Content
The modern Don horse is no longer the fruit of folk selection, although this is how the breed was born. From the 11th to the 15th centuries in the region of the Don steppes there was what was called the "Wild Field" in Russian chronicles. This was the territory of the nomadic tribes. A nomad without a horse is not a nomad. In the XIII century, the Tatar-Mongol tribes invaded the same territory. Naturally, Mongolian horses mixed with the local steppe herd. Part of the Tatar tribes remained on the territory of the Don steppes and, by the name of their head, Khan Nogai, adopted the name Nogais. Hardy, fast and unpretentious Nogai horses were highly valued in Russia and were one of those that were called argamaks in those days.
After the introduction of serfdom, the peasants began to flee to the outskirts of the Russian state, where the central government could not reach them yet. The fugitives huddled in gangs, trading in robbery. Later, the Moscow authorities acted according to the principle "you can not stop the disgrace, lead it", declaring these gangs a free Cossack estate and obliging now the Cossacks to protect the borders of the state.
The position was convenient, since it was still not possible to stop the Cossacks from robbery, but it was possible to direct their energy to external enemies and call on a serious force during the war years. When making raids in peacetime, you could always shrug your shoulders: "And they do not obey us, they are free people."
The origin of the breed
Cossacks raided nomads by land, for which they needed good horses. They either bought horses from the same Nogais, or stole them during a raid. Getting to the Crimea and Turkey by ships, they brought Turkish, Karabakh and Persian horses from there. Turkmen horses fell from the East to the Don: Akhal-Teke and Iomuda breeds. The Karabakh and Akhal-Teke horses have a characteristic metallic sheen of the coat, which was also inherited by the horses of the Don Cossacks.
In the Don Cossack villages, mares and young animals were kept in breeding herds on free grazing. The queens belonged to different people. In the spring, stallions that had distinguished themselves on horseback trips or especially valuable from those captured in battle were launched into herds by producers.
From the middle of the 19th century, stallions of domestic breeds began to appear on the Don: Streletskaya, Orlovo-Rostopchinskaya, Orlovskaya riding. Even Thoroughbred stallions began to appear. Since that time, the Don breed of horses began to acquire the features of a factory, not a steppe breed. But the primitive content and the most severe natural selection did not allow the Don breed to seriously improve, although the livestock consolidated and became more of the same type.
The breed that began to form during the period of the development of the left-bank part of the Don was later called the Old Don. The rich lands of the Zadonsk region made it possible to maintain a significant horse population, and the state purchases of Don horses for the cavalry contributed to the flourishing of the Don horse breeding. The number of stud farms is rapidly increasing in the Zadonsh region. But the rent for each head of 15 kopecks a year introduced in 1835 (a decent amount at that time) made horse breeding available only to large owners of factories. What went to the Starodon breed only benefit. Before the First World War, 40% of the tsarist cavalry was manned by the horses of the Starodon breed.
Destruction and restoration of the Don livestock
The First World War smoothly spilled over into the Great October Revolution and the Civil War. And in all cases, a large number of horses were required for the conduct of hostilities. As a result, only a few hundred horses remained from the thousands of Don herds. And even among those, the origin was not reliable. The work on the restoration of the Don breed began in 1920. Horses were collected everywhere, guided by testimony, breeders' brands and typical appearance. It was only in 1924 that 6 large military stud farms were founded. They were large only at that time: in 1926, there were only 209 queens in the Donskoy breed.
At this time, it was widely believed that the Thoroughbred Riding Horse was the best horse in the world, and during the restoration of the Don breed of mares, the Thoroughbred Riding Stallions were actively covered with stallions. But after 4 years, the pendulum went in the opposite direction, and purity was put at the forefront. Horses with ¼ of English blood and above were allocated to the Budennovsk breed. Just at that time there was a state order for the creation of a "command" horse.
Today, the Black Sea breed no longer exists, and those who have the mother of the Donskoy breed and the father of a Thoroughbred riding stallion are recorded in the Budennovsk breed.
