Horse boxing | Stallion horse | Wild horses

Horse boxing is the dramatic moment two proud stallions faced off in a bloody fight for dominance and mating rights in a herd of wild horses.

The Koniks, or Polish primitive horses, reared up on their hind legs with their teeth bared during the ferocious attack.

Photographer Henri Ton, 41, captured the fight over females at a nature reserve in Loevenstein, The Netherlands.

Stallions rear up on their hind legs as they fight for dominance in a herd of Koniks in The Netherlands

Fierce: One of the male horses lands a thudding blow with its hoof as the fight turns bloody

One stallion could be seen chasing a mare while others fought among themselves.

Mr Ton, who works as an electronic engineer, spends several hours a week observing the herd of 36 horses to better understand their behaviour.

He said: 'The Koniks were put in a nature reserve and left to fend for themselves.

'The public are told to keep their distance and not to feed them so they can remain wild.

'I go looking for them about once a week and have done for over a year now.

'I try to avoid attracting their attention so their behaviour in my pictures is as natural as possible.'

Dominance: Teeth bared, the two horses continue to fight as other members of the herd watch in the background

The battle among the Koniks, or Polish primitive horses, took place at a nature reserve in Loevenstein, The Netherlands


He said the herd is formed from a mix of bachelor groups - young stallions who have been abandoned or rejected and need to play to build up their strength before returning - and harem groups which feature one stallion, around six mares and foals.

There is one lead stallion horse in the herd, which is the only male allowed to breed.

'Fights with the lead stallion can be very rough and if he is injured the other stallions try to take over.

'Sometimes it is playful, almost like an act or dance, but it can also be very aggressive with bloody injuries.

'The Konik horse is one of the few types of horses able to survive in the wild. They are wild but they have never been aggressive towards me.'

The longest tail on a horse

Crystal Socha, 26, of Augusta, Kan., combs the tail of her American Paint horse, Summer, during the 11th annual EquiFest of Kansas at the Kansas Coliseum in Wichita today. EEleven-year-old Summer holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for the longest tail on a horse, at 12 feet, six inches.

A pure white horse 'albino'

The rare 'albino' foal that's become a star of the New Forest
It's one of the rarest sights in the equine world.

A pure white horse is hardly ever seen outside a pub sign.

And almost all of them have begun life as a darker colour before turning to light grey.

So crowds have been flocking to catch a glimpse of this beautiful foal, born among a group of New Forest ponies near Lyndhurst, Hampshire.

The spindly-legged youngster - also pictured, inset, with his dun-coloured mother - has quickly become the star attraction in Britain's newest national park.

The fact the foal has a brown mother proves that he is a cremello blue-eyed cream and not an albino

The enthusiasts who first spotted him thought he could be an albino, but experts have now ruled that out.

They say the giveaway is his eyes, which are blue. An albino's would be pink.

The technical term for the colt is a cremello blue-eyed cream.


As well as their blue eyes, such animals have some pale golden pigment in their coats and skin. Albinos have no non-white colouring at all.

Sue Westwood, clerk to the Verderers, the group which protects and conserves landscape and wildlife of the New Forest, said: 'It is virtually unheard of in horses to have an albino and cremellos are very unusual.

'Unfortunately, they are not very hardy at all.

'They find it hard to deal with sunburn in the summer and with the cold rain in the winter.'

The sensitivity to light may explain why the foal's eyes are half-closed. Or he could just be trying to look relaxed in the face of all the attention.

The amazing moment a horse

If it had been an equestrian gymnastics event, she would have scored a perfect 10.

After all, it's not every day you see a horse perform a gravity-defying flip of such dizzying proportions.


The four-year-old mare, called Schattenlady, who had lost her rider moments into a race, went into these spectacular acrobatics as she tried to dislodge her loosened saddle as well.

With crowds at the course in Hanover, Germany, watching in horror, she somersaulted right over before falling flat on her back.

But the show was not quite over for Schattenlady, or Shadowlady, as she is known in English.

Happily was only shaken and bruised and walked away soon after.

And amazingly, both horse and jockey emerged from the acrobatics unscathed.