Short Communication
Michał Pluta 
1 , Katarzyna Bańka1, Angelika Cieśla 2, Łukasz Rogala1
1Department of Horse Breeding and Use, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
2Department of Monogastric Animal Sciences, Laboratory of Horse Breeding and Animal Assisted Therapy, West Pomeranian University of Technology Szczecin, Janickiego 29, 71-270 Szczecin, Poland
Abstract. The Caspian horse is one of the oldest horse breeds in the world and probably the first oriental domesticated horse. For centuries thought the breed had been considered extinct, until it was "rediscovered" in 1965 in Iran. The breed is quite important in the history of horse breeding, however, it is still little known. The aim of the work was to present the characteristics of the breed (conformation, characteristics and usage) and to assess the current state of the population in Europe and around the World. A survey was conduct among 18 breeders and included 120 horses. The population size was estimated based on the analysis of two breed registries. This study confirms and supplies information about Caspian horses available in the literature. Caspian horses can be very useful in refining small breeds of horses and could bring many profits in Polish breeding of sport ponies.
Keywords: Caspian horse, Iranian horse, population, horse usage
Received: 23 Mar 2020
Accepted: 5 Sep 2020
Published online: 29 Oct 2020
Accesses: 92
Pluta, M., Bańka, K., Cieśla, A., Rogala, ., (2020). The state of breeding and use of Caspian horses in Europe and around the world. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 19(3), 79–84. DOI: 10.21005/asp.2020.19.3.10.