In the postwar years, the Don breed flourished. But it did not last long. Already in the 50s, there was a sharp decline in the total number of horses in the country. The Don breed also did not escape this fate, although it was in demand as a workhorse improver and ranked second in number after Orlov trotters.
The current state of the Don breed
In the 60s, the Don horses were considered promising in tourism, rental and mass equestrian sports. At that time, the Don breed was bred at 4 stud farms. With the collapse of the Union, the livestock of Don horses was instantly halved, since 2 out of 4 stud farms remained outside of Russia.
Due to the general economic situation, the remaining factories were also unable to sell young growth. Even the main tribal core was very difficult to feed. The horses were handed over to the slaughterhouse After the factories were transferred to private ownership, the situation worsened even more. New owners need land, not horses. After 2010, the Zimovnikovsky stud farm was liquidated. The main breeding nucleus of the Don queens was bought at the Cossack stud farm, the rest of the horses were taken apart by private traders. But private traders do not breed. The current situation in the Don breed is such that a little more than 50 Don foals are born a year. In fact, the Don breed is already on the verge of extinction.
Exterior types of the Don breed
Modern Don horses have a strong constitution. The Eastern intra-breed type may be inclined towards a gentle constitution. The coarse and loose types are unacceptable.
The head of the Don horses is most often small, with a straight profile. The ears are medium in size. The eyes are large. The ganache is wide. The occiput is long.
The neck is of medium length, dry, light, well set and set high. In the eastern riding and riding types, a long neck is preferable.
The upper body line is smooth due to the poorly defined withers. This is a trait that is very undesirable for a riding horse, but is acceptable for a draft horse. Once the Don breed was ranked as a horse-harness breed, and a low withers was quite acceptable. Today the Don horses are used only as riding horses, and selection work is being carried out on the correct structure of the withers. Theoretically, since it is practically impossible due to too small number of breeding stock. The best structure of the withers is in the riding types.
The back is strong and straight. A soft back is a disadvantage.In this case, a straight topline, when the dorsal, lumbar and pelvic parts of the spine form a horizontal line, are undesirable. Previously, such a structure in the Don breed was very common, but today it is undesirable, and a horse with such a structure is removed from the production composition.
The loin is wide and flat. Defects are a convex, sunken or long lumbar region.
The croup most often does not meet modern requirements. Ideally, this should be a long, well-muscled croup with a medium slope.
The thoracic region is wide, long and deep. The lower chest line is most often located below the elbow joint. A different structure is considered a disadvantage, undesirable for breeding.
Legs with correct and wide stance. On the front, markings of varying degrees of severity can be found. On the hind legs, there may be an X-shaped posture, which is most often the result of underfeeding in fertility. Viewed from the front, the front legs should cover the hind legs and vice versa.
The structure of the limbs is the main problem in the Don breed. The forelegs can be short and straight. The forearm is often not well muscled when it is of good length. Until now, there may be a "sunken", that is, a concave wrist. Also, the joints may be too small in relation to the overall size of the horse. Sometimes there is an interception under the wrist. The tail joint may be soggy. There are soft and butt heads, although the slope is usually normal. Hoof with good horn, small size.
There are fewer complaints about the structure of the hind limbs, but there are also. There is insufficient muscularity of the thighs, sometimes straightened hocks. The addition of the blood of Arab and Thoroughbred horses to the Don horses significantly improved the structure of the hind legs. The highest quality hind legs are most common among the riding type.
Intra-breed types
There are 5 types in the Don breed:
- Oriental;
- East Karabakh;
- east-massive;
- massive eastern;
- riding.
The types differ somewhat in size and structure. Even in the photo of intra-breed types of Don horses, these differences are clearly visible. Except for growth.
Horses of the Oriental type must be at least 163 cm tall. They often have a graceful head with fine snoring and large, thin nostrils. In the photo above, the Donskoy stallion Sarbon of the eastern type.
