The Žemaitukas (plural: Žemaitukai, literally: ''little Samogitian'') is a historic horse breed from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It may be classified as a

pony A pony is a type of small horse, usually measured under a specified height at maturity. Ponies often have thicker coats, manes and tails, compared to larger horses, and proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier , thicker necks and s ...

, due to its relatively short stature (between 131–141 centimeters at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

). Known from the 6–7th centuries, it was used as a war horse by the Lithuanians during the

Northern Crusades The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Church, Catholic Christian Military order (society), military orders and kingdoms, primarily against the paganism, pagan Balts, Baltic, Baltic Finns, ...

and is hailed in Lithuania as part of the state's historic heritage. Its origin is uncertain; it is related to the Estonian Native and the

Konik The Konik or Polish Konik, , is a Polish list of horse breeds, breed of small horse or pony. There are semi-feral populations in some regions. They are usually dun gene, mouse dun or primitive markings, striped dun. The Bilgoray, , of south-e ...

. The breed contributed to the foundation of the

Trakehner Trakehner () is a light warmblood breed of horse, originally developed at the East Prussian state stud farm in the town of Trakehnen from which the breed takes its name. The was established in 1731 and operated until 1944, when the figh ...

. Once popular, the breed was brought to the brink of extinction by changing agricultural demands and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. As of 2010, the total population is estimated at 400 individuals.

History

Known in written sources since the 6–7th centuries, the Žemaitukas became famous as an excellent war horse during the

. During the centuries, the breed was influenced by Tatar, Russian, light Polish, and other horses. Once widespread, the breed went almost extinct three times.

19th century

In the 19th century, new agricultural machinery required taller and stronger horses. Therefore the horses were crossed with the Trakehners, Arabians, and

draft horse A draft horse (US) or draught horse (UK), also known as dray horse, carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal hauling freight and doing heavy agricultural tasks such as plowing. There are a number o ...

s, threatening survival of purebred Žemaitukas. The breed was saved by the Ogiński family, who established Žemaitukas breeding societies in

Raseiniai Raseiniai (; Samogitian dialect, Samogitian: ''Raseinē'') is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the A1 highway (Lithuania), Kaunas–Klaipėda highway. History Grand ...

, Plungė, and Rietavas between 1881 and 1890. The Ogińskis popularized the breed and exhibited it at the Paris International Agricultural Show in 1900 where the horses won two gold medals and one silver medal.

20th century

At the end of

, the Germans took all Žemaitukas horses from the Gruzdžiai stud farm. A single stud was found in 1958 in Užventis. The stud was transferred to the Vilnius State Stud Farm, where a new generation of Žemaitukas horses was bred.

After USSR's dissolution

A new challenge was presented by the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

and rapid de-collectivization in 1990. Horses that belonged to the

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

es (collective farms) were distributed to private owners, who often showed little interest in the survival of the breed. In 1994, only 30 adult individuals remained. However, the Vilnius State Stud Farm preserved its horses and remains the major breeding center. As of 2010, it had 98 Žemaitukas horses.

Breed characteristics

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

blood was added during the 19th century, giving the horse an Arab-type head, including the characteristic dish-shaped Arabian profile. The infusion of Arabian blood created two subtypes of the Žemaitukas: those with Arabian ancestry were considered suitable for riding, while the other, more closely related to the indigenous horses, was better adapted to farm work. After

, the distinction was muted. With limited crossbreeding with North Swedish Horse, a deliberate effort was made to increase the size and bulk of the animals so that they could be used for both riding and draft work. The ponies are said to be hardy, possessing excellent stamina, disease resistant, and displaying a willing temperament. It is now a multi-purpose breed; it is ridden, used in farm work, and crossed with lighter and larger breeds to produce sport horses. The horses are usually a dun color and often display the primeval dorsal stripe, but they may also be brown, bay, black, or

palomino Palomino is a equine coat color, genetic color in horses, consisting of a gold coat and white mane (horse), mane and tail; the degree of whiteness can vary from bright white to yellow. The palomino color derived from the breeding of Spanish hor ...

. The Žemaitukas generally stands high, placing it among the taller pony breeds. As with other domestic animals around the world, studies have been carried out on this horse's genetic heritage, since it may possess unique characteristics. Maternal DNA sequencing indicated that one of its

haplotype A haplotype (haploid genotype) is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent. Many organisms contain genetic material (DNA) which is inherited from two parents. Normally these organisms have their DNA orga ...

s is similar to an old haplotype present in horse breeds of the North East European area. In 2004 study, scientists discovered

allele An allele is a variant of the sequence of nucleotides at a particular location, or Locus (genetics), locus, on a DNA molecule. Alleles can differ at a single position through Single-nucleotide polymorphism, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), ...

T, common among the Žemaitukas and observed only a few times among all other tested horse breeds. The

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

Mission Conference for Central and Eastern European countries recognized the Žemaitukas as an internationally watched breed, and included it into the FAO World Watch List for Domestic Animal Diversity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zemaitukas Horse breeds Horse breeds originating in Lithuania