Latvian (horse)
Encyclopedia
The Latvian horse comes from Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 and is split into three types: the common harness horse, a lighter riding horse and a heavier draft type. They are probably from pre-historic bloodlines, and have been in development since the 17th century.

Types

There are three basic types of Latvian horse: the heavy 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...

, which is the closest to the original type, and a horse of great strength and pulling power; secondly, the Latvian harness
Driving (horse)
Driving, when applied to horses, ponies, mules, or donkeys, is a broad term for hitching equines to a wagon, carriage, cart, sleigh, or other horse-drawn vehicle by means of a harness and working them in this way...

 horse, which is particularly suited to light draft work, but also makes a good riding horse; and lastly the most modern type - the Latvian riding horse which has developed through the addition of English Thoroughbred, Oldenburg and Hanoverian blood, and is a much finer, lighter type of riding horse. The riding horse type is becoming the most popular and the old heavy draft type is now rarely seen. However, the modern riding type is still able to perform well in harness, although it is not of draft strength. The Latvian as a breed is particularly versatile and the modern riding horse type has become extremely successful in the competition world of dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...

 and show jumping
Show jumping
Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...

.

Breed Characteristics

Typically, the Lativan horses are bay, 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...

 or 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...

, gray
Gray (horse)
Gray or grey is a coat color of horses characterized by progressive silvering of the colored hairs of the coat. Most gray horses have black skin and dark eyes; unlike many depigmentation genes, gray does not affect skin or eye color Their adult hair coat is white, dappled, or white intermingled...

 or brown (a variant of bay), and stand between 15.1 and 16 hands high. In appearance, the Latvians tend to have a large head with a straight profile, a neck that is long and muscular and set into prominent withers
Withers
The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...

. The shoulders are long and sloping and the chest high and deep. The back is straight, with a long, slightly sloping croup, and the legs are solid and well-muscled with strong joints, although rather short. Conformational problems that may be seen are cow hocks and a predisposition to ringbone. In general they have a good musculature and good stamina and endurance.

History

The Latvian breed has only been established since 1952, but is believed to have descended from ancient roots. It is likely that the Latvian was closely related to the Dole Gudbrandsdal
Dole Gudbrandsdal
The Dole Gudbrandsdal, Dølahest or Dole is a draft- and harness-type horse from Norway. The Dole Trotter is alternately considered a subtype of the Dole Gudbrandsdal and a separate breed; it is also considered a part of the Coldblood trotter type...

, the North Swedish Horse
North Swedish Horse
The North Swedish Horse is a small heavy horse originating in Sweden. According to different sources, it is considered a light draft horse or a "universal type horse". The breed also has lighter lines, bred for harness racing. The North Swedish Horse is active and tough, and resembles closely its...

 and other heavy European draft
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...

 breeds, originally dating back to the prehistoric horses
Forest Horse
Forest horse may refer to:* The Black Forest horse, or Schwarzwälder Kaltblut* New Forest Pony* The "Forest Horse", a hypothetical ancestral horse prototype proposed in the 20th century; see History of horse domestication theories‎...

 of Northern Europe. Since the 17th century, the breed has had German riding horse, Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 and Arabian
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated 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 breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...

 blood introduced.

The core of the current breed came from infusions of Oldenburg
Oldenburg (horse)
The Oldenburg is a warmblood horse from the north-western corner of Lower Saxony, what was formerly the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. The breed was built on a mare base of all-purpose farm and carriage horses, today called the Alt-Oldenburger...

, Hanoverian
Hanoverian (horse)
A Hanoverian is a warmblood horse originating in Germany, which is often seen in the Olympic Games and other competitive English riding styles, and have won gold medals in all three equestrian Olympic competitions. It is one of the oldest, most numerous, and most successful of the warmbloods...

 and Holstein
Holstein (horse)
The Holsteiner is a breed of horse originating in the Schleswig-Holstein region of northern Germany. It is thought to be the oldest of warmblood breeds, tracing back to the 13th century...

 blood in the early 20th century. From 1921 to 1940, 65 Oldenburg stallions and 42 Oldenburg mares were imported from the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and Germany as foundation stock. There were then crosses made using Hanoverian, Norfolk Roadster, Oldenburg part-bred, East Friesian and Ardennes
Ardennes (horse)
The Ardennes or Ardennais is one of the oldest breeds of draft horse, and originates from the Ardennes area in Belgium, Luxembourg and France. They are heavy-boned with thick legs and are used for draft work. The Ardennes is found in many colors, although black horses are very rare and are not...

horses. The Okte stud in the Talsa region played a critical role in breed formation, and today the main breeding herds are at the Burnieke state farm, the Uzvere and Tervete collective farms, and the Institute of Animal Breeding's Sigulda experimental farm.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK