The Malapolski is a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 breed

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

 of horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 developed in the 19th century in Lesser Poland

Lesser Poland

Lesser Poland is one of the historical regions of Poland, with its capital in the city of Kraków. It forms the southeastern corner of the country, and should not be confused with the modern Lesser Poland Voivodeship, which covers only a small, southern part of Lesser Poland...

, Polish Małopolska, hence the name. It is versatile breed, used today for light draft and under-saddle work.

History

The Malapolski breed has been developed in southeastern Poland since the 1800s. They were formed from a combination of Arabian and Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 blood, with significant contributions from the Furioso and Gidran

Gidran

The Gidran, Gidrán, or Hungarian Anglo-Arab is a horse breed developed in Hungary from bloodstock that included the Arabian horse. All members of the breed are Chestnut. It is an endangered breed today, with only about 200 living representatives worldwide.The Gidran breed began its development in...

 breeds (both strains of Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 Anglo-Arabian

Anglo-Arabian

The Anglo-Arabian or Anglo-Arab is a crossbred horse that now also has its own status as a horse breed. It is a Thoroughbred crossed with an Arabian. The cross can be made between a Thoroughbred stallion and an Arabian mare, or vice-versa...

. There are two distinct varieties of the Malapolski. The first is the Sadecki, which was heavily influenced by the Furioso line, and the second is the Darbowsko-Tarnowski, heavily influenced by the Gidran line. The breed was also influenced by infusions of various other Arabian and Thoroughbred half-breeds. Today, they are breed at five state studs in Poland: Stubno

Stubno

Stubno is a village in Przemyśl County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland, close to the border with Ukraine. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Stubno. It lies approximately north-east of Przemyśl and east of the regional capital Rzeszów.The village has a population of...

, Prudnik

Prudnik

Prudnik is a town in Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship. Its population numbers 26,400 inhabitants . It is the capital of Prudnik County.- Education :* * * II Liceum Ogólnokształcące w Prudniku...

, Udórz

Udórz

Udórz is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Żarnowiec, within Zawiercie County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately east of Zawiercie and north-east of the regional capital Katowice.-References:...

, Walewice

Walewice

Walewice is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Bielawy, within Łowicz County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland, on the Bzura River. It lies approximately west of Łowicz and north of the regional capital Łódź....

, and Janów Podlaski

Janów Podlaski

Janów Podlaski is a village in Biała Podlaska County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Janów Podlaski...

, as well as being widely bred by individual citizens of southeast and central Poland.

Breed Characteristics

Malapolski horses generally stand from 15.3 to 16.2 hands

Hand (unit)

The hand is a non-SI unit of measurement of length, now used only for the measurement of the height of horses in some English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. With origins in ancient Egypt, it was originally based on the breadth of a human hand...

 high, and may be bay, brown (a variation on bay), black

Black (horse)

Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and novices frequently mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. However, some breeds of horses, such as the Friesian horse, Murgese and Ariegeois are almost exclusively black...

, chestnut

Chestnut (coat)

Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...

, gray

Gray (horse)

Gray or grey is a coat color of horses characterized by progressive silvering of the colored hairs of the coat. Most gray horses have black skin and dark eyes; unlike many depigmentation genes, gray does not affect skin or eye color Their adult hair coat is white, dappled, or white intermingled...

, or roan

Roan (horse)

Roan is a horse coat color pattern characterized by an even mixture of colored and white hairs on the body, while the head and "points"—lower legs, mane and tail—are more solid-colored. The roan pattern is dominantly-inherited, and is found in many horse breeds...

. Their head is well proportioned with a straight profile, the neck of good length, the withers

Withers

The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...

 prominent, the chest wide and deep and the shoulders sloping and long. The back

Back (horse)

The back describes the area of horse anatomy where the saddle goes, and in popular usage extends to include the loin or lumbar region behind the thoracic vertebrae that also is crucial to a horse's weight-carrying ability. These two sections of the vertebral column beginning at the withers, the...

 is long and the croup

Horse anatomy

Equine anatomy refers to the gross and microscopic anatomy of horses and other equids, including donkeys, and zebras. While all anatomical features of equids are described in the same terms as for other animals by the International Committee on Veterinary Gross Anatomical Nomenclature in the book...

 slightly sloping. The legs are well-muscled and long, with good joints and tough hooves. The breed has much in common with the Wielkopolski

Wielkopolski

The Wielkopolski is a breed of horse that was originated in Central and Western Poland in 1964, and is occasionally known as Mazursko-Poznanski...

, another Polish breed.

Uses

Malapolski horses are used for riding and light draft work. They are said to perform well in sporting competitions, especially show jumping

Show jumping

Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...

.