Boulonnais horse

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Boulonnais
Young Boulonnais stallion
Country of originFrance
Traits
Distinguishing featuresElegant heavy horse, found in many colors
Breed standards

The Boulonnais, also known as the "White Marble Horse",

Spanish Barb, Arabian, and Andalusian
blood were added to create the modern type.

During the early 1900s, the Boulonnais were imported in large numbers to the United States and were quite popular in France; however, the European population suffered severe decreases during 20th-century wars. The breed nearly became extinct following World War II, but rebounded in France in the 1970s as a popular breed for

crossbred
to create and refine several other draft breeds.

Breed characteristics

The characteristic facial profile of the breed

The Boulonnais today stands from 14.3 to 16.3 hands (59 to 67 inches, 150 to 170 cm) or more.[2] It has a short, elegant head with a broad forehead and a short, muscular neck. Members of the breed have full chests, rounded rib cages and sloping shoulders. The legs are fairly short but robust and strong.[1] Unlike other draft breeds such as the Shire or Clydesdale, it has no heavy feathering on its lower legs.[3] The breed is generally branded with a small anchor mark on the left side of the neck.[1] Due mostly to the many additions of Oriental blood, the Boulonnais has an elegant appearance that is not often seen in heavy draft breeds and it has been called "Europe's noblest draft horse".[4] The fineness of the skin and delicate appearance of the veins has allowed the horse to be described as looking "like polished marble",[4] leading to its "White Marble Horse" nickname.

In 1778, the French National Stud performed an initial survey of the breed and found that most were

chestnut.[4] Today, chestnut, gray and black are the only colors allowed by the French breed registry,[7] with the vast majority of horses being gray – a popular phrase says that the horses have coats "the color of the clouds from the coast".[8]

Sub-types

There were originally several types of Boulonnais. The Petit Boulonnais, Mareyeuse or Mareyeur was used in the rapid transport of cartloads of fresh fish (la marée) from the Pas-de-Calais to Paris;[2] it stood 15.1 to 15.3 hands (61 to 63 inches, 155 to 160 cm) and weighed 1,210 to 1,430 pounds (550 to 650 kg).[1] The Picard draft came from the Picardy region,[9] and was called the "horse of the bad land", in comparison to the Cauchoix horse from the Pays de Caux area, which was called the "horse of the good land".[10] The "grand Boulonnais", which stood 15.3 to 16.3 hands (63 to 67 inches, 160 to 170 cm) high and weighed 1,430 to 1,650 pounds (650 to 750 kg),[1] was bred in the 19th century for farm work in the sugar beet fields.[2] All of these types were bred together to create the modern Boulonnais horse.[10]

History

Engraving of a Boulonnais, 1861

One theory states that the origins of the Boulonnais breed emerged from the

studbook was created for the breed in France, and placed under the jurisdiction of the Syndicat Hippique Boulonnais (SHB) in 1902.[6]

During the early 20th century, the Boulonnais was imported into the United States in large numbers, where it was

Norman, Percheron and Picardy breeds were all essentially the same, and should all be known as the "Norman horse".[20] They later declared that all of the "Norman horses" were in fact "Percherons", regardless of actual breeding. This was mostly designed to sell mixed breed draft horses to American consumers at higher prices, and the Illinois Board of Agriculture soon ruled that only those Percherons who came from proven Percheron stock were to be registered as such, and all other breeds, including the Boulonnais, were to be considered separately.[21] Boulonnais were exported from France to Austria, although they saw little success there,[22] and breeding stallions were sent to Argentina.[8]

20th century and today

A modern Boulonnais, shown in-hand, 2011

The Boulonnais was once a popular workhorse in France, with an estimated population of over 600,000 in the early 1900s. World War I and World War II almost destroyed the breed, as its home area saw heavy combat in both wars and the bands of

broodmares were scattered.[11] Between World War II and the 1970s, the breed almost became extinct, and only a few breeders kept it alive. In the 1970s, it became popular for horse meat, and consumers considered it to be some of the best meat available.[23] However, by this point, there were fewer than 1,000 mares remaining.[8] During the mid-20th century, the stallions Fréthun (foaled in 1949), Select (1962), Trésor (1963),[24] Astérix (1966) and Prince (1981) had a strong influence on the breed, although this contributed to the problem of inbreeding.[2] Fréthun genes are found in 14 percent of the pedigrees of Boulonnais living today.[25] In the early 1970s, Henry Blanc, the newly appointed director of the French National Stud, proposed that nine draft horse breeds, including the Boulonnais, be recategorized from pulling horses to meat horses. When enacted, this recategorization helped to preserve the gene pool of the Boulonnais by encouraging breeding, but it also changed its primary purpose, resulting in a dramatic weight increase by the 1980s.[26]

The Boulonnais is still bred in small numbers, with the American Boulonnais Horse Association estimating a population of fewer than 1,000 animals remaining in Europe.[11] Many studs are government-funded, to prevent the breed from dying out.[3] The majority of the breed, 95 percent, are located in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Normandy regions[5] and 75 percent in just the Pas-de-Calais department of Nord-Pas-de-Calais alone.[8] Although most Boulonnais are in France, a few are exported. In 1999, fifteen foals were exported to Brazil and one stallion to Argentina. On average, a little over a dozen horses a year are exported, mainly to Brazil and Belgium for breeding and to Germany for forestry work.[27] A few horses live in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg, as well as in North America.[5] Since 2006, twenty horses, including two registry-approved breeding stallions, have been exported from France to Denmark to create a stud farm in that country.[28]

The French national stud, the Haras Nationaux, allows the registration of horses bred using artificial insemination and embryo transfer, but does not allow the registration of cloned horses.[7] It considers the breed to be endangered, along with several other French draft breeds. A 2009 study of French equine genetics proposed that the Boulonnais, along with four other French breeds, should be a conservation priority, with a goal of maintaining maximum genetic variability in France's native horse population.[29] This follows from studies done as early as 1983 that showed inbreeding and a lack of genetic diversity in the breed.[30]

Uses

Boulonnais horses at pasture in Le Titre, Somme, France

During the 17th century, the smaller Mareyeuse type was used for transporting fresh fish from

Mad Cow scares of the 1990s, the consumption of horse meat has fallen sharply, although the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region remains the largest consumer of horse meat in France.[33]

The Boulonnais provided part of the base for the

Ardennes.[38] Some equine scholars theorize that if the smaller Mareyeur had survived, it would have been an ideal horse to cross with the Thoroughbred or Anglo-Arabian to produce a warmblood for competition.[4] In France, a breeding program has been developed by the National Stud to cross Boulonnais and Arabian horses[5] to create a fast, alert driving horse, called the Araboulonnais. This breeding program also brings new blood into the Boulonnais line as, if an Araboulonnais mare is bred to a Boulonnais stallion, and a resulting filly is bred to another Boulonnais stallion, the third generation horse may be inducted into the purebred Boulonnais studbook if it passes an inspection.[7]

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-671-66068-0
    .
  2. ^ a b c d Syndicat Hippique Boulonnais (2010). "Le Boulonnais" (in French). Les Haras Nationaux. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
  3. ^ a b "Boulonnais". International Museum of the Horse. Kentucky Horse Park. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  4. ^ a b c d Edwards, pp. 264–265.
  5. ^ a b c d Caux, Emmanuel (2011). "Annuaire des étalons Boulonnais" (PDF) (in French) (21st ed.). Espaces naturels régionaux. pp. 3–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  6. ^ a b Collective, p. 110.
  7. ^ a b c Sodore, Christophe (October 31, 2006). "Reglement du Stud-Book du Cheval Boulonnais" (PDF) (in French). Les Haras Nationaux. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-2-7469-1928-0
    .
  9. ^ Moll & Gayot, p. 524.
  10. ^ a b Sanson, André (1867). Applications de la zootechnie : Cheval-âne-mulet-institutions hippiques (in French). Librairie Agricole de la maison rustique. p. 149.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "The American Boulonnais Horse Association". Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  12. ^ Mavré, p. 40.
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8061-3884-8
    .
  14. ^ Mavré, p. 41; Cardini, F. Joseph (1848). Dictionnaire d'hippiatrique et d'équitation: ouvrage où se trouvent réunies toutes les connaissances hippiques (in French). Vol. 2. Bouchard-Huzard. p. 347.
  15. ^ de Sourdeval, Ch. (1849). "Note sur la race boulonnaise". Journal des Haras (in French). 46: 326–329.
  16. ^ de Puibusque, Louis-Guillame (vicomte) (1834). L'éleveur de poulains et le parfait amateur de chevaux (in French). Imp. de Madame Huzard. p. 7.; Moll & Gayot, p. 526.
  17. ^ Moll & Gayot, p. 527.
  18. ^ Société d'agriculture, du commerce et des arts de l'arrondissement de Boulogne-sur-mer (1861). "Société d'agriculture, du commerce et des arts de l'arrondissement de Boulogne-sur-Mer". Bulletin (in French). 2: 354.
  19. ^ Bailey, Liberty Hyde (1922). Cyclopedia of Farm Animals. Macmillan. p. 461. boulonnaise horse.
  20. ^ Butterworth, J. (1883). "The National Norman Horse Association". In Illinois Department of Agriculture; Illinois State Agriculture Society (eds.). Transactions of the Department of Agriculture of the State of Illinois with reports from county and district agricultural organizations for the year. Vol. 20. Illinois State Journal Co. p. 459.
  21. ISBN 978-0-8020-9112-3
    .
  22. ^ de Saint-Priest, Ange (1845). Encyclopédie du dix neuvième siècle (in French). Cosson. p. 386.
  23. ISBN 978-2-84494-420-7
    .
  24. ^ Caux, Emmanuel (2011). "Annuaire des étalons Boulonnais" (PDF) (in French) (21st ed.). Espaces naturels régionaux. pp. 10–18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  25. ISBN 978-2-85557-154-6
    .
  26. ^ Mavré, p. 150.
  27. ^ Pilley-Mirande, Nathalie (October 2002). "Les traits français dans le monde". Cheval Magazine (in French) (371): 62–65.
  28. ^ Tina og Svend Gundesen. "L'association "Boulonnais i Danmark"" (in French). Association Boulonnais i Danmark. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  29. PMID 19284689
    .
  30. ISBN 978-2-7380-0581-6
    .
  31. ^ Anderson, Matt (1884). "The Draft Horse, the Farmers' Friend". In Wisconsin State Agricultural Society; Wisconsin Dairymen's Association; University of Wisconsin (eds.). Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. Vol. 22. Beriah Brown, State Printer. p. 261.
  32. ^ Vallon, Alexandre-Bernard (1863). Cours d'hippologie à l'usage de MM. les officiers de l'armée... (in French). Vol. 2. Javaud. p. 559.
  33. ^ a b "Sauver la race pouline en la consommant, le cheval de bataille de Philippe Blondel". La Voix du Nord (in French). 5 September 2010. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  34. ^ Collective, p. 111.
  35. ISBN 978-1-58017-613-2
    .
  36. ^ Edwards, p. 258.
  37. ^ Edwards, p. 275.
  38. ISBN 978-0-7858-0604-2
    .

References

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