Dutch Draught Horse

Origin: Holland.

Height: Up to 16.3hh.

Color: Chestnut, bay, gray; occasionally black.

Character: Quiet and very kind, yet active, spirited and bold. A hard worker.

Physique: Tall, massive horse of good conformation, hard and deep. Good head with straight face, intelligent eye, and short, alert ears; short neck; powerful front, withers slight; deep girth, body massive and close to the ground; heavily-muscled loins and hindquarters; short, muscular legs, good feet. Action straight and easily carries itself well. Extremely strong, with boundless stamina.

This heavy draught horse is largely of Belgian blood. The breed is not much more than a half-century old, and was created from the old Zeeland horse, a very similar sort to the Brabant, crossed mainly with Ardennes blood and to a lesser extent that of the Ardennes. Quality and purity of line has been, and still is, supervised with great care.

Description: Dutch Draught Horse is also known as Nederlandsche Trekpaard and originates from Holland. It was developed after World War I by cross-breeding the Brabant, Zeeland-type Dutch mares and the Belgian Ardennes.

In 1914, lots of Stud book societies from the provinces came forward and incorporated to create a National Stud Book Society – ‘The Royal Association of the Netherlands Draught Horse’. The Dutch draft horse breed was popular throughout the nineteenth century in Europe. Today, only few Dutch Draft horses exist due to modern industrialization.

Dutch Draft horse still bears a similarity to the Brabant horse breed. It was basically used for heavy draft work as it is the heaviest of all Dutch horse breeds. Besides this, it was bred for farm work in Netherlands and Holland, but mainly in the Northern areas. This breed was often found in Gelderland, North Brabant and Limburg and was popular in the provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe.

The Dutch draft was not exported but other varieties like the Brabant and the Belgium Heavy horse were largely to improve the Dutch Draft Breed. In spite of their size, the Dutch drafts are very active and economical to maintain. They are usually intelligent and inclined to have a long and good work life.

Characteristics of Dutch Draught Horse:

• The Dutch Draft Horse is the heaviest of the draft horses from Netherlands.
• It normally posses an average height of 1.5m, small size, well-formed head, powerful neck, prominent jaw and croup sloping.
• It has a deep chest, long shoulder, straight profile, strong and muscular legs.
• Appears in colors: Chestnut, Bay, Grey and black.
• It has a large and a heavy ideal for farm work.
• Dutch Draft is huge, strong and powerful creature with great stamina to do work.
• It normally posses a gentle and playful temperament.

Uses of Dutch Draught Horse:

• Large and heavy body of the Dutch Draft is ideal for agricultural farm work and to pull ploughs
• Active temperament and capability to move fast made it popular to carry heavy loads for extensive periods
• Despite the docile and obedient nature, the Dutch Draft can act quickly when the situation demands
• It’s easygoing and specific movements helps to carry out labor on heavy soil with ease

Nowadays, a considerable decrease has been seen in the number of the Dutch Draft. Since past few years, a very few number of this breed have remained that are kept as pets by individuals who posses them. Besides, changes in geographic condition and cross breeds between desired horses have given rise to other better and improved species. Moreover, factors like expansion of industrialization affected the need of Dutch draft as the use of cars and machines increased the requirement for heavy Dutch Draft automatically decreased.

Royal Society of the Dutch Draft Horse formed on December 22, 1914 used to supervise the stud book for Dutch Draft and Haflinger horse. But nowadays, there is no Stud Registry and hence this specie is facing a threat.