The East Karabakh type is smaller: about 160 cm, but the horses are wide, well-muscled, with dry legs. This type of horse can be well suited for races. In the photo, the Don stallion Heroism of the East Karabakh type.
Riding horses are most suitable for use in modern equestrian sports. A particularly good combination of qualities is possessed by the riding type, which combines the qualities of a riding horse with an oriental breed. In the photo Donskoy stallion Collection of riding type.
Eastern-massive and massive-eastern types are large animals: from 165 cm at the withers. Suitable not only for riding, but also for harnessing.
The character of the Don horses
The characteristics of the Don breed horses in this regard are often unflattering. There is a belief that these are evil beasts, at best, "a horse of one owner." The character of the Don horses, which grew up on year-round grazing in the steppe, is often really not sugar. But with regard to dogs, not humans. In winter, Don horses are often forced to fight off wolves, as in the old days, and there is a case when a one and a half year old filly from the Salsk steppes killed a wolf in front of the herders with one blow of her front legs. With the traditional fear of wolves, this can really impress.
The rest of the Don horses is not an evil character, but a wild state. Until now, young animals are often shipped at factories, until the moment of sale they have seen a person only from afar.But according to the testimony of buyers, Don foals are tamed in just a week, without showing any evil character.
Suits
Even 5 years ago, it was believed that the horse of the Don breed has only a red color, divided into offsets:
- redhead;
- golden red;
- brown;
- dark red;
- light red;
- light golden red;
- light brown;
- golden brown;
- light golden brown;
- dark brown.
But that was until one corrosive owner of the Budennovskaya mare doubted the color of her animal. Although the horse is recorded in the CPC of the Budennovsk breed, in fact it is an Anglo-Don horse. With the development of genetic research, many horse owners have been able to ascertain exactly what color their pet is. The DNA test result is very interesting. The mare turned out to be a cow. Further collection of material showed that the Donskoy and Budennovsky horses of the brown suit in the breeds are not so few.
Thus, a cowray was added to the generally recognized red color of the Donchaks. For unknown reasons, VNIIK does not want to admit this fact, although there are even chestnut Don horses in the database, which received their suit from an Akhal-Teke or Arab stallion, allowed to be used in the breed. The gene that determines the brown suit is inherent in steppe horses. That is, the Donchaks received this suit much earlier than the blood of Arab, Akhal-Teke or Thoroughbred riding stallions was added to them. And the brown horse also looks red for an inexperienced look.
Kaurai mare Mystika - "the culprit of the coup d'etat". She received the kauray suit from the Donskoy mother.
This is due to the fact that in those years the blood of Thoroughbred horsemen was actively poured into the Don breed.
In addition to brown and red, in the Donskoy breed there is also a piebald suit of the sabino type. True, these horses are also introduced to the GPC as red ones.
Piebald Donskoy stallion Bagor, recorded in the GPK as golden red.
Application
But today all fans of the breed are trying to find an application for the Don horse. The Don breed today shows itself well in short and medium distance runs, but jogging in Russia is still very poorly developed. Yes, and it is more profitable to take Arab or Arab-Don crosses there. Don horses were not used in dressage even in Soviet times. Horse racing was abolished for them. Some representatives of the Don breed showed themselves well in the competition, but due to the small number of livestock, today it is difficult to find not only talented horses, but even just a photo of the Don breed of horses at the competition. Although at low altitudes the Don horse is quite competitive.
Traditionally, horses of the Don breed are taken in horse riding, but only a few are involved in this sport. It is possible to use a massive horse type in mounted police patrols.
Testimonials
Conclusion
The main problem of the Don breed is the location of factories away from most developed cities in which equestrian sports are developing. Not everyone from Moscow will go to the Rostov region without a guarantee of buying a quality horse. In general, the Don horses could well serve for equipping horse rentals. But farms that breed trotters are closer.
