Noriker Horse

Intro

The Noriker or Noric horse has been bred in the Alpine region and foothills of Austria for the last 2000 years. Kept in natural mountain conditions at 6000 ft, the animals are raised outside year round and seldom given extra feed. This has created an extremely hardy animal

Origins

This breed originally comes from Greece, where they bred as heavy war mounts, a tradition the Romans adopted and traveled with. The original Norikers came with the Romans during their conquest of the area. The animals that remained were bred and slowly evolved to better suit the local natural conditions and a heavy Alpine type began. Originally they were called Pinzgauer and in 1900 the name was changed to Noriker, even today occasionally a large type will be pegged Pinzgauer.

About 400 years ago the once unmonitored breeding of the Noriker stopped and came under strict regulations. A stud book was founded and stud farms established specifically for the pure breeding of the Noric horse. Interestingly enough forestry in Alpine conditions still requires horses to power it, as they are not generally conducive to heavy machinery. Due to this the 20th century has not dented their numbers as it has so many other draft breeds.

Features

Average height 15.1 – 16.3 hands

Physique

Head is dry with draft characteristics
Neck is strong and muscular
Shoulder is long and well positioned
Chest is broad and deep
Legs are correct with clean joints and little feathering