Young free range Konik horse

The Konik is a Polish horse breed descending from very hardy horses from the Biłgoraj region. Koniks look like the now extinct Tarpan (ancient horse). Nowadays the Konik lives on free range nature reserves in Poland, Latvia, UK and The Netherlands. This picture was taken in a reserve near Amsterdam that has a group of them. The aim is to keep them wild, so they can live the way a wild horse should. Beginning in the 1930s, several attempts were made to develop horses that looked like Tarpans through selective breeding, called "breeding back". The breeds that resulted included the Heck horse, the Hegardt or Stroebel's horse, and a derivation of the Konik breed, all of which have a primitive appearance, particularly in having the grullo coat color. Some of these horses are now commercially promoted as "Tarpans."