Wild East: Here you can observe free-roaming horses in the Berlin area

A tabloid magazine has even reported on it: "Antonia and the Wild Horses" was the title of a feature. Antonia Gerke, who cares for the horses in Hobrechtsfelde every day, rolls her eyes: She doesn't like reading such cheesy little-girl stories about herself. Her fascination with the Koniks—the name given to the special breed of horses her charges foster—is genuine and mature. And Gerke enjoys passing on her enthusiasm to visitors.

The Hobrechtsfelde estate, with its striking granary tower in the Barnim district of Brandenburg , can be reached by car from Berlin in half an hour, or guests can take the train and continue by bike from Buch S-Bahn station. Once you've finally arrived, however, it's not all that easy to find one of the nine herds, totaling 66 horses. After all, they roam across an 800-hectare estate—so tracking them down is almost like Boy Scout work.

The sewage fields where the horses in Hobrechtsfelde are kept alongside Galloway cattle, Highland cattle, water buffalo, and mules were created in the 19th century at the behest of urban planner James Hobrecht. At that time, the thriving city of Berlin needed a drainage system; until 1985, the sandy soil of the Barnim Plateau was used as a wastewater filter; grooves in the ground still bear witness to this use today.

In 2011, the area, roughly the size of 3,500 football fields, was developed as a natural habitat for endangered plant and animal species, with funding from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Informational exhibits are featured in the storage tower, and scattered trees and bushes dot the meadows, as well as small woodlands that are also popular with horses.

To find the animals, you just have to put yourself in their shoes

To see the animals during a visit, Antonia Gerke, who serves as a nature park ambassador and also runs her own children's riding stable in the area, offers a very simple tip: You should put yourself in the horses' shoes, she says. When it's hot, for example, the animals often stand in a sandy hollow by the stream, which is called the "beach" here. There, the horses drink and sometimes even bathe.

Gerke also points out a few rules that apply on the grounds, which belong to Agrar GmbH Gut Hobrechtsfelde: Visitors should not leave the paths, the horses should not be fed or petted, and dogs are not allowed, even on a leash. Feeding them should be avoided out of consideration for other guests. "The animals aren't stupid," says Gerke. If one visitor feeds them, they'll snatch the next visitor's bag in the hope of more snacks.

In any case, the horses aren't there to entertain the guests. "In Hobrechtsfelde, they serve as landscape caretakers," says Gerke. They keep the grass of the steppe-like landscape short and ensure that bush growth doesn't take over – they also fertilize the soil with their horse manure. Gerke says her charges are outside even in the harsh winter. The animals then have a thick winter coat and feel comfortable outdoors even when there's a lot of snow.

Even away from Hobrechtsfelde there are herds of horses in Brandenburg

But now it's warm – and so, on the day of our visit, Antonia Gerke actually finds a herd by the stream. They're grazing peacefully, eating the blooming dandelions, and drinking water from the stream. These robust little animals with light gray fur (known in technical terms as "black duns") and shaggy manes, weighing between 280 and 370 kilograms and whose name "konik" is derived from the Polish for "little horse," are not truly ancient wild horses. They are descendants of the Przewalski horses, the Liebenthal horses, and the Dülmen horses, which can also be observed in other parts of Germany.

For Berliners, a trip to Liebenwalde in Brandenburg is also worthwhile. It's home to a herd of around 100 animals with a special history: It dates back to the breeding of behavioral researcher Jürgen Zutz, who began his work in the Bavarian Forest in the 1960s and moved to the Schorfheide region after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His dream was to enable the horses there to live as freely as possible.

After the researcher died in 1996, his horses were supposed to be slaughtered. However, dedicated citizens rallied around to ensure the animals' survival. And so, even today, a wild herd still exists in Liebenwalde, very close to the local animal park.

Even laypeople can recognize the difference to “normal horses”

"Our wild horses live in herds with multiple families; one stallion has several mares," explains Maj Luger of the Liebenthal Horse Herd Foundation over the phone. This is never the case with horses kept in normal conditions; "there, stallions are either castrated or don't live with mares," says Luger. Observing the herd in northern Brandenburg is therefore an almost unique experience.

The largest herd of wild horses, however, is found near Dülmen in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Dülmen wild horses were first documented in 1316; today, around 400 of the animals live year-round in the Merfelder Bruch nature reserve, a moor and heathland area. A visit there is particularly spectacular on the last Saturday in May – that's when the one-year-old stallions are taken out of the herd to prevent territorial disputes.

But even if the examples mentioned aren't truly wild horses, even laypeople can quickly sense the difference from normal horses: The wilder species are less skittish and more curious. They approach visitors quite naturally, sniffing each new guest attentively. Antonia Gerke explains that this is due to their natural habitat, which always offers the animals something exciting to explore. So, it's not at all natural for horses to sit quietly in their stables all day long—they much prefer to roam freely in the pasture and trot off on voyages of discovery.

Anyone who becomes the object of interest to one of the horses during a visit to Hobrechtsfelde can also communicate with their counterparts through body language, as Antonia Gerke explains. Facial expressions, eye expressions, posture – all of these play a role. Horses, Gerke explains, can even read the muscle tone, breathing rate, and heart rate of their "conversation partner."

But the Konik horse standing before us at this moment doesn't have time to chat. It throws itself into the sand, rubs its back, stands up, and shakes itself. "That shows that it's comfortable and healthy," says Antonia Gerke, laughing.

Hobrechtsfelde Estate. Hobrechtsfelder Dorfstraße 45, 16341 Panketal. The next free tours will take place on July 20 and 21, starting at 5:00 PM. The one-and-a-half-hour excursions are free of charge. Please register at [email protected]. Further dates and information can be found at www.pferdekultur-gut-hobrechtsfelde.de