Pony breeds and saddle and sport horses are the main horse breeds in Denmark.
Through imports and the establishment of dedicated racecourses, the development of trotting is reflected in the breeding of the Danish trotter.
Most of the Danish horses are to be found on the Jutland peninsula, especially the local draft horse breed (Jutland horse).
According to Eugène Tisserand (1865), Danish horses have always had an excellent reputation for their beauty, docility, and strength: [1]
According to J. Jensen:
The Danish equestrian sector represents a turnover of 1.1 billion euros (in 2017) and creates 20,849 full-time equivalent [3] jobs, according to the 2010 Hestesektoren Report. Taxation is very high, with a VAT rate of 25%, with no exemption for equestrian activities. [3]
The Danish Riding Federation (DRF) [3] is one of the leading sports federations in the country. [4] Denmark has a central database managed by SEGES, part of Landbrug & Fødevarer F.m.b.A (Ministry of Agriculture), which registers and publishes the papers of horses belonging to Denmark's [3] 24 recognized breed associations. It shares its data with the DRF and veterinarians, making it possible, among other things, to calculate genetic indices. [3]
Dansk Hestevaeddelob administers trotting races. [3] Denmark is relatively active in this sector with eight dedicated [5] racecourses, although it is in recession. [3]
Dansk Galop [3] manages Galop racing. This sector is very small, with the 96 purebred foals offered for sale in Hørsholm in 2015 representing a turnover of approximately 958,000 euros. [3]
According to the Delachaux guide, Denmark breeds mainly saddle and sport [4] horses. Aline Decouty and Astrid Engelsen in their article (2017) for the
Institut Français du Cheval et de l'Equitation (French Equestrian Institute) contradicted this. According to them, 51% of the country's horses (90,000) are ponies of the Fjord, Haflinger, Danish sport pony, New Forest, Shetland, Icelandic, Gotland, Connemara, Dartmoor and miniature [3] breeds. Being the Shetland pony the most common.[ citation needed ]
Danish trotters are bred from imported breeds using artificial insemination. [4]
However, the trotter numbers are declining, with a loss of one-third of new births between 2010 and 2015, leaving a remaining herd of about 400 foals, 85 stallions, and 500 broodmares in 2015. [3] This represents 2% of the total European trotter breeding herd with 251 breeders.
Purebred horses were abundant in 2010, although the number of new births is low.[ citation needed ]
In 2015, only 14 stallions, 160 broodmares, and 101 foals were registered, representing 0.11% of the world's registered purebreds. [3] It is important to mention that the Oldenburg, imported from neighboring Germany, is rare.[ citation needed ]
In addition to the local Jutland breed, which numbered 1,817 in 2017, Denmark is home to a small number of draft Belgian breeds.[ citation needed ]
The horse is well represented in Danish proverbs, such as Det er en slem Heft som gaaer tilbage og ey freni, naar han stik, which means "It's a bad horse that moves backward instead of forwards when you give it a spur [6] ".
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse with historic roots on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest modern breeds. Although modern DNA cannot trace breed purity in the modern population beyond 200 years, there is archaeological evidence of horses in the Middle East with landrace characteristics that resemble modern Arabians dating back 3,500 years. Throughout history, Arabian horses have spread around the world by both war and trade, used to improve other breeds by adding speed, refinement, endurance, and strong bone. Today, Arabian bloodlines are found in almost every modern breed of riding horse.
The Suffolk Horse, also historically known as the Suffolk Punch or Suffolk Sorrel, is an English breed of draught horse. The first part of the name is from the county of Suffolk in East Anglia, and the word "Punch" is an old English word for a short stout person. It is a heavy draught horse which is always chestnut in colour, traditionally spelled "chesnut". Suffolk Punches are known as good doers, and tend to have energetic gaits.
The New Forest pony is one of the recognised mountain and moorland or native pony breeds of the British Isles. Height varies from around 12 to 14.2 hands ; ponies of all heights should be strong, workmanlike, and of a good riding type. They are valued for hardiness, strength, and sure-footedness.
The Dales Pony is a British breed of pony or small horse. It originated in, and is named for, the Dales of Yorkshire in northern England. It is one the nine native mountain and moorland pony breeds of the United Kingdom, and belongs to the broader Celtic group of ponies which extends from Portugal and northern Spain to Scandinavia.
The Pottok or Pottoka, is an endangered, semi-feral breed of pony native to the Pyrenees of the Basque Country in France and Spain.
The Danish Landrace, Danish: Hvid Dansk Landrace, is a Danish breed of pig. It is of medium to large size, white in colour with a long body, fine hair, a long snout, and heavy drooping ears. There are two distinct varieties, the white and the piebald.
The Falabella is an Argentine breed of small horse. It is among the smallest of horse breeds, with a height at the withers in the range 63–86 cm (25–34 in)..
The Lundy Pony is a British breed of pony bred on Lundy Island in the twentieth century.
The Orlov Trotter is a horse breed with a hereditary fast trot, noted for its outstanding speed and stamina. It is the most famous Russian horse. The breed was developed in Russia in the late 18th century by Count Alexei Orlov at his Khrenovskoy stud farm near the town of Bobrov. The Orlovs emerged as the result of crossing various European mares with Arabian stallions.
