The Vladimir Heavy Draft is a Russian

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 ...

of heavy

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 ...

. It was

bred 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 ...

in the early twentieth century in farms and collectives in

Ivanovo Oblast Ivanovo Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It had a population of 927,828 as of the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Russian Census. Its three largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, cities are Ivanovo (the administrat ...

and

Vladimir Oblast Vladimir Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Vladimir, which is located east of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, the oblast's population was 1,443,693. The UNESCO World Heritage L ...

, to the east of Moscow. The most important influence on the development of the breed was from three Clydesdale stallions foaled between 1910 and 1923. The Vladimir was officially recognised in 1946.

History

The Russian Empire had no indigenous breeds of heavy draught horse. The Vladimir was created at about the same time as the development of the Russian Heavy Draught in Ukraine. The foundations of the Vladimir breed were laid between 1886 and 1924. Initial breeding began at the

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud (animal), stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, ...

Gavrilov Posad Gavrilov Posad () is a town and the administrative center of Gavrilovo-Posadsky District in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia, located on the Voymiga River at its confluence with the Irmes River, southwest of Ivanovo, the administrative center of the ob ...

, in

, where local horses were

cross-bred 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 ...

with imported Clydesdale stock, with some limited influence from Cleveland Bay,

Percheron The Percheron is a horse breed, breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province, from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray (horse), gray or black (horse), black in col ...

and

Suffolk Punch The Suffolk Horse, also historically known as the Suffolk Punch or Suffolk Sorrel, is an English breed of draught horse. The first part of the name is from the county of Suffolk in East Anglia, and the word "punch" is an old English word for ...

. Some use was made of

Shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

mares between 1919 and 1929. The three foundation stallions of the breed were all Clydesdales. Two of these – Border Brand and Lord James – were foaled in 1910, while Glen Albin was born in 1923. The amount of cross-breeding was progressively reduced during the 1920s, and over the next twenty years the character and type of the breed were fixed. Official recognition came in 1946.

Characteristics

The Vladimir is a draught horse of medium power, with energetic and active gaits. It is more solidly built than the Clydesdale, and unusually deep in the girth – thoracic circumference may reach It is usually clean-legged, though

feathering Feathering is a technique used in computer graphics software to smooth or blur the edges of a feature. The term is inherited from a technique of fine retouching using fine feathers. Paintbrush feathering Feathering is most commonly used on a ...

can occur.

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

is the most usual colour, with

white markings Markings on horses are usually distinctive white areas on an otherwise dark base coat color. Most horses have some markings, and they help to identify the horse as a unique individual. Markings are present at birth and do not change over the ...

to the face and legs.

Use

The Vladimir was bred for agricultural

draught work A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for transportation (e.g. riding horses and camels), while other ...

. It may be reared for

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

. It is fast-growing: at six months, foals may reach a weight of Because of its lively trot movement, it is found suitable for pulling the three-horse ''

troika Troika or troyka (from Russian тройка, meaning 'a set of three' or the digit '3') may refer to: * Troika (driving), a traditional Russian harness driving combination, a cultural icon of Russia Politics * Triumvirate, a political regime rul ...

'' of the region.

References

Horse breeds Horse breeds originating in Russia Draft horses {{bots, deny=Citation bot