The Ardennes Horse

The Ardennes horse is one of the oldest horse breeds in Europe. It origins in the rough and hilly region of the Ardennes of France, Belgium and Luxembourg and his ancestors, also heavy horses, have been known even by the Romans. This horse breed has been used to influence and create a lot of breeds: it is part of the Ardennes-Flemish group that comprises of breeds like the Ardennes draft, the Belgian draft, The Northern Ardennes, the Auxois, the Comtois,the Swedish Ardennes, the Yougoslavian Ardennes, the Russian(or Sovjet) heavy horse and the Freiberg. These breeds are spread over countries of Western-Middle Europe, but also Eastern parts of Europe and Scandinavia. Some of them are endangered breeds (in France: Auxois, Northern Ardennes, Ardennes.

This horse is quite versatile, ideal for hard farmwork and forestry work in sensitive areas, very good for driving and they are used even in competitive driving trials.
But this is not all: they are being lately discovered as riding horses and very good and reliable companions for riding for disabled riders. They are friendly, calm and docile animals and not too tall (about 14.2 - 16.4 hh).
They have got a muscular body, a short, muscular neck and a short back. Their legs are very strong and feathered. Fur color is bay, chestnut, roan and very rarely black (as this is excluded from being registered).