Draft horse
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Two pairs of Shire horses and a pair of Suffolk Punches pulling dray wagons decorated with the livery of their home breweries. |
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A Pomeranian farmer (ploughman or plowman) works the land with a horse and plough. Communism has not modernised agriculture dramatically in Poland. |
A
draft horse,
draught horse or
dray horse (from the Anglo-Saxon
dragan meaning to draw or haul) is a large
horse bred for hard, heavy tasks such as
ploughing and
farm labour. Draught horses are versatile breeds used today for a multitude of purposes but all share the traits of strength, stamina, health, longevity, patience and a docile temperament which made them indispensable to generations of
pre-industrial farmers.
The ancestors of modern draught horse breeds were the medieval
Destriers or
war horses, bred to carry a heavily armed and armoured knight into
battle or individual
combat such as
jousting.
Though in modern times best known for their key role in
agriculture, these heavy breeds also found work wherever their strength and willing disposition could be put to good use, moving
freight around the
docks, drawing
canal boats and pulling
trolleys,
lorries and
wagons on the road, in which role they were of particular importance to the
brewing industry as a means of delivering
beer to surrounding
pubs.
The spectacle of the working dray horse can still be witnessed at many breweries (such as
Sam Smith's in
Yorkshire) where teams of heavy horses are maintained in their traditional role to deliver beer and represent the company at local
festivals and
shows. To this day, whatever the means of transport, the person responsible for delivering beer on behalf of a brewery is referred to as the
drayman.
The draught horse declined in economic importance following the end of the second world war, and in the latter half of the twentieth century even the most well-known of the heavy breeds were on the verge of disappearing altogether. Thankfully, this has been prevented and a more recent resurgence of interest, driven by a renewed appreciation of the qualities of the breeds, will hopefully ensure their continued survival.
Today, draft horses are again valued as riding horses thanks to their temperament and stamina.
The
Shire horse holds the record for the world's biggest horse;
Sampson, foaled in 1846 in
Bedfordshire,
England, stood 21.2½
hands high (i.e. 7ft 2½in or approx 2.2m at his
withers) and weighed approx 3,300lb or over 1.5 tonnes.
A number of
horse breeds are used as draft horses with the variation being largely geographic. Examples include:
*
Ardennes*
Belgian*
Clydesdale*
Friesian*
Irish Draft*
Percheron*
Shire*
Suffolk PunchHarness Horse
The terms
harness horse and
light harness horse refer to horses of a lighter build, such as the traditional carriage horses, and are not generally used in the
UK to denote "heavy" or draught horses. Harness horse breeds include
Oldenburgh,
Cleveland Bay, the
Hackney horse, some warmbloods and in some disciplines even
Thoroughbred horses. They are used in carriage driving activities, pulling coaches, traditional and modern carriages, marathon vehicles, carts and gigs etc.
