The Abtenauer is a rare draft horse

Draft horse

A draft horse , draught horse or dray horse , less often called a work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred for hard, heavy tasks such as ploughing and farm labour...

 breed. It is the smallest variant of the Noriker horse

Noriker horse

The Noriker horse, also called the Norico-Pinzgauer and historically known as the Pinzgauer horse, is a moderately heavy Austrian draught horse breed. The Noriker is considered indigenous to the central Alpine region of Europe, and is believed to have originated around the highest mountain of...

, but is very strong despite its small size. Bred in the isolated valley of Abtenau

Abtenau

Abtenau is a market town in the Hallein district of Salzburg, Austria.-Sister towns: Big Bear Lake...

, south of Salzburg

Salzburg

-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

 in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, it is a consolidated population in itself.

Characteristics

The Abtenauer has a quiet, willing disposition and stands between 14.3 to 15 hands high. Of lighter bone than the Noriker, the Abtenauer breeds true to type and is well adapted to the poor soil on which it lives.

The breed is known for its easy, flowing trotting action. The Abtenauer is elegantly built with a well-shaped head and strong legs. Abtenauers are usually black

Black (horse)

Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and novices frequently mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. However, some breeds of horses, such as the Friesian horse, Murgese and Ariegeois are almost exclusively black...

, chestnut

Chestnut (coat)

Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...

, or blue roan

Roan (horse)

Roan is a horse coat color pattern characterized by an even mixture of colored and white hairs on the body, while the head and "points"—lower legs, mane and tail—are more solid-colored. The roan pattern is dominantly-inherited, and is found in many horse breeds...

; black is the most common color but all colors are accepted, except leopard spotting

Leopard (pattern)

Leopard is a term used to describe a spotted color pattern, particularly in the hair coat or skin of animals, but also used to describe spotting patterns in plants and fabrics...

.

Mares and foals spend the summers in pasture high in the mountains and are fed salt

Salt

In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

 once a week to prevent them from becoming feral

Feral

A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...

. They spend the summer freely roaming the alpine meadows with cattle. Often foals are born with peculiar curly coats that are lost when the baby hair is shed.

Uses

Because of its agility and good sense of balance, this breed is valuable for work in mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

 forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s.