The Jutland horse is a draft horse breed originating in Denmark, named after the Jutland Peninsula which forms the western part of the country. Usually chestnut, they are a compact, muscular breed known for their calm and willing temperament. The breed was originally developed for use in agriculture, but today is more often seen in urban settings and at horse shows. Some of the best known members of the breed pull beer wagons for the Carlsberg brewery around Copenhagen, as well as at competitions and for demonstrations. Images from the 9th century show a horse similar to the Jutland being used by Viking raiders in what is now Great Britain. The first written record is from the 12th century, when they were popular as war horses. Some infusion of bloodlines from other breeds occurred in the 18th century, but the modern Jutland type only began about 1850 with the addition of blood from several other breeds, mainly draft horses. A stud book was created in the late 19th century, and the Jutland population grew to a maximum around 15,000 by 1950. Numbers subsequently declined, and as of 2011, only an estimated 1,000 horses remained.
The Mérens, Cheval de Mérens or Caballo de Merens, still occasionally referred to by the older name of Ariégeois pony, is a small, rustic horse native to the Pyrenees and Ariégeois mountains of southern France, where the river Ariège flows, and northern Spain, near Andorra. Two general types, a small, light traditional mountain horse and a taller, sportier modern type, are found. Always black in color, Mérens must meet strict physical standards in order to be registered in the stud book. The breed is known for its sure-footedness on mountain terrain, as well as for its endurance, hardiness and docility. The French breed registry organizes regional offices, and partners with other national organizations in Europe to preserve and promote the breed. The organization enforces rigorous selection of breeding stock, with a goal of increasing quality in the breed. In the past, the Mérens was used for farm work, draft work and as pack horses. Today it is mainly used as a saddle horse, although some members of the breed have been successful in carriage driving. Many Mérens are taken on an annual transhumance, in which they are moved higher in the mountains during the summer and into the valleys for the winter. An old practice, it fell into disfavor, but has recently re-emerged.
A part-Arabian, partbred Arabian or, less precisely, half-Arabian, is a horse with documented amounts of Arabian horse breeding but not a purebred. Because the Arabian is deemed to be a breed of purebred horse dating back many centuries, the modern breed registries recognized by the World Arabian Horse Organization generally have tightly closed stud books which exclude a horse from registration if it is found to contain any outside blood. However, Arabian breeding has also been used for centuries to add useful traits to countless other horse breeds. In the modern era, crossbreeding has been popular to combine the best traits of two different breeds, such as color, size, or ability to specialize in a particular equestrian discipline.
The Polish sport horse is a studbook of sport horses, from Poland. This recent studbook, which does not constitute a breed, comes from selective breeding for equestrian sports. It is selected from Malopolski and Wielkopolski, both of which perform poorly on the international sporting scene, and from crosses with various sport horses. The animals are large, with muscular rumps and strong legs.
Horses in Slovenia are represented above all by the traditional Lipizzan breed, inherited from Austria-Hungary; like Austria, Slovenia claims the Lipizzan as its national symbol. Horses have long been present on Slovenian territory; draft horses suffered a sharp decline in the 20th century, with only the native breeds of Slovenian Cold-blood and Posavina surviving. Slovenian breeders also have sport horses, such as the Slovenian Saddlebred and the Ljutomer Trotter. Slovenians distinguish their native horse breeds from traditional breeds.
The Tuva is a breed of small saddle horses native to the Tuva region of Russia. Classified among the "Siberian pony" family, it proves to be much closer to the Mongolian horse, having lived relatively isolated from other Asian and Eastern European horses. It has long been ridden by the nomadic horse riders of its region, for breeding and hunting. At the end of the 19th century, mineral extraction led to the import of draft horses and saddles, giving rise through crossbreeding to the Upper Yenisei horse, now very rare, and the Tuva carriage horse, now extinct.
The Zakynthos is a breed of generally black saddle and combined driving horses originating from the island of Zante, one of the Ionian Islands, in Greece. The origin of this breed is very recent, dating back to the 20th century. This breed is of Anglo-Arabian type and is genetically close to the Andravida. Genetic analysis shows that it has been crossed with the Thoroughbred. The Zakynthos may also be descended from the Nivernais-type Percheron. Its type remains unstable, and the breed has no official standards or identification documents.
The Argentine Polo Pony, Spanish: Polo Argentino, is the Argentine breed of polo pony. It was recognized in 1984, it is popular in the country.
The Cuban Paso is a horse breed native to Cuba, with an extra gait like all Paso horses.
The Adaev is a horse breed for riding and light draft. It is native to the desert regions of southern Kazakhstan and is one of the two types of the Kazakh breed, along with the Jabe. Finer and less hardy than the Jabe, the Adaev is an "Oriental Turk" type. It is mainly used for local equestrian sports and herding. Mares are milked for their milk. Like most Kazakh horses, the Adaev is sometimes slaughtered for its meat, although this is only a secondary purpose. Little known outside its native area, the Adaev has spread to neighboring Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with nearly 29,000 individual horses counted in 1990.