SMALL WILD HORSE

Two days in Poland meeting the Konik Polski , the “small Polish horse”.

A  herd of seven Koniks, living in the National Park of Gryzyna about 150 km away from Berlin.

In the park, they live a semi-feral life, together with a herd of sheep.

But- the sheep are brought back to stables over night, because wolves are there, as well…

The Konik horse might descend from the original horse, the Tarpan. Or probably, not. Who knows. During World War I, they were called Panje horses.

In any case, they have become a national symbol of Poland.

They are short and stout, and their colour is mousegray with a black stripe, like the Przewalski horses.

I was sitting quietly at a distance. Some of them were sleeping lying on the ground, others standing and dozing .

Then they started to move: grazing and moving. Chewing and dozing again.

Moving again. Very difficult to draw the constant movement. A real challenge!

Finally, they decided to take notice of my presence. The leader approached to make contact, took a smell. The others followed, and I was registered.

Then, life continues: walking and grazing.

At some point, I decided to sing. Since one year, I take singing lessons with a very kind  teacher training my not existing voice. So, there was a unique occasion to sing in front of a public who had the choice to run away.

Well, they did not.

As soon as I started to sing “Die Gedanken sind frei” / “Thoughts are free”, the small horse about 20 meters away turned her head looking at me, her ears pricked up.

She looked at me intently and moved closer.

Others followed and finally, all of them stood in a half circle around me.

Then I changed my repertoire and started to sing “Freude schöner Götterfunken”, the Hymn to Joy by Beethoven. There, the effect was immediate. 

The small horses came even closer, one after the other. The last one decided to stay next to me.

She rested, listening to the song repeated over and over by a poor singer, but visibly she enjoyed. What a compliment!

Singing and drawing at the same time is not easy…

Good-Bye to the sweet Koniki horses!

Thank you Maria, Heniek, Annegret and Friedhelm for making this happen!

October 2025