Konik

The konik (or konik polski ) is small a very rustic Cheval of Polish origin , pointing out a pony, with half-savage. The word " konik" is a diminutive of " cheval" (" kon ") for the Polish language. Some koniks preserved wild characters their prehistoric ancestors, of which the dress and a dark line traversing their back.

In 1936, the professor Tadeusz Vetulani of the University of Poznan University started to seek to reconstitute the extinct race of the horses Tarpan S starting from Koniks having preserved characters considered to be primitive. These horses are used for the ecological management of many parks and natural reserves, because of their rusticity.

Natural reserves

Judged genetically very near to the disappeared wild European horse, the Tarpan, of a light weight, it was in particular introduced in the Netherlands to manage great reserves such as the Oostvaardersplassen by playing its part of large herbivore maintaining the networks of clearings and opened landscapes, with the stags and other animals (Aurochs reconstituted, bovines of the Heck race which do not require fodder in winter).

With Maastricht, in the Netherlands, in 1995, in the reserve “of Kleine Weerd”, on a tape of 12 Hectare S (100 m X 1 km) they graze along the Meuse whose banks were renaturées (reconstitution of floodplains). This zone is opened with the public, which is simply informed not to try to approach or touch the horses. Of Koniks were also introduced in Lithuania, in the United Kingdom, in France following the success of the first programs.

Physical characteristics

Height shoulders: 134 cm
Circumferences: 168 cm

Population in Poland

In private stockbreeders: 310 mare, 90 standards
public Herds: 120 mare, 50 standards

Centers of breeding

Natural reserves: Popielno, National park of Roztoczanski, and agricultural Academy of Poznan
Breedings: Popielno, Sierakow

Random links: