GURGUL'S LINE - INEXACTNESS IN PEDIGREE OF CUKOR-GURGUL-5 STALLION

Katarzyna Marzenna Kwiecińska
Departament of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Warsaw University of Life Science – SGGW, Poland

ABSTRACT

The breed of Hucul horses is valued for its strongly consolidated features. In a small closed animal population such as Hucul horses is, the knowledge of inbred level and its constant monitoring are very important. The base of inbreeding coefficient calculation is animal´s pedigree. One of the most important sire lines of hucul horses is the Gurgul´s line. Its first specimen in Poland was Cukor-Gurgul-5 stallion. For years, his mother´s pedigree remained unknown in Poland. This work confirms the existence of missing documents in Czech, and their connection to the said specimen.

Key words: inbred, Hucul horse, pedigree, relationship, sire line.

INTRODUCTION

The breed of Hucul horses is valued for its strongly consolidated features. Huculs are hard, brave-hearted, resistant to diseases and environment conditions. The breeding program for this race has been started in 1979 [2, 4].

In a small closed population such as Hucul horses is, the knowledge of inbred level and its constant monitoring are very important [1]. Major problem for breeders is the necessity of choosing parental pairs for assure avoiding mating close relatives and prevent the height level of inbreeding [2, 4].

According to the breeding program it is necessary to use individual mating plan and to select sons - continuators of each sire lines [11, 13].

The first sire lines were created by following stallions: Miszka (1871), Stirbul (1873), Taras (1878), Czeremosz (1883), Hroby (1895) and Goral (1898). Those stallions came from Eastern Carpatian Moutains (Woody Carpatian) from the Bukowina region. All of them were leading stallions in Lucina Stud - farm of Radowce (Radautz), founded in 1856 in Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The director of Lucina Stud, Colonel M. Herrman (1788-1957) was a great amateur of Huculs and he started to create first pedigrees of Hucul horses [4, 15].

One of the most important sire line of hucul horses is the Gurgul´s line. Its first specimen in Poland was Cukor-Gurgul-5 stallion bought in 1959 [4, 10, 12, 15, 16]. For years, his mother name remained unknown in Poland. This paper confirms the existence of missing information about Cukor-Gurgul-5´s pedigree and shows importance of this stallion in Hucul horses population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Czech publications and date from Internet, as well as documents from Hucul Horses Stud Gładyszów and "Skarbiec" were analysed, since horses there have stallions from Gurgul´s line in their pedigree. Because of same differences in horses´ names and length of pedigree, the date of birth and brand-mark´s numbers were compared to identify every animal.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Gurgul´s sire line was created by bay Gurgul stallion born in 1924 in Eastern Slovakia. He was bought from farmer Andreje Pokse to Topolcianky Stud and was leading stallion from 1927 to 1936. The meaning of his name is unknown [5, 10].

First specimen of Gurgul´s line in Poland was bay Cukor-Gurgul-5 stallion born in 1953 on a private farm and grew up on Foels Farm Muran. His measures were 144-171-18.5 cm. Cukor-Gurgul-5 was a squarebuilt horse of primitive type, good as draft-horse but little lazy. He had one defect: short, domed hock, nevertheless his trot and gallop was good. Two Polish fiord horse stallions were exchanged for two Czechoslovak Hucul stallions chosen by Z. Hroboni in 1959 and in that way Cukor-Gurgul-5 came to National Stallions Depot in Klikowa. At first Cukor-Gurgul-5 covered on private farms, later from 1962 to 1967 he became a leading stallion in Siary Stud. His progeny was good and uniform. He had 42 sons, 30 of them were licensed (Fig. 1) and 16 of them were included to National Stallions Depot. 18 from 35 his daughters were foaling mares in Siary Stud [4, 10, 12, 15, 16].

There is no full pedigree of Cukor-Gurgul-5 in Poland. The name of his mother remains unknown. According to Polish Stud Book his father was 501 Gurgul I-2 stallion and his mother was primitive mare from Romania with brand-mark 18-466 and nothing more was known about her [4, 7, 13, 14].

However, we can find his mother´s name in Czech publications. Radvan [19] had found that mother of Cukor-Gurgul-5 was 7 Zinka. Zinka mare also called Slepka, Sliepka or Sarca born in 1939. Her father was 289 Hroby I-1 stallion and her mother was mare by 451-5 Goral-8 stallion (Table 1). She was considered to come from Romania, based on her brand-marks [17, 18, 19]. Probably she was born in Turja Remety Stud in Ukraine what confirmed the list of horses from this stud [19].

The name of Cukor-Gurgul-5 in Czech documents is 632 Gurgul Cukor. There is no doubt that he is the same horse. 632 Gurgul Cukor has the same date of birth as Cukor-Gurgul-5, the same father and the same information about mother because 7 Zinka had brand-mark´s number 18-466 [17, 18, 19].

Zinka was important mare in Czech and Slovak breeding. She was not only mother of Cukor- -Gurgul-5 but also a mother of another leading stallion from Gurgul´s line born in 1955 Gurgul Edo (Table 2). 636 Gurgul Edo covered in Muran Stud (Czech) and in Topolcianky Stud (Slovakia) where his name was changed for Gurgul IV. Gurgul Edo was continuator of Gurgul´s line in Czech and Slovakia (Fig. 2) [8, 18, 19].

