Russian Don

The Don horse is the traditional horse of the Don Cossacks, whose ancestors lived in the Russian steppe for thousands of years. They had also proportion of the expulsion of Napoleon 's Grand Army and became world famous by it.

Background information on the evaluation and breeding horses can be found at: exterior, interior and horse breeding.

Exterior

The medium-sized, straight or concave head sits on a well-shaped, sometimes straight neck. The chest is broad, the back short and broad, long croup falls obliquely. The formerly widespread rückbiegige position of the front legs and a säbelbeinige position of the hind legs are only rarely found. The average Height of the stallions is 162 cm. The vast majority of Don horses are gold foxes with a remarkable metallic sheen. White markings - especially blazes - are commonly found.

Interior

The Don horse has to this day the constitution of the harsh steppe horse. It is hardy and undemanding, insensitive to the weather and has a long service life. The temperament is balanced. At the same time Don horse has a liveliness that it has inherited from his ancestors Turkmen.

Even today, the Don horse is used as a horse herdsmen on the steppes and in the mountains. In addition, it is used for trail riding and recreational sports. The Don horse has good jumping facilities. Particularly good benefits it brings in races at long range. Because of its utter fearlessness, it is very suitable as a police horse. The Don horse is still mainly used as a riding horse. In addition, there is now also used in agriculture as a light draft horse.

Breeding history

As early as the 18th century, the tamed by nomads Don horses were carefully planned enhanced by the introgression of Mongolian and oriental breeds and Arabian stallions. From the 19th century horse breeds were bred from the West, as the chunky Dons had many faults in structure. You bred later only purebred from the 1920s. The aim of the breed was the adaptation of horses to the needs of the military.

The Don horse formed the basis for the relatively new breed of Budjonny and was also used in the breeding of many other Russian breeds. These include the Kustanai (horse), the Tersk, Kazakh ( horse).