Breeds – R

 

Rhenish

 
  • Origins:  Germany - developed as a breed in the Rhein Province, from heavy horses from Ardennes, Rheinland, Westphalia and Saxony.  The Belgian Heavy Draught was a major influence.
  • Height:  16 - 17 hh (160 – 170cms)
  • Colour:  Chestnut or Red Roan
  • Features:  Deep, broad and very powerful, with good conformation and bone, and it has a good action for a heavy breed.  Once Germany's most numerous heavy horse.
 

 

Breeds – S

 

Shetland Pony 

 

  • Origins:  A unique breed, perhaps a dwarf variety of the Exmoor type.  Cave paintings in the Bay of Biscay (France and Spain) show ponies with features that are unique to the Shetland.  Isolated for close to two thousand years on these remote islands north of Scotland, no outside influence occurred until the breed began to be taken to the mainland during the 19th century.
  • Height:  Not more than 10.2 hh (105cms)
  • Colour:  Black, Bay, Brown, Chestnut and Grey.  There are also piebalds and skewbalds.
  • Features:  The smallest of all breeds of ponies, this is probably the strongest member of the equine world, for its size.  Generally used in the islands as a pack pony to carry peat or seaweed.  The mane is abundant and the tail is carried high.  Bred to survive in a harsh climate and on sparse, poor quality grazing, these ponies are regular candidates for laminitis when kept on lush, abundant pasture.

 

Shire Horse

 

  • Origins:  Descended from the "Great Horse of England" of the Middle Ages, it was necessarily 'great' to carry men in armour weighing, in all, about 30 stone, and almost certainly derives from Flemish stock.  It is mostly bred in the deep, light-soiled shires of Lincoln, Cambridge and Huntingdon, in England, where it has been very popular as a farm worker.
  • Height:  16.2 - 17.2 hh but can be as large as 18 - 20 hh. (165 – 200cms)
  • Colour:  Black predominates, also bay and brown, with white on legs and feet but no large splashes of white elsewhere
  • Features:  Enormously powerful, they can pull 5 tons, but are gentle and docile.  They weigh up to 1120 kgs, twice the weight of a large Thoroughbred.  Abundant feathering on the lower legs.

 

Standardbred

 

  • Origins:  U.S.A.  The father of the breed was Rysdyk's "Hambletonian" foaled in 1849 and descended from the English Thoroughbred "Messenger".  He also had the Norfolk Trotting bloodline of "Bellfounder" which claimed the blood of the Darley Arabian.  Other influences were Canadian pacers, Cleveland Bays Morabs and Morgans. 
  • Height:  Average height 15.2 hh.  May be as big as 16 hh and as small as 14 hh (140 – 160cms).
  • Colour:  Most commonly Bay.
  • Features:  Bred for high speed at the trot.

 

Suffolk, a.k.a. Suffolk Punch

 

  • Origins:  Suffolk, England.  Said to date back to 1506 and every specimen today traces sits descent in direct male line, in unbroken chain, to a horse foaled in 1760.  
  • Height:  Around 16 hh (160cms)
  • Colour:  Always Chestnut
  • Features:  The most lightly feathered of the English heavy breeds, Suffolks are economical to keep, doing well on little food.  They are active and docile, compact and well rounded, and are able to trot in spite of their bulk.

 

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