Budennyi Breed

a native breed of riding horses, developed in 1921-48 in the S. M. Budennyi and First Cavalry Army horse farms in Rostov Oblast. The Budennyi breed combines the best qualities of the Don and Chistokrovnaia riding breeds. Budennyi horses are large, harmoniously formed, and have a goldish red—less frequently brown and bay—coat. The average measurements of stallions are as follows (measurements for mares are in parentheses): height at the withers, 162.2 cm (161.8); diagonal length of the trunk, 163.5 cm (163.3); breadth of the chest, 186.0 cm (189.4); and breadth of the shank, 20.5 cm (20.0). The average liveweight of stallions is 550 kg; of mares, 500 kg. The horses are used saddled for work or in harness for light transport; they are also used in equestrian sports. Budennyi horses are distinguished by a high work capacity and endurance; they surpass all other native breeds in racing speed and steadily pass on their valuable qualities to their descendants.

The Budennyi breed is raised in horse farms and sovkhozes of Rostov Oblast. The stallions are used as breed improvers in horse farms of Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar and Stavropol’ krais, and the Kazakh, Ukrainian, Moldavian, Uzbek, and Kirghiz SSR’s. There were 84,200 Budennyi horses in the USSR as of Jan. 1, 1969.