By Equestrian Life

The endangered Przewalski's horse, the only surviving horse subspecies never to have been domesticated, historically lived on grasslands that are now part of China's Xinjiang and Mongolia.

On the Kalamaili State Nature Reserve in northern Xinjiang, a wild horse breeding research center — which is the largest of its kind in Asia — has been working towards restoring the population of wild horses. May signals the start of the breeding season for the region’s Przewalski's horses, and so far four foals have been born.

Since 2001, the research centre has released 110 horses back into the wild. At present, the nature reserve has 92 captive bred horses, 102 in the semi-wild situation and 224 in the wild.

The species is endangered (with just 2000 horses worldwide) largely due to hunting that began in the early 19th century. Since 1986, China has run a breeding program that began with horses that were brought back from Britain and Germany to repopulate the subspecies.

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