the tomahawk kid
tarpan
Just a 5 minute drive down the road from where we live is Redgrave and Lopham Fen which is the largest remaining example of the ancient valley fen system of North Suffolk which lay along the valleys of the Little Ouse and Waveney.
Valley fens have suffered a dramatic decline throughout Europe because of drainage and people's use of water. In the UK there are only 43 valley fens left. Of all eco-systems in the UK, fens are one of the most valuable botanical resources, with a large range of plant species, including many that are uncommon and declining and several that are already rare. We spent an hour or so walking there yesterday and were lucky enough to come across the wild horses that they have there. The horses are modern Tarpans called konik polski which means small horse in Polish. Koniks are very manageable and very efficient browsers and grazers. They are at home in the wettest of conditions and can graze in permanently wet conditions without health problems. They are very hardy and are used to wintering out of doors in their native Poland where temperatures regularly drop to below -14 C. Their husbandry requirements are minimal, since they are rarely ill and wounds heal quickly, although they occasionally require worming, hoofcare and some preventative medicine such as immunisation against tetanus. They have a higher fertility than domestic stock, with easy births.
The horses have successfully eaten their way through areas of the fen which had been left unmanaged for years.
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The Tarpan is a prehistoric wild horse type. The Tarpan ranged from Southern France and Spain eastward to central Russia. Cave drawings of Tarpan horses can be found in France and Spain, and artifacts showing this breed can be found in Southern Russia where this horse was domesticated by Scythian nomads in about 3000 B.C.
The original wild Tarpan died out during the late 1800's. The last Tarpan horse died in a Russian game preserve at Askania Nova in 1876. When their natural forest and steppe habitat was destroyed to make room for more people, they came into conflict with farmers who did not want the wild Tarpans eating their crops or stealing their tame mares.
The Polish government created a preserve for animals descended from the wild Tarpan at a forest in Bialowieza. Over the years this herd has developed more and more Tarpan characteristics. Today this breed is sometimes referred to as the Polish Primitive Horse and the modern Tarpan is a genetic recreation of the original wild breed.
Heinz and Lutz Heck, two German zoologists working at the Tierpark Hellabrunn (Munich Zoo) in Germany believed that all living creatures were the result of their genetic make-up and that genes could be rearranged like the pieces of a puzzle to recreate certain vanished species. Only breeds that still had living descendants could be recreated because those living breeds would be a source for genetic material.
Several European pony breeds had descended from the prehistoric Tarpan. Primarily the Heck Brothers selected Polish Koniks, Icelandic Ponies, Swedish Gotlands and Polish Primitive Horses from the preserve in Bialowieza.
Mares from these breeds were then mated to Przewalski stallions because the Heck brothers felt that the blood of the wild Przewalski would serve as a catalyst to draw out the latent Tarpan characteristics dormant in these more modern breeds. The first bred back Tarpan, a colt, was born May 22, 1933 at the Tierpark Hellabrunn in Munich, Germany.
The Tarpan is mouse dun or grulla in color. This means that the body is a smoky gray color, with the face and legs being darker than the body. The mane and tail are flaxen, but dark in the center where the dorsal stripe passes through. They stand between 13 and 13.2 hands tall. The mane is semi-erect. The head is large, with massive jaws and thick neck. The back is short and strong, with very low withers. The hooves are dark and very tough, never requiring shoes.
tarpan
Just a 5 minute drive down the road from where we live is Redgrave and Lopham Fen which is the largest remaining example of the ancient valley fen system of North Suffolk which lay along the valleys of the Little Ouse and Waveney.
Valley fens have suffered a dramatic decline throughout Europe because of drainage and people's use of water. In the UK there are only 43 valley fens left. Of all eco-systems in the UK, fens are one of the most valuable botanical resources, with a large range of plant species, including many that are uncommon and declining and several that are already rare. We spent an hour or so walking there yesterday and were lucky enough to come across the wild horses that they have there. The horses are modern Tarpans called konik polski which means small horse in Polish. Koniks are very manageable and very efficient browsers and grazers. They are at home in the wettest of conditions and can graze in permanently wet conditions without health problems. They are very hardy and are used to wintering out of doors in their native Poland where temperatures regularly drop to below -14 C. Their husbandry requirements are minimal, since they are rarely ill and wounds heal quickly, although they occasionally require worming, hoofcare and some preventative medicine such as immunisation against tetanus. They have a higher fertility than domestic stock, with easy births.
The horses have successfully eaten their way through areas of the fen which had been left unmanaged for years.
*****************************************************************************
The Tarpan is a prehistoric wild horse type. The Tarpan ranged from Southern France and Spain eastward to central Russia. Cave drawings of Tarpan horses can be found in France and Spain, and artifacts showing this breed can be found in Southern Russia where this horse was domesticated by Scythian nomads in about 3000 B.C.
The original wild Tarpan died out during the late 1800's. The last Tarpan horse died in a Russian game preserve at Askania Nova in 1876. When their natural forest and steppe habitat was destroyed to make room for more people, they came into conflict with farmers who did not want the wild Tarpans eating their crops or stealing their tame mares.
The Polish government created a preserve for animals descended from the wild Tarpan at a forest in Bialowieza. Over the years this herd has developed more and more Tarpan characteristics. Today this breed is sometimes referred to as the Polish Primitive Horse and the modern Tarpan is a genetic recreation of the original wild breed.
Heinz and Lutz Heck, two German zoologists working at the Tierpark Hellabrunn (Munich Zoo) in Germany believed that all living creatures were the result of their genetic make-up and that genes could be rearranged like the pieces of a puzzle to recreate certain vanished species. Only breeds that still had living descendants could be recreated because those living breeds would be a source for genetic material.
Several European pony breeds had descended from the prehistoric Tarpan. Primarily the Heck Brothers selected Polish Koniks, Icelandic Ponies, Swedish Gotlands and Polish Primitive Horses from the preserve in Bialowieza.
Mares from these breeds were then mated to Przewalski stallions because the Heck brothers felt that the blood of the wild Przewalski would serve as a catalyst to draw out the latent Tarpan characteristics dormant in these more modern breeds. The first bred back Tarpan, a colt, was born May 22, 1933 at the Tierpark Hellabrunn in Munich, Germany.
The Tarpan is mouse dun or grulla in color. This means that the body is a smoky gray color, with the face and legs being darker than the body. The mane and tail are flaxen, but dark in the center where the dorsal stripe passes through. They stand between 13 and 13.2 hands tall. The mane is semi-erect. The head is large, with massive jaws and thick neck. The back is short and strong, with very low withers. The hooves are dark and very tough, never requiring shoes.