Poitevin

Other Names: Poitou, Mulassier

Origin: France

Color: Mainly dun, but may be any solid color.

Avg Height: 15 to 17 hh

Avg Weight: 1540 to 2000 lbs

Build: Head is heavy and rather long, with a straight profile and a spread apart lower jaw. Ears are rather large and long. Neck is long with a long thick mane, prominent withers and a wide deep chest. Back is often long, wide and nicely attached to wide loins. Limbs are very powerful, and joints are rather wide. Coat is thick and sometimes curly around the knees and hocks.

Temperament: Lethargic and well-balanced, but it is not very lively. Hard worker. Strong and extremely reliable.

Main use: Meat, tractive power, production of mules.

Special abilities: In addition to its adaptation to the wetlands, the Poitevin horse has a characteristic which gave its name to this race: the crossing of the mare of this race with an Ass of Poitou gives a remarkable hybrid animal: the Poitevine Mule.

History: The Poitevin descends from horses of various extractions imported from the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark by the Dutch. According to the French, the Poitevin horse is a reflection of the influence of earth where it was originally bred --the soil of his original breeding ground is a heavy marine clay, rich in mineral salts, hard in the summer and saturated with water in the winter. This makes this breed the "son of the sea wind, of the land and of the waters." This breed is the result of a rigorous selection throughout several centuries. Native mares from the marshes cross bred with these horses who had come from the North thus founded a line and gave birth to the mulassier breed called the "Poitevin." "Mulassier" means "mule breeder," and refers to this breed's use in the production of mules. In danger of extinction in the 1950s, the Poitevin is currently enjoying a revival, with a lot of thanks to a considerable demand from other countries. The genealogical register for these horses dates back to 1884.