The Forgotten Drafts

When most people think of a draft horse, draught horse, or heavy horse (same thing, different names), their mind flips strait to Clydesdales, Shires, Percherons, Belgians, and Gypsy Vanners. But what about horses like Boulonnais? Or Italian Heavy Drafts? Or perhaps a Freiberger?

Here are a few Heavy Draft Breeds I think deserve some attention:

Boulonnais

http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/riverchase/boulonnais.html

Ardennes

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/h...nnes/index.htm

Auxois

http://www.horseshowcentral.com/flex/auxois_horse/361/1

Breton

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/h...eton/index.htm

Comtois - I absolutely adore these horses

http://www.tiho-hannover.de/einricht...script/735.htm

Dole Gudbrandsdal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dole_Gudbrandsdal

Dutch Heavy Draft

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/h...raft/index.htm

Finnish Draft

http://www.equinekingdom.com/breeds/...nish_draft.htm

Freiberger

http://www.fm-fribourg.ch/html/frameset.html

Italian Heavy Draft

http://www.youpet.com/horse/italian-heavy-draft/

Jutland - Gorgeous horse!

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/h...land/index.htm

Lithuanian Heavy Draft

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/h...raft/index.htm

Murakozi

http://www.iliveforhorses.com/Horses...asp?BreedID=99

Noriker - it's the solid colored Gypsy Vanner... but prettier! Surprised not too many people know about them

http://www.horsedirectory.com.au/hor...d/Noriker.html

Normandy Cob

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/...y+Cob&offset=0

Poitevin - such a cute horse... such a shame though

http://www.poitevin.org/

Russian Heavy Draft - a must for me... so gorgeous!

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/h...raft/index.htm

Schleswig Heavy Draft

http://www.equinekingdom.com/breeds/...eavy_draft.htm

Soviet Heavy Draft

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/h...raft/index.htm

Suffolk Punch

http://suffolkpunch.info/e107/

Trait du Nord

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait_Du_Nord

Vladimir Heavy Draft

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/h...raft/index.htm

There are so many more. Ok... I did more than a few. But these guys deserve it. Some of these (like the Boulonnais, Suffolk Punch, and a few others, don't remember which) were actually around for a long time longer than Clydes, Shires, Gypsies, etc.

If you have a few "forgotten" breeds. Do share.

These are the horses that are so wonderful, but used only for certain things like farmwork, that soon they were forgotten. Now most of them are bred only for the meat market, which means conformation and quality deteriorates. Which is a really sad ending for these gorgeous horses with amazing personalities and histories.

I'm not saying at all that Clydes and Shires and Gypsies are bad... I'm just saying that they're not all there is.

Wow, I've never even heard of those. But then again, I'm not too familiar with drafts, LOL! They are gorgeous.

Lot of suffolks around here.

The Vladimir has always been my fave other than Percherons.

The Noriker is gorgeous I have only seen 2 of all of the above thank you Solon

I didn't do the first post!

Haha... it'd be fine even if you did... :P

I love Norikers, and I adore Vladimirs and Pointevins...



Heh... I just have a "thing" for rare and unknown animals. Whether they be dogs, horses, cats, snakes, lizards, or... well... anything!

Well maybe if people could pronounce half of those breeds names we'd know about them

Most of them have very easy names to pronounce. And those who have names that are a bit harder are the prettier and nicer ones (better, in my opinion, to Clydes, Shires, Vanners, and Percherons).

Excuse me futurevetgirl -it is a great posting and I totally enjoyed reading about some of these fabulous drafts. Thank you

I've never heard of any of these breeds but some of them are GORGOUS.