|Belgium is/was the largest producer of coldblooded horses in Europe and was famous for breeding heavy horses in the earlier ages. The greatest bloom of the breeding came in the times from 13th to 15th century. By the coastlines was always bred a heavier and more lymphatic type of horse than in the south part of Ardennes. Among the Belgian coldbloods were at one time recognized three types: The Ardennian, Flemish and Brabant.|
9 Marquis de Vraimont
5 yrs old imported Belgian bay stallion
A Dutch bred Belgian stallion,
Imported Ardennian bay stallion Spirou
A pair of Belgian stallions in very heavy
The Ardennian (Ardennais) type.
The historical records are showing, that with the Christian Crusades by
the Northern Sea came to this area many oriental horses, which were then
crossbred with the indigenous heavy (coldblooded) mares in order to add
more refinement and speed to the offspring. During the Middle Ages in the
whole Belgium were bred horses that were sought out for the specific use
as heavy knight-horses in the tournaments and wars; they were also highly
praised and very expensive. From these horses the Ardennais had most of
the Arabian blood, which was mainly influenced by the Orwal and St.
Hubertus monasteries, where the kept, imported stallions were crossed with
the local heavy mares for production of warhorses. Already during the
Napoleon wars the Ardennian was sought out for the use by the artillery
for pulling cannons. The testimony of just how hardy and durable these
horses were could be seen in the failure of the Napoleon invasion into
Russia, where the unending suffering the Ardennian horse survived, while
the other breeds have simply perished under the harsh conditions. The
Napoleon wars inflicted a huge damage to the breeding of the Ardennian
horse. The breeding stock was stolen or destroyed. As the consequence, the
breeders begun to import heavy horses from the northern coastlines, but it
led to very unsuccessful offspring. That is why in the Belgian and French
side of Ardennes as well as in the
Argonne, the breeders saw the saving of
their breed in the Percheron
stallions, which truly uplifted the Ardennian breed and gave the
foundation to a lighter and quicker coldblooded horses (14 –15 H), which
were mainly “rose” (red) gray with “dry”, bulged head, large
sparkly eyes and a long body on slimmer legs. This old type did not last
long either on the French or the Belgian side of Ardennes as the Germans
stole most of the breeding stock during the First World War. Though the
Germans were ordered after the war to return the horses, most of them
never found their way home. The breeders filled out the gaps of the
missing breeding stock with smaller and lighter Belgians and ended up
producing so called Belgian type of the Ardennian, that is a smaller,
round horse with a large “meaty” head, short legged with lymphatic
constitution. Therefore, the horse that was considered in many other
European countries as the Ardennais, was not even from the distance a
relative of the Ardennes origin, but he was actually a smaller version of
the Belgic from “anywhere”. It was more or less on the French side of
the Ardennes where the horses resembling the old type of Ardennais could
be found, because the breeders often crossed the horses with the
The Flemish type
The Flemish horse is the actual founder of today’s Belgian horse. He was the most robust of the Belgian horses and already in the early middle Ages belonged to the strongest and most favorite horse of the armored knights. The king Charlemagne (Frank monarch 771-814) donated several Flemish horses to the Baghdad’s caliph Harun al-Rashid in the year 807.
mentioned, the old Brabant and Flemish horses were very much sought out
and became a great source of wealth for Belgium. However, the invention of
the black powder drastically changed the warfare tactics. Too heavy, too
slow and clumsy to escape the enemy fire, the knight-horse became useless
and already in the 15th and 16th century there was a
need for a faster, quicker and more maneuverable horse for the new type of
warfare. From the war and tournament horses became draft horses pulling
carts or ships; which actually served to their preservation, because their
breed lacking the demand was slowly disappearing during the centuries.
In the 19th century, for the improvement through crossbreeding without carefully thought out plan, the Percherons and Boulonnais were imported to Belgium as well as heavy Clydesdales and Shires from England, Bityug from Russia; later even the English halfbloods, times some thoroughbreds yet, and as the consequence of such chaos in breeding the horses naturally became heavier and heavier. During the Crimean War in the 19th century however, the demand for the heavier horse was on the rise again, and the merchants from Germany and France were turning their eyes also toward Belgium. With this, the prices of these horses have also risen which sparked a renewed interest in breeding and especially by some sharp hippologists, who first and foremost managed to stop the state involvement in the breeding. On the incentive of chevalier Henry de Theulegoet the breeders formed a Belgian horse breeders society “Le cheval de trait belge”, whose goal was to uplift the breeding of the heavy horse in the whole country of Belgium and to promote more evenly proportioned and of same type coldblood. All conditions were greatly improved for the intensive nurturing and raising of the young stock. With careful selection and occasional inbreeding there was bred a horse that resembled very closely the old Ardennian and Brabant breed. All other types were systematically suppressed.
These imposed strict standards managed to improve and unite the breed of the Belgian draft remarkably in very short period of time, whose as a founder was not chosen the heavy Ardennais but more evenly build Brabant. The license commission managed to discover several Brabant stallions of even proportioned massiveness, correct shapes in their individuality, which they passed on their offspring. Most famous were stallion Jupiter ex Bayard, whose sons Re’ve d’Or, Brion d’Or and Mont d’Or contributed most to the development of today’s Belgian Draft Horse. Besides these, there were also highly valued lines of Indige’ne de Fosteau (son of Brion d’Or) and the stallion Conde. The pedigree in Belgium is more important than the exterior. Today, the Belgian Draft Horse is most widely spread coldblooded breed.
Ludvik K Stanek a.k.a.
from the 1953 Special Zoo-Technique - Breeding of Horses
Published in 1953 by the Czechoslovakian Academy of Agricultural Science and certified by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Written by: MVDr Ludvik Ambroz, Frabtisek Bilek, MVDr Karel Blazek, Ing. Jaromir Dusek, Ing. Karel Hartman, Hanus Keil, pro. MVDr Emanuel Kral, Karel Kloubek, Ing. Dr. Frantisek Lerche, Ing. Dr Vaclav Michal, Ing. Dr Zdenek Munki, Ing. Vladimir Mueller, MVDr Julius Penicka, pro. MVDr Emil Pribyl, MVDr Lev Richter, prof. Ing. Dr Josef Rechta, MVDr Karel Sejkora and Ing. Dr Jindrich Steinitz.