Hucul pony
The
Hucul is a breed of
draft horse, originally from the
Carpathian Mountains. This heavy horse possess great endurance and hardiness. The breed is also referred to as the
Carpathian pony,
Huculska,
Hutsul,
Huţul,
Huţan or
Huzul.
Hucul ponies are usually calm and are used for both trail riding and pulling timber in otherwise inaccessible forested areas. They are brown, grey or dark grey.
The Hucul is arguably the most direct descendant of the Eurasian wild
horse Tarpan (now extinct). It is named after the small ethnic group of
Hutsuls. However, the horse breed is much older than the Hutsul people. The Huculs are probably depicted on the monuments erected by
Roman Emperors Domitian and
Trajan, as
Dacian draft horses. The breed was mentioned for the first time in written resources around 400 years ago (as the "Mountain Tarpan"). Unlike the Polish
Konik, the Hucul has been only rarely
cross-bred with domestic horses.
In the 19th century, the Huculs were used by the
Austro-Hungarian Army.
In 1856, the first stud farm was established at
Radauti,
Romania. Several bloodlines were established by the foundation stallions Goral, Hroby, Ouşor, Pietrousu and Prislop, and the horses were carefully bred to preserve the purity of these bloodlines.
In 1922, thirty-three horses were sent to
Czechoslovakia to establish a herd there which would become the Gurgul line.
World War II caused a severe decline in the number of Hucul horses in Czechoslovakia. After the end of the war, only 300 Hucul horses remained there. It was not until the early 1970s that breeders established an organization, Hucul Club, to prevent the extinction there caused by the declining number. In 1982 they established a stud book with fifty purebred animals and the goal of increasing the numbers in that region.
Thanks to the efforts of breeders, the world population of these horses now exceeds 1,000. Most of them live in
Poland,
Slovakia,
Romania, the
Czech Republic, and
Ukraine. Many
ponies in Europe have also Hucul blood.
Today, Huculs ponies are bred mainly in the
Bucovina region of Romania as well as
Hungary. In recent years the popularity of this bred has spread as far as
England.
*
Romania:
Lucina *
Poland :
Gładyszów,
Odrzechowa,
Siary,
Pszczółki *
Slovakia:
Topoľčianky *
Hungary:
Aggtelek*
Horse Breeds - The Hucul Pony*
Hucul or Carpathian Pony*
Orders, prizes, photos, Odrzechowa, Poland
