History
Wild horses have been present in Europe since the Pleistocene and ranged from Southern France and Spain east to central Russia. There are cave drawings of primitive pre-domestication horses in France and Spain, as well as artifacts believed to show the species in southern Russia, where a horse of this type was domesticated around 3000 BC.
The Tarpan horse died out in the wild between 1875 and 1890, when the last known wild mare was accidentally killed during an attempt at capture. The last captive Tarpan died in 1909 in a Russian zoo. An attempt was made by the Polish government to save the Tarpan type by establishing a preserve for animals descended from the Tarpan in a forested area in Bialowieza. In 1780, a wildlife park was established protecting a population of Tarpans until the beginning of the 19th century. When the preserve had to close down in 1806, the last remaining Tarpans were donated to local farmers and it is claimed that they survived through crossbreding with domestic horses. The Konik is claimed to descend from these hybrid horses. However, there is no evidence that the Konik is genetically different in any significant degree from other domestic breeds, and thus claims that is it a descendant of the Tarpan cannot be substantiated.
Read more about this topic: Tarpan
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