The very popular anecdote for the origin of the Konik is that it descends from the last Polish wild horses kept in a game park in the 19th century. This story is very common and even repeated in some scientific papers, although the evidence for this scenario is very weak. I called it the “Konik myth”, and describe in this post why that story is actually very unlikely. Based on the historic and also genetic evidence, it seems that the Konik is nothing but a robust landrace with no close affiliation to alleged late-surviving Polish wild horses.
There are, however, four papers that exanimate morphological details in several wild equines and domestic breeds that provide some clues that, it may seem, there is some truth behind the myth of the Konik because it displays several primitive morphological traits that many other domestic horse breeds do not. Is it maybe not a myth after all? Let’s dive into these morphological studies.
Two of those papers concern the neck anatomy. The nuchal ligament lamellae attach to the cervical vertebrae C2 to C7 in equines such as the Przewalski’s horse, the donkey and the Grant’s zebra, and also in tapirs, suggesting that this is the basal condition for Equus [1,2]. In most domestic horse breeds observed the nuchal ligament lamellae attach from cervicals C2 to C5, with no attachments to C6 and C7. However, in two of four Konik individuals examined and one of one Bosnian Mountain horse, the lamellae attach also to C6 and C7 as in other equine species [1]. The authors consider both the Konik and the Bosnian Mountain horse “tarpan descendants”. As a reference for the “tarpan” ancestry of the Bosnian a book is listed, which I do not have access to. So I did google search on the alleged affiliations of the Bosnian to the European wild horse. It seems that there is the story that the Bosnian mountain horse descends from a mix of the “tarpan” (= the European wild horse, not those nebulous horses of the Russian steppe in the 18th and 19th century that were in fact called tarpan) and Mongolian horses. I do not know if there is any evidence for this story. Anyway, the authors conclude that the attachment of the nuchal ligament lamellae found only in those two breeds endorse the idea that these two breeds recently descended from European wild horses [1,2]. Later it was found that this condition is also present in the Australian Stock horse [2], therefore it is not limited to the two alleged “tarpan descendants”.
The other anatomical detail that is supposed to link the Konik to wild horses is found in the distal limb. The interosseous muscles II and IV are thin ligamentous structures in most domestic horses, while in the Konik and Bosnian Mountain horse they are strong chord-like bands. It has been found that this is also the case in all donkeys, Przewalski’s horses and Grant’s zebras examined, what suggests it is a primitive trait and the anatomy makes it likely that it serves a function [3,4].
Does this mean that there is truth behind the alleged recent wild horse ancestry of the Konik and the Bosnian Mountain horse? At first glance it may indeed suggest that. But this is not necessarily the case. Regarding the neck anatomy, the primitive condition was found only in half of the Koniks observed, while the other half had the domestic condition. Furthermore, the presence in the Australian Stock horse shows that it is not limited to the Konik and Bosnian Mountain horse. It might also be found other horse breeds that were not examined. About 20 domestic horse breeds were examined (the Exmoor pony and Icelandic horse among them), but other breeds that might be interesting in this context were not. I am particularly thinking of landraces such as the Mongolian horse or the Finnhorse and Latvian horse (which were recently found to partially descend from the Przewalski’s horse [5] and therefore might have some primitive anatomic traits), or the Vyatka horse or the Hucule (one study suggests the Konik and Hucule might be related [6]). Consequently, these primitive traits might be found in more landraces than just the Konik and Bosnian Mountain horse.
It also should not be forgotten that there is a chance that some or perhaps even all modern Konik lineages have introgression from the Przewalski’s horse. When Lutz and Heinz Heck carried out their “breeding-back” experiments, they crossed several pony breeds, also Koniks from Poland, with a Przewalski’s stallion [7]. After the Second World War, many Koniks from Poland were returned to Poland, including horses from the Heck brothers, which may have been part Przewalski’s horse. A rather strong hint for the Przewalski’s influence in Polish Koniks is the fact that some of them have short, erect manes (see here). I think the only explanation for that is Przewalski’s introgression. Koniks with upright manes are, among other locations, found at Popielno, the most important Polish Konik breeding site where most Koniks imported to other countries come from [8], including Dutch Koniks used in the studies cited above. A genetic test could bring clarification. In Germany, the situation is even more intransparent. On breeding sites such as the Wildpark Hardehausen, Heck horses were crossed with Przewalski’s horses once again to achieve upright manes, and since many breeders in Germany do not differentiate between Koniks and Heck horses, the situation is rather unclear. Now there are several herds of either Koniks or Heck horses in Germany with upright manes and a nebulous history, such as these here.
So introgression from the Przewalski’s horse might explain the primitive traits seen in the Konik. The fact that the primitive condition of the neck ligaments was found in only half of the Koniks examined might endorse this explanation.
Another possibility is, since the strong distal limb ligaments apparently serve a function according to the authors, that this primitive trait was never lost in the ancestors of Konik, Bosnian Mountain horse and whatever other landraces that might have them. So that this trait was retained rather than the result of recent wild horse introgression.
All in all, those studies do not necessarily suggest a recent wild horse ancestry for the Konik and the Bosnian Mountain horse. These primitive traits might also be found in other landraces that were not examined, and partly it might be explained by Przewalski’s horse introgression in the case of the Konik.
The Konik myth can only be true if 1. the horses kept at the Zamoyski game park were indeed wild horses (for which there is no direct evidence), 2. if those horses were indeed donated to the local farmers (for which there is only one dubious historic source and which is unlikely for historic reasons), 3. if there was still wild horse influence in the local farm horses after more than 100 years of breeding (which is unlikely as well). So the Konik myth is actually a less likely scenario than Przewalski’s introgression or other landraces/horse breeds which were not examined having the same primitive traits. More research including other landraces would have to be done in order to clarify that.
References
[1] May-Davis et al.: The disappearing lamellae: implications of new findings in the family Equidae suggest the loss of nuchal ligament lamellae on C6 and C7 occurred after domestication. 2018.
[2] May-Davis et al.: Rare finding of a full nuchal ligament lamellae with attachment points from C2-C7 in one Australian stock horse. 2019.
[3] May-Davis et al.: A primitive trait in two breeds of Equus caballus revealed by comparative anatomy of the distal limb. 2019.
[4] May-Davis et al.: Comparative distal limb anatomy reveals a primitive trait in 2 breeds of Equus caballus. 2019.
[5] Kvist & Niskanen: Modern Northern domestic horses carry mitochondrial DNA similar to Przewalski’s horse. 2020.
[6] Cieslak et al.: Origin and history of mitochondrial DNA linages in domestic horses. 2011.
[7] Heck: The Breeding-back of the Tarpan.
[8] Tadeusz Jezierski, Zbigniew Jaworski: Das Polnische Konik. 2008.
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