Zinka was also a mother of mares. Lately Bandita stallion (by 406 Ousor-Zmrzlik Mars out of K 60 Luna Gurgul Edo 2-6) was imported to Poland by private breeder. Bandita´s parents are related because Zinka was in Bandita´s pedigree as mother of Gurgul Edo stallion and 356 Geneva-12 mare [8]. The inbreeding of Bandita is 7.6%.

The continuator of Gurgul´s line in Poland was Zefir stallion born in 1967 in Siary Stud by Cukor-Gurgul-5 out of Larynka. He was a skewbald like its mother. His measures were 136-165-19.5 cm. Zefir was leading stallion in Siary Stud from 1971 to 1972 and from 1975 to 1976 and he was the best stallion in Siary Stud at that time. His progeny was good and similar to Cukor-Gurgul-5 [4, 8].

His son Jaśmin born in 1977 in Siary Stud out of Dziewanna replaced Zefir. Jaśmin is skewbald like father. His measures are 138-180-19.5 cm and he is the most famous Hucul stallion, which have conquered five gold medals on Native Exhibitions. He is good as saddle-horse and draft-horse and he was also successful as horse for vaulting. He has covered in Siary Stud which is now called Gładyszów Hucul Horses Stud from 1993. He has given very good sons and grandsons. The best of them are: Szafir (skewbald, born in 1983 out of Doba) and Lubas (skewbald, born in 1986 out of Donica) which now are used in Germany [6, 7, 10, 15, 16].

Old Jaśmin is still a leading stallion [7]. He shouldn´t be used so long in such a small population as Hucul horses is. According to breeding program, he should be used for breeding no longer than 10 years [13]. However, his progeny is often skewbald, very good, beautiful and also have good character. Amateurs and private breeders of Hucul horses willingly buy Jaśmin´s progeny [7, 10, 15].

Nowadays many Polish horses have Cukor-Gurgul-5 among their ancestors [7, 9]. Polish breeders are looking abroad for horses with different genes. They should pay attention whether horses from Czech and Slovakia have Cukor-Gurgul-5´s parents in their pedigree. These horses can be related with Polish Huculs by 501 Gurgul I-2 stallion and 7 Zinka mare.

The lack of full Cukor-Gurgul-5´s pedigree provoked some mistakes in the past. Brzeski et al. [2] estimated the relationship between all Polish state-owned mares and stallions. There was a mistake in relationship between Jaśmin stallion and Gurgul V-23 mare [2, 3, 7].

The mare Gurgul V-23 by Gurgul-5 out of 127 Goral XI-6 was imported from Czechoslovakia in 1984. She created in Siary Stud new female line in Poland [7, 10]. Gurgul V-23 was covered by Jaśmin for many years [2, 3, 7]. Brzeski et al. [2] claim that Gurgul V-23 and Jaśmin weren´t related to each other (he analyzed only five generations). In fact, their genetic relationship level is about 2.9% (1.6% is caused by Zinka). Gurgul V-23´s father was son of Gurgul IV (Gurgul Edo), so he was grandson of 7 Zinka.

CONCLUSIONS

The correction of Cukor-Gurgul-5´s pedigree allows for exact estimation of the relationship as well as inbred level within the Polish population. This information should also be considered when estimating the relationship between Czech, Slovak and Polish horses and when making plans for importing new animals. Cukor-Gurgul-5´s pedigree should be completed with information about his mother 7 Zinka.

REFERENCES

1. Brzeski E., Kulisa M., Jackowski M., 1987a. Inbred koni huculskich [Inbreding in the Hucul horses]. AR Krak. 218, 15-21 [in Polish].

2. Brzeski E., Kulisa M., Jackowski M., 1987b. Współczynnik spokrewnienia między klaczami a ogierami huculskimi [Coefficient of relationship between the Hucul mares and stallions]. AR Krak. 218, 23-31 [in Polish].

3. Brzeski E., Kulisa M., Jackowski M., 1987c. Projekt kojarzeń koni huculskich [A mating scheme for the Hucul horses]. AR Krak. 218, 33-40 [in Polish].

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14. Jackowski M., 2001. Koń huculski - nasz przyjaciel [Hucul horse - our friend]. Hucuły 4, 3-15 [in Polish].

15. Krzemień M. P., Kario W., 1991. Hucuły - konie połonin [Huculs - horses of poloninas]. Parol Company 128 [in Polish].

16. Księgi stadne koni fiordzkich, koni huculskich i koników. 1962. [Stud Books of fiord horses, Hucul horses and koniks]. Part 1. PWRiL, Warszawa [in Polish].

17. Radvan J., 2001. Linie huculskych koni [Lines o f Hucul horses]. http:/www.hucul.cz/knihy/lini_min/ Linie huculskych koni.html [in Czech].

18. Radvan J., 2001. Linie Gurgul v chovu huculsheho kone [Gurgul´s line in breeding of Hucul horses]. http:/www.hucul.cz/knihy/lini_min/ Linie Gurgul v chovu huculsheho kone.html [in Czech].

19. Radvan J., 2002. Posuzovani puvodu huculskich koni [Search for genealogy of Hucul horses]. Chov. 1, 36-39 [in Czech].

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