Interesting photo essay of Dr. Heinz Hecks genetic program to recreate the Tarpan--1952 Munich Zoo

The wild Tarpan horse died out during the late 1800s, and the last captive Tarpan died in 1876. An attempt was made by the Polish government to save the Tarpan type by establishing a preserve for animals descended from the Tarpan in a forested area in Bialowieza. These descendants are today sometimes referred to as the Polish Primitive Horse.

There have been three attempts made to re-create the Tarpan. In the early 1930s, Berlin Zoo Director Lutz Heck and Heinz Heck of the Munich Zoo began a program that by the 1960s produced the Heck Horse, crossing with the Przewalski Horse(pictured below) as well as other suitable breeds. In 1936, Polish university professor Tadeusz Vetulani began a program using Konik Horses, and in the mid-1960s Harry Hegard started a program in the United States using feral mustangs and local working ranch horses that has resulted in the Hegardt or Stroebel's Horse. None of the breeding programs were completely successful, although all three resulted in horses with many similarities to the Tarpan.