American Belgian Draft
The most numerous draft horse breed in the United States.
The American Belgian Draft is a draft horse breed from the United States. It originated from Belgian workhorses, but selective breeding and isolation made it genetically distinct by the early 1900s. Compared to its European ancestors, it is taller, lighter in build, and has a notably different range of coat colors.
Quick Facts
- Country
- United States
- Distribution
- United States, Canada
- Use
- draft work
- pulling competitions
- showing
Facts from the source article.
History
The American Belgian derives from Ardennais, Brabant and Flemish horses imported from Belgium in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The breed association was founded in 1887 in Wabash, Indiana. Imports stopped during World War I, resumed in the 1930s, and ended again with World War II; Erwin F. Dygert of Iowa purchased a horse from the last European shipment as the war began. From the 1920s, breeding emphasized taller, lighter-bodied animals. Mechanization caused registrations to drop to a few hundred annually, but numbers recovered, and it is now the most numerous draft breed in the US.
Characteristics
The American Belgian Draft is a large, heavy horse, but it stands taller and has a lighter frame than the Belgian Brabant, more closely resembling the Flemish Horse. Some individuals reach extraordinary sizes; the stallion Brooklyn Supreme is one of the largest horses ever recorded, and the gelding Big Jake, born in 2001, was recognized by Guinness World Records as the tallest living horse during his lifetime. The breed’s most common color is a light chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail, often called sorrel, though bay, black, gray, red bay, and roan also occur. Its head is relatively small and well-proportioned compared to other draft breeds. The American Belgian Draft has a high rate of junctional epidermolysis bullosa, a genetic disorder often fatal in newborn foals; a 2001–2003 study found 17.1% of tested horses in the US and Canada were carriers. A PCR test became available in 2002, and the Belgian Draft Horse Corp mandates testing. The breed is also prone to chronic progressive lymphedema, which causes swelling in the lower legs.
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