What is the best breed of Draft horse for working and pulling?

Hi there,

Any of the heavies will be able to do this for you. The sort you end up with is a personal choice. There are many options open to you and heaps of information on-line.

Once you have considered the bigger horses, you may take a look at some of the Heavies of the pony world. They can be just as strong but much smaller in size.

Clydesdale's come in big and bigger, in roan and black. These have feathered legs.

Percheron come in large and huge and you get a choice of black or grey.

Belgium's are big and buckskin. Also known as a Brabant. One of these is currently the tallest horse in the world.

Haflinger is a palomino colour and a bit smaller.

If you prefer colour then you will be looking at either a Drum horse 14hh to 16hh, or a Gypsy Cob about 14hh. So much main and tail, also has feathered legs.

Oh almost forgot the Suffolk's, these are Chestnuts.

Draft Breeds

really, any solidly built draft horse. If you want showy, go for a clydesdale, shire, or percheron. If you want a good work horse, cheaper with less showiness, go with Belgian. Vanners/Tinkers/Irish Cob/Gypsy horse are flashy, but are extremely pricey right now.

The strongest ones tend to be clydes, gypsy vanners, and Belgians, but there are always exceptions.

I would suggest meeting some of the breeds at a draft horse farm or expo and have an experienced trainer help you pick out a good puller within the breed that catches your eye the most. Not all draft horses are built for pulling. I have a full draft mare (who I ride and occasionally drive) and she could easily pull a little cart with 1-2 people, but does not have the ability to pull large amounts of weight- she doesn't have good conformation for it.

Your stereotypical plow horse is the belgian, and cart horses- clydes, perch, and shires.

There are a number of horse breeds used for draft work with the variation between them being there geographical location, here are some breeds which i think will do the job for you:

American cream (USA)

Ardennes (belgium,luxemborg,France)

Austrailian draught horse (Austrailia)

Belgian (Belgium)

boulonnais (France)

Breton (France)

Clydesdale (UK)

Irish draught (Ireland)

Percheron (France)

Shire (UK)

Suffolk punch (UK)

Gypsy vanner horse (UK)

Obviously theses horses can be imported and exported all over the world or there will be breeders of certain breeds in the country that you live. A draft horse should be tall, muscular build, short backs, large hindquarters, thick bone and a great deal of feathering on the lower leg and usually have a roman nose but its not desired in these breeds, usually draft breeds pull in a team of two. In my opinion i have found that the european breeds are the best, inparticually i think the breeds from France and the UK are of the top standards, they have great conformation and superb temprements and are world widely available. If you need anymore help feel free to email me just go into my profile.

RE:

What is the best breed of Draft horse for working and pulling?

I am interested in finding a breed that can pull carts, wagons or pull a plow if needed.

Just a comment on the Gypsy Vanners, they are bred to be smaller than the average draft horse but with a draft body, and they can definitely pull carts and wagons (so I would assume they could plow).

However, if you're in the US, they are currently a trendy breed here and on average are VERY expensive.

Well in my opinion l think Percherons are the best all round draft horse choice, and a matched team looks great pulling a cart or wagon too. They have lots of heart and are easy going for the most part.

breed draft horse working pulling

I'm a sucker for Suffolks, they are shorter, stouter and have more muscle than the larger draft breeds. They have wonderful personalities and truely are gentle giants.

My second pick would be belgiums. I just dislike the height of these larger drafts when having to harness, you become to appreciate the smaller drafts.

Any draft breed will work for you, you just want to judge them on an individual basis on how well they work together, how calm they remain in harness and how well trained they are to voice commands.

I love driving teams and miss it immensly............ Thank God i still have my singles to drive.

Check out Morgan horses!! They were breed to do the draft horse jobs without the "Size". They were breed to do farming, logging, wagon work. They breed them so their hooves were smaller so they wouldn't step on the crops, they wouldn't eat as much & just smaller. I have 25 of them. I work most of mine. I have 151 acres in WY & I use mine to log, to pull my carts, Even one time pull my fathers truck!! LOL But if you are truly interested them read on them! They are wonderful horses!! They can do hard work without the bulk!!

http://www.morganhorse.com/resources/info_past.php

http://www.farm-garden.com/drafthorses/morganhorse

http://www.shawcreekrockinghorses.com/morgan.htm

http://www.fortheanimals.com/Morgans.htm

Hope this just gives you food for thought.