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The Don horse is a Russian breed with a history that reaches back to the Don Cossacks of the eighteenth century. The story of the Don horses and their Cossack riders is a respected theme in the history of Russia. The original Don horses were small and extremely tough animals. The modern breed has retained a reputation for hardiness that inspires riders today to buy a Don Horse. They are still largely grazed in taboons, a type of horse husbandry dating back centuries, which ensures that breeders who produce and sell a Don horse maintain the robust health of their animals. Today, after many changes to the breed, Don horses are excellent all-round riding and light draught horses.
The modern Don horse averages 15.2 hands (62 inches/157 cm) to 16.2 hands (66 inches/168 cm) high. They are very distinctive, with powerful necks and broad chests. The crest is also prominent in these horses. Their coats are mostly chestnut and brown, with the glorious golden shine that can be seen in many Russian breeds with Central Asian ancestry. Their stamina makes them a good option for endurance riding, and so it is not surprising that many distance riders opt to buy a Don horse. Coach and carriage drivers who sell a Don horse know that they are strong harness horses, too. In their homeland, members of the breed can often be seen taking part in traditional carriage and sleigh work such as the troika and the tachanka, which is a four-horse hitch.
Cossacks were some of the most feared and admired horsemen in history. Living on the fringes of society in demanding conditions on the steppe, they became superb riders with a reputation for ruthlessness. They were often enrolled as light horsemen in the service of the Tsar. Their small, strong horses had a reputation to match, having immense stamina and powers of endurance. The ancestors of these horses were probably Tartar and Polovtsian breeds, both of these being steppe nomads of Turko-Mongol origin. By the eighteenth century, the Don Cossacks and their horses mainly occupied the valley of the River Don and its tributaries. It was at this time that the modern type of Don began to emerge, as the Cossack horses were bred to Karabakh, Persian and other stallions. These cavalry horses entered the history books as the mounts of the 60,000 Cossacks who harried Napoleon on his retreat from Moscow in 1812, striking again and again at the French troops as they struggled through terrible conditions with their horses dying beside them. After plundering parts of France, these merciless horsemen returned to Russia. Their own horses, raised to cope with deep snowdrifts and temperature extremes, survived due to their natural robustness. This type was known as the “Old Don”. As the nineteenth century progressed, Don horses were bred with other regional breeds to increase their resilience and stamina. Orlov Trotters, Thoroughbreds and Karabakh horses were used to improve the Don horses in return. Breeding had to be very selective to ensure the horses retained their hardiness. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Don was a fine cavalry horse, typically chestnut with the golden sheen. After the losses of WWI and the Russian Revolution, the breed was restored in Russia.
The Don horse contributed to the creation of many breeds, including the Budyonny and Kushum breeds. Three types exist today: a saddle type, a heavier harness type, and an Oriental type.