The young stallion that founded the breed, named Nonius – later renamed Nonius Senior – became the property of the Austrian treasury as war loot during the Napoleonic Wars and was assigned to the Mezőhegyes stud farm with ten of his offspring. He was an Anglo-Norman horse born in Calvados, Normandy, with an average appearance and relatively large size.
During his breeding career from 1816 to 1822, he sired 79 stallions and 122 mares, 15 of which were classified as foundation stallions. Of these, Nonius 9 and his sons, Nonius 34 and Nonius 36, played a decisive role in the development of the breed. On the paternal side, all Nonius horses alive today can be traced back to these two stallions.
The continued use of Nonius was justified by the success of a crossbreeding combination based on Spanish-Neapolitan mares from Mezőhegyes, which produced offspring of the desired type and utility value. The strengthening of the line and later the development of the breed was greatly aided by the fact that this crossbreeding combination was successfully established through inbreeding with the grandchildren of Arabian dams – N 34 and N 36.
By the 1840s, the Nonius breed had achieved a sufficient degree of uniformity. They were practical but not beautiful, and their desirable large frame was often accompanied by coarseness and a covered head. These flaws were successfully remedied through extensive crossbreeding with English thoroughbreds.
The spread of the Nonius, the formation of its geographical areas, its use on large estates (Makó, the Hajdúság and Bánát regions, the Mezőhegyesi stud farm, the Debrecen city stud farm, the Eltz stud farm in Vukovar, and the crown estates in Palánka and Gödöllő) and its suitability for agricultural purposes greatly contributed to the spread of the Nonius.
The Nonius, which became a breed in the 1850s, was ideal for improving the type of folk horse stock, increasing its body weight and enhancing its working ability.
The stallions that founded the lines according to the genealogical classification declared in 1943, which had a decisive influence on the breeding results during the period when the breed was established, came from the 5th, 7th, 6th and 3rd generations of the breed.
Nonius 29 /1880/ – Line “A”
Nonius 31 /1880/ – Line “B”
Nonius 36 /1883/ – Line “C”
Nonius 42 /1847/ – Line “D”
Due to their numbers, the brood mares at the Mezőhegyes stud farm were divided into two groups: those under 168 cm were placed in the small Nonius stud, while those above that height were placed in the large Nonius stud. This classification remained in place until 1945, but did not result in genetic separation, as the stud stock used was uniform.
The quality of the breed is evidenced by its international and world exhibition successes at the turn of the century:
1878: Paris World Exhibition: special gold medal for the Nonius breed group
1879: Paris World Exhibition: bronze medal for the N. Ürmény I stallion and 388 Durcás N. broodmares
1880: Vienna Horse Exhibition: large silver medal for the Nonius breed
Both world wars caused enormous losses to the breed. The loss of 50-70% of breeding stock in both cases was followed by relatively rapid and successful regeneration. By 1955, the number of brood mares had recovered in both Mezőhegyes and Hortobágy, the brood stock had been established, and the regeneration of genealogical lines had begun.
The breed proved its excellent qualities with its victories and placings in endurance races held between 1925 and 1932 and again for six years from 1952. The required performance between the two world wars was a 350 km endurance section and a 30 km speed section, while in more recent competitions it was 100 km, consisting of an 80 km endurance section and a 20 km speed section.
Nonius carriages also achieved significant results in carriage driving, which began in the 1960s. Victories in the Hungarian Carriage Driving Derby, national championship titles, international victories in Aachen, Hamburg and Leipzig, as well as world and European championship placings are indicative of the qualities of a breed that was still flourishing in terms of numbers and popularity at that time.
Until the 1960s and 1970s, in addition to the two main breeding farms, cooperative breeding farms operated in Szentes, Makó (and in the traditional breeding areas of the breed) Békés, Csongrád, Hajdú-Bihar, Bács-Kiskun counties /, which, thanks to the breeding organization system of the time, provided an important base for the breeding of the breed.
The decline of the breed was triggered by the reorganization of Hungarian horse breeding in 1961. Sixty-one mares from the Mezőhegyes stud farm were transferred to Hortobágy, and the remaining stock at Mezőhegyes was designated for sport horse breeding through crossbreeding to transform the breed.
This measure caused serious damage to both stud farms, as the number of horses in the Mezőhegyes herd decreased significantly, while in Hortobágy, the relocated herd, which had difficulty adapting to local conditions, gradually dwindled away.
Contributing to the decline were changes in usage patterns, the complete disappearance of military demand for horses, and the decline of agricultural use over the decades, the rise of recreational horse use, the lack of modern selection within the breed, and the process whereby, during the period of drastic population decline, large numbers of crossbreeds were produced for sporting purposes in the stud farms, partly for economic reasons.
Despite its initial undoubted success, this process clearly led to a rapid decline in the number and quality of purebred stock, and, due to its lack of foresight, contributed only marginally to the modernization of the breed. The opinion that the Nonius, although the most uniform breed, has no modern practical value became increasingly widespread.
In the meantime, the number of horses dropped below 1,000, traditional breeding farms closed down one after another, part of their stock was lost, and general interest in the breed declined significantly. The market for this once world-famous breed largely disappeared, which created a very dangerous situation in terms of breed preservation.
The main goal of the National Association of Nonius Horse Breeders, founded in 1989, was to preserve the breed and its gene pool, which it consistently pursued through the creation and repeated modification of its breeding program.
The breed's breeding base has undergone significant changes to date, which has led to a certain degree of consolidation, and it is now classified as an endangered breed in terms of its total number of horses in Hungary and Europe.
In addition to preserving the Nóniusz as a traditional Hungarian breed, there are arguments in favor of its use as a gene resource for tourism, as a crossbreeding partner, and in connection with gene protection, animal husbandry and cultural history, landscape and nature conservation, and the utilization of marginal areas.
The breed was declared a national treasure by Resolution 32/2004. (IV.19.) Ogy. in the list of protected native or endangered breeds of farm animals of high genetic value.
