10/16/2026
The Tarpan horses were wild horses that lived as far back as the Pleistocene era. The Tarpan was a subspecies of horses, with the scientific name Equus ferus ferus. Their range extended from France to central Russia, living primarily in woodland areas. Cave drawings depicting the Tarpans have been found in France and Spain, dating back as far as 10,000 years. Ancient humans likely hunted the Tarpans for meat.
They were domesticated in Russia around 3000 BC. The name Tarpan is derived from the Turkish language and means “wild horse”. They were smaller horses, 13-14 hands tall, with dun coloring and some had stripes on their shoulders. They had small ears and a thick head. The last wild Tarpans died in the late 1800s and many survived in captivity until the early 1900s. The wild Tarpans were killed by farmers who feared the horses would damage their crops. Efforts to use selective breeding to recreate the Tarpan horse have been made, using Koniks, Przewalski horses, Gotland ponies, and Icelandic horses, however the resulting horses, known as Hecks, are not genetically related to the Tarpan in any way.