On June 14-16, 2021, the 2nd expedition aimed at searching for Polesskaya horses took place. This time, the group of experts visited more than 10 villages in the Luninets District, where the village inhabitants brought their horses to an agreed place and at a particular time. The experts were assessing the appearance of horses and were measuring them and that allowed, judging by the horse’s conformation, drawing conclusions about horse’s belonging to the original Belarusian population. During the 2nd expedition, Mr Vladimir Chavlytko, the senior research scientist of the laboratory for horse breeding, fur farming and small-scale livestock breeding of the Scientific and Practical Centre for Animal Husbandry, NAS of Belarus, strengthened the list of experts.

A group of experts examined over 100 horses and selected about 25 individuals, meeting the criteria, whose genetic material samples were collected. DNA samples will be examined by the specialists of the Institute of Genetics and Cytology, NAS of Belarus, using the method of DNA identification as part of the research work “Studying the genetic diversity of native animal populations of Belarus (the Equus ferrus caballus horse and the Apis meliferra, L. honey bee).”