The Majesty of the Horse: An Illustrated History. Tamsin Pickeral
is most commonly cited as rediscovering the breed when he observed them on the edge of the Gobi Desert, picking their way through the Tachin Schah mountains in 1879. Przewalski was given a Taki skin by the local Kyrgyz people, and he in turn gave the skin to the zoologist J. S. Poliakov, who was the first to give the breed its scientific description and named it Equus ferus przewalski. As news of the existence of this wild breed spread, it became a sought-after specimen for collectors, which later proved to be of great significance for the breed’s survival.
In 1882, four Przewalski horses were captured by Russian naturalists in eastern Dzungaria close to the Gobi Desert, and in the following few years more horses were caught, including thirty-two for the Duke of Bedford. In 1902, the first pair of Przewalski horses were shipped to New York for the New York Zoological Society. The capture of these Przewalski horses and their subsequent arrival in zoos and private parks in Europe occurred at an opportune moment; the horses had been on the brink of extinction, and all living Przewalskis today are descended from approximately thirteen of those caught. The last Przewalski living in its natural habitat was seen in 1968 in western Mongolia—the small, prehistoric horses had been hunted into extinction in the wild.
Though Przewalski horses still existed in captivity, they were hard to breed in this environment, and by the 1970s the numbers of horses in captivity were dangerously low, prompting a move to reintroduce the Przewalski to its natural environment and return the horse to its roots. Several release programs were implemented, including one by the Przewalski Horse Reintroduction Project of China, who released a group into the Kalamely Mountains in the Xinjiang region of China in 1985.
Another process to save the Przewalski horse was begun in the late 1970s, with the formation of the Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski Horse (FPPPH) by Jan and Inge Bouman in Rotterdam, who organized a careful breeding plan of horses from different captive populations and developed a computerized studbook. Over time, the FPPPH established a number of semi-reserves in the Netherlands and Germany where the horses could be kept in large areas in semi-wild conditions while still being carefully monitored. In 1990, after several years of searching, deliberation, and international diplomacy, the Hustain Nuruu area of Mongolia was agreed upon as the right place for the Przewalski reintroduction project, and two years later, the FPPPH and a dedicated breeding program from Askania Nova, Ukraine, combined to release two groups of Przewalski horses back into the wild. The area was designated a national park in 1997. Thankfully the reintroduction of the important Przewalski has been successful, and in 2008 the breed was reclassified from being “extinct in the wild” to “critically endangered,” a significant achievement.
Although the Przewalski horse has suffered a tumultuous history and survives in small numbers, its relative the Mongolian horse thrives across the steppes of Central Asia and has played a key role in the development of many horse breeds through Asia and Europe. This small, tough horse may lack beauty and refinement, but it makes up for this with its striking constitution and the enormous influence it has had on other horse breeds by passing along its tremendous stamina and hardiness. Like the Przewalski, the Mongolian is primitive in appearance, often with a heavy, coarse head, and is notably stocky. The horses, which play a central role in nomadic life on the steppes, are bred and kept in large herds and are perhaps the ultimate of versatile breeds, used for draft purposes, riding, racing, meat, milking, and sports.
TARPAN
PREHISTORIC – POLAND, RUSSIA – EXTINCT IN TRUE FORM
HEIGHT
Up to 13.2 h.h.
APPEARANCE
A heavy head with a convex profile and long ears that angle slightly to the outside. Short neck, deep chest, flat withers, and a long back with a sloping croup. Shoulders are well conformed and sloping, and legs are long, fine, and notably strong.
COLOR
A primitive dun or grullo, with a dorsal stripe, black lower legs, and often zebra markings.
APTITUDE
Riding, light draft
THE PREHISTORIC CAVE PAINTINGS in Lascaux, France, depict, with astonishing detail, two very different types of horse. One type strongly reflects the characteristics of the Asiatic Wild Horse (Przewalski); the other type, seen in a striking procession of three fine-limbed, elegant horses, bears much in common with another of history’s important breeds, the Tarpan.
The Tarpan (Russian for “wild horse”) occupies a central role in the development of horse breeds and is widely considered to be a closer relative to the modern horse than the Przewalski. Despite their physical differences, the two breeds have occasionally been confused, primarily because both wild horses roamed across a slightly similar area. The Tarpan spread across western Russia and throughout Eastern Europe and formed the basis for the chariot-driving stock of ancient cultures, from the Greeks to the Egyptians, Assyrians, Scythians, and Hittites. The prepotency of its influence can be seen particularly in the light horse breeds of Eastern Europe and Eurasia, whereas the Przewalski’s influence spread through Central Asia, down into China, and east to Japan. In particular, the Tarpan can be connected to the magnificent but diminutive Caspian horse, though perhaps of greater significance is the link believed to exist at a founding level between the Tarpan and the desert breeds of Central Asia, and possibly even the Arabian. In Europe, the Tarpan’s influence can clearly be seen in the Portuguese Sorraia—which in turn formed the basis for the majestic Iberian breeds—and in the Romanian Hucul and Polish Konik.
The Konik is the closest descendant of the Tarpan, to which it bears a strong physical resemblance. In fact, it is largely to the Konik that the modern-day Tarpan owes its existence. Like the Przewalski, the Tarpan in its pure form was hunted to extinction—the last wild Tarpan was accidentally killed in 1879 during a capture attempt, and the last Tarpan in captivity died in a Russian zoo in 1909. Several attempts have been made to breed a reconstituted Tarpan, including one by the Polish government, which established breeding herds from stock that most closely resembled the Tarpan. These herds were primarily made up of Konik ponies, and in 1936 Polish professor Tadeusz Vetulani used these Koniks to establish a program to try to re-create the Tarpan. Around the same time, Berlin Zoo director Lutz Heck and Heinz Heck of the Munich Zoo also began a breeding regimen using Konik, Icelandic, and Gotland mares with a Przewalski stallion. Eventually a fixed type of Tarpan physicality was established, with the horses referred to as Heck horses. A Heck stallion and two mares were imported to the United States in the 1950s, where they now have a dedicated following. A further horse of Tarpan characteristics, the Hegardt, was developed in the United States by Harry Hegardt (and previously Gordon Stroebel) based on crossing Mustangs with Tarpan-like ponies, also probably of Konik descent.
Despite the Tarpan’s importance, it was not actually recorded and described until around 1768, when German naturalist Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin (1744–74) captured four of the wild horses in Russia. He provided a detailed account of its appearance, which was further recorded in a drawing of a Tarpan colt in 1841. In 1912, Helmut Otto Antonius, director of the Scholbrunn Zoological Gardens in Vienna and one of the first scientists to recognize the importance of the Tarpan in the development of modern domestic horse breeds, named the Tarpan Equus caballus gmelini in recognition of Gmelin’s description; now the breed’s correct scientific name is accepted as Equus ferus ferus.
HUCUL
ANCIENT – POLAND, ROMANIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, SLOVAK REPUBLIC – COMMON
HEIGHT
Up to 14 h.h.
APPEARANCE
Robust in build with a rectangular body frame; short, strong, clean limbs; and an attractive head with large, kind eyes. Strong back, with a well-formed, muscular croup. Heavy through the neck