Brabançon Horse

(from the historical region Brabant), a breed of large, heavy draft horses from Belgium, known under the general name Belgian step horse. It was developed by improvement of the native heavy work horse. The contemporary type of Brabançon has a clearly articulated heavy draft build; the torso is long, wide, and deep; the croup is “forked”; the horse has a concave spine, short legs, and thick, insufficiently hard hooves, with a large fetlock. The coat is rust-colored, bay, dark bay, roan, and occasionally gray.

The dimensions of the stallion are 160–167 cm tall at the withers, 175–176 cm along the torso, 215–220 cm around the chest, and 26–28 cm around the shank. The corresponding dimensions of mares are 160–163, 174–175, 205–210, and 24–26. The average live weight of stallions is 900 kg, sometimes reaching 1,200 kg; mares weigh 700 kg.

Brabançons require a lot of feed. They mature very quickly; two-year-olds can be used in farm work. Brabancons are bred throughout Belgium, the German Democratic Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, the USA, and other countries. In the USSR a Soviet heavy draft breed based on the Brabançon has been developed.