Groningen horse
1898 lithograph of the Groningen
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| Other names | Groninger Groningse paard |
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| Country of origin | The Netherlands |
| Traits | |
| Distinguishing features | Calm, substantial farm and carriage horse with a plain head, powerful, high-set neck, and level topline. |
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The Groningen Horse is a Dutch horse breed developed for light draft and agricultural work. It is closely related to heavy warmblood breeds like the East Friesian and Alt-Oldenburger. The breed was nearly lost in the mid-20th century because a significant number of mares were used for crossbreeding to create the Dutch Warmblood, leaving few purebreds.
The Groningen shares much of its initial foundation with the Friesian, East Friesian and Alt-Oldenburger, and Holsteiner: small native farm horses and medieval destriers were influenced by popular Spanish, Neapolitan, and Arabian horses in the 17th and 18th centuries. Horses like England's Cleveland Bay were also utilized, producing a horse that was tall by the standards of the day, as well as reasonably elegant with deep, wide haunches and a thick, high-set neck.
Although selection procedures had been in use for many years, the first Dutch horse registries weren't founded until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The North-Netherlands Warmblood Horse Studbook, or NWP, regulated horse breeding in Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe, while the NSTg did the same for the southern regions, including Gelderland. The goals of the registries were characterized by distinct differences in the soil composition: Groningen had heavy, wet, clay soil and needed a particularly stout horse to till it, while the soil in Gelderland was sandier.
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Wikipedia