Drafthorse for sale

Features and character of cold bloods

The most obvious characteristic of a cold blood breed is sheer size. Cold bloods can easily be 18 hands in height (72 inches/183 cm). Some are as tall as 20 hands 2 inches (82 inches/208 cm). For farm work, a cold blood with shorter legs and a low centre of gravity is often preferred, while for moving large vehicles, such as brewers’ drays loaded with barrels, somewhat taller horses with powerful quarters and specialist leg conformation are often preferred. The legs of cold bloods are big and powerful. They have amiable but alert faces to go with their hard-working, willing natures. Cold bloods have large feet and lift their legs with an impressive, measured action.

Many of the draught horse breeds originated in Europe. The ancestors of the modern cold bloods were not as tall as the modern draught horse breeds, but they were stronger than the little light horses, such as palfreys, which were used for everyday riding. On the whole, they did not move as quickly, but were slower and steadier. They came to be called “cold bloods” in contrast to the faster, more agile light breeds, such as the Turkoman, Arabian and Barb, which were considered to be “hot bloods”. The cold bloods were also believed to have steady temperaments, which made them reliable workers. When transporting goods or ploughing, they did not need to trot, so steadiness, power and hard-working qualities were required. Some had long hairs on their fetlocks called feathers and they often had long manes and tails.

It wasn’t until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the draught horses seriously increased in size. Then, the development of breeds such as the English Shire, the Scottish Clydesdale and the French Percheron through selective breeding began to produce animals that were larger and stronger than ever before. The increase in the size of these breeds was paralleled by agricultural improvement and growing industrialisation. Eventually, many nations had their own type of cold blood draught horse breed, or even breeds, from Brittany to Russia. They remained largely a product of Europe and many of the breeds of Western Europe were sold elsewhere in the world as workhorses. More recently, cold bloods have been used to create the modern warmblood sports horse breeds.