and 50 stallions.

Oostvaardersplassen, the Netherlands

As it is claimed to phenotypically resemble the extinct tarpan, the Konik has also been introduced into

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

s in other nations. The Netherlands has multiple natural reserves spread over the country with (semi-)feral Konik horses. One of the first places were the Konik horse was introduced was the

Oostvaardersplassen The Oostvaardersplassen () is a nature reserve in the Netherlands, managed by the ''Staatsbosbeheer'' (state forestry service). Covering about in the province of Flevoland, it is an experiment in rewilding.Oostvaardersplassen is discussed, for e ...

reserve, where the biggest herd of free-ranging feral Konik horses lives in the world. In 1983, 20 Konik horses were introduced in the reserve, but due to the fact that the horses have no natural predator in the reserve, the population increased rapidly and at a faster rate than was expected. The horses in the reserve are feral and by Dutch law it is prohibited to feed them or to interfere in their population size. In 2011 the herd consisted of 1150 Konik horses and in November 2017 this number reduced to 1050 horses, while the area of the reserve is meant for a maximum population of approximately 300 horses in order for the natural reserve to provide the horses with enough food. This overpopulation and harsh winters led to the starvation and death of many horses in the reserve, with a peak of 30% of the population in the winter of 2012-2013. The Dutch citizens were outraged by the neglecting approach of

Staatsbosbeheer Staatsbosbeheer, founded in 1899, is a Dutch government organization for forestry and the management of nature reserves. Staatsbosbeheer currently oversees over 250,000 hectares of land in the Netherlands. Usually this land is open to the public ...

, and a debate about possible alterations of the laws on interference with feral animal populations in Dutch reserves started. In 2019 a few hundred horses got transported to reserves in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

. However, the population still continues to increase and as of October 2020 the Oostvaardersplassen reserve was home to 540 Konik horses, while there are no other reserves left to transport the horses to. In order to control the population size, the Province of

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and newest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

is considering to administer anticonception to the Konik horses. Furthermore, around 200 Konik horses were brought to slaughter in 2021.

Etymology

History

Characteristics

Breeding centres and nature reserves

Oostvaardersplassen, the Netherlands

References

Further reading