Russian Ponies

There are a number of closely-related breeds in the Baltic States, all ofthem extremely hardy, frugal, and strong and very enduring. Most arepartly descended from the Klepper, a light draught type from Estonia;and it comes as a curious jolt to discover that "Klepper" is apparently notthe name of a breed but is the local word for "nag". This is typical of thestumbling blocks encountered in trying to trace the history of all thepurebred breeds and the confusion is increased by the intercultural smogthat hangs over most Soviet breeds that are seldom seen in the West.

Information about the Baltic breeds often conflicts, but a picture emergesof a number of sturdy Northern forest types, very similar in appearanceto the Polish Konik. Among them are the two following breed