The Polish Coldblood () is a modern Polish

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

draught horse A draft horse (US) or draught horse (UK), also known as dray horse, carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal hauling freight and doing heavy agricultural tasks such as plough, plowing. There are a nu ...

of medium to heavy weight. It was formed in 1964 when the various regional draught breeds or types were merged into a single

stud-book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry, the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders w ...

. Those local types derived from

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

of local

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

s with imported stallions of heavy draught breeds, principally of Ardennais,

Belgian Draught The Belgian Draught, , , is a Belgium, Belgian list of horse breeds, breed of draught horse. It originates in the region of the Low Countries that is now central Belgium, and may also be called the Brabant after the former Province of Brabant ...

and Swedish Ardennes stock. In the twenty-first century the horses are used for tractive power and are reared for horsemeat, particularly for the Italian market.

History

In 1964 the various regional draught breeds of Poland were merged into a single

, the . Among these were the Garwolin, the Kopczyk Podlaski, the Koszalin, the Lidzbark, the Łowicz-Sochaczewski, the Sokółka and the Sztumski. In 2024 the total number of the horses was some head, substantially lower than in 2002, when it was almost . The registered breeding stock consisted of approximately brood-mares and stallions. In 2024 the

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

of the breed was "not at risk". A separate stud-book was established in 2013 for the Arden or Polish Ardennes, bred at the stud-farms of Bielin in the

West Pomeranian Voivodeship West Pomeranian Voivodeship is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in northwestern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Szczecin. Its area equals , and in 2021, it was inhabited by 1,682,003 people. It was established on 1 Janua ...

and Nowe Jankowice in the

Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship * Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) in Poland. * Kuyavian-Pomeranian is one of 13 Polish constituency of the European Parliament. * Kuyavian-Pomeranian Regional Assembly is the regional legislature of t ...

. It derives from Ardennais and Swedish Ardennes stock imported since the later nineteenth century and is bred principally as a harness horse.

Characteristics

The Polish Coldblood is a heavy horse, with weights usually in the range , though some can weigh more than . The height at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

usually falls between .

Use

The regional draught breeds of Poland were used principally for tractive power in agriculture. In the twenty-first century the horses are commonly reared for horsemeat, particularly for the Italian market.

References

{{Horse breeds of Poland Horse breeds Horse breeds originating in Poland Draft horses