Horse breed Soviet heavy truck: characteristics and rules of keeping

Soviet heavy trucks - Russian breed of horses, bred in the middle of the last century. Animals are adapted to local conditions, have significant muscular strength, calm disposition. Horses can be bred for draft work in agriculture, meat and dairy production. The dry and dense constitution allows the use of horses under the saddle.

Origin and use

The Soviet heavy truck is the youngest breed among other heavy breeds. The appearance in Russia of its own breed of heavyweights was due to objective reasons.On the border of the forest and steppe zones, there has always been a great need for draft power. For the economic needs of the southern regions, a forest was required. Until the 19th century, working horses of the Bityug breed (purebred or crossed with local breeds) were the draft force. At the end of the 19th century, local industrialists and merchants began to import European heavy trucks: Brabancons and Suffolks.

Huge horses did not acclimatize well in this region and their rough forms were not to the taste of the local population. Brabancon stallions were allowed to cross with more graceful local mares. The offspring turned out to be more compact and attractive.

The systematic selection work to create a new breed was started in the 20s and completed in 1952, when it was fully formalized and received the name of the Soviet heavy truck. Domestic draft horses were bred at the Pochinkovsky and Mordovian stud farms.

The heavy-duty breed was obtained by absorption crossing of descendants and crossbreeds of Bityugs, Ardennes, Percherons with Brabancons and Suffolks. Currently, stud farms continue to support a small number of domestic heavy haulers.

Description and characteristics of the Soviet heavy truck

Representatives of the domestic heavy draft breed are inferior to their progenitors in their physical characteristics: the height at the withers does not exceed 160 centimeters, the average weight of stallions is 850 kilograms, mares are about 100 kilograms lighter. But in terms of draft power, Soviet heavy trucks are superior to Brabancons and Suffolks.

Horse exterior

Distinguishing features of Soviet heavyweights:

1. Head of medium size with wide nostrils, well developed masticatory muscles, straight/droopy ears.
2. Wide, well-muscled neck, short (medium length).
3. Low set withers.
4. Soft back.
5. Medium loin.
6. Wide, forked croup.
7. Muscular ham.
8. Wide chest.
9. Rounded ribs.
10. There is often a defect in the development of the limbs (forward clubfoot, rear saber).
11. Pastern wide.
12. Big hooves of the correct form.

The anatomical structure of the croup and hindquarters testify to the horse's ability to work hard. Clubfoot and saber do not affect the working qualities of the horse, but are taken into account only in breeding. Unlike Brabancons, Soviet heavy trucks have a bushy tail and no friezes (hair "stockings" below the knees), which makes it easier to care for horses.

Domestic heavyweights are dominated by red, brown, bay colors or in combination with roan. Black color is rare.

Character

From French and Belgian ancestors, heavy trucks of the Soviet breed inherited a calm disposition and friendly attitude towards people.

Productive qualities of the breed

Soviet heavy trucks are gaining weight and physical condition by 2-2.5 years. Since that time, horses can be used to transport goods. Foals gain weight very quickly: about 300 kilograms in the first six months and almost 200 kilograms in the second half of the year. Horses of the Soviet heavy truck breed are promising as meat and dairy horses (for the production of koumiss). The average milk production of mares for 240 days was 3300 liters or 13 liters per day.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages of domestic heavy trucks:

• good pulling power;
• unpretentiousness to the conditions of detention;
• precocity.

Disadvantage - susceptibility to degeneration.

Containment conditions

Soviet heavy trucks are kept in stalls measuring at least 16 square meters (4x4) per horse, with a window at a height of 1.5 meters.Animals need a daily 3-4-hour walk in the paddock and communication with relatives. The height of the room is at least 3 meters. Natural or forced ventilation is necessary, but without drafts. Straw or sawdust is used as bedding, which is changed daily.

Heavy Truck Diet

Soviet heavy trucks are unpretentious to feed. The diet depends on the age, sex, purpose of the animal. A stallion for breeding during the mating period is given per day (in kilograms):

• concentrated feed - 9;
• sen - 16;
• succulent feed - 6.

Including bran (1.5 kilograms), cake (1 kilogram), bean hay (8 kilograms) must be present. In a non-random period, the diet is reduced by 30%. Stalled mares are given 4 kilograms of concentrates daily (including 1/3 is bran), 20 kilograms of hay (of which half is legume), 6 kilograms of succulent feed.For lactating mares, the proportion of concentrates is doubled, and the content of bean hay is adjusted to 60%. On pasture content, the amount of concentrated feed is reduced to 3-4 kilograms.

Foals begin to be introduced to solid food at 3-4 months of age, when they are still with queens. The initial diet is 3 kilograms of concentrates. By the time weaning from milk feeding add 1 kilogram of bran. Self-fed for up to a year, foals should receive up to 7 kilograms of hay and 4 kilograms of carrots.

From a year to a year and a half, the diet of young horses expands and increases in volume. Oats, cake are introduced into the feed, accustomed to fresh / freshly cut grass. Starting at 2 years of age, working horses should receive in winter (in kilograms):

• sen - 13;
• oats - 4.5;
• bran - 1.5;
• cake - 1;
• carrots - 5.

In the summer volume (basic diet) - freshly cut grass (30 kilograms). Hay and oats - 5 kilograms each. Bran and cake - 1.5 kilograms each. Apples, fodder beets and watermelons are offered to animals as treats and vitamin supplements.

Animals need s alt. For constant access to it, it is recommended to put a lick briquette in the stall. Water is supplied to the stall through an autodrinker or in a bucket before feeding. It is forbidden to give drinks to hot horses.

Breeding

Soviet heavy trucks reach sexual maturity at the age of 3 years. He althy animals, calm behavior are allowed for breeding. In a mating pair, the mare must be larger than the stallion. The average period of breeding use reaches 17 years. With a good maintenance of mares and producers of this breed give offspring up to 20 years. The output of foals at stud farms is 65-67%.

Mating is carried out in natural and artificial ways. The best time is from March 15 to the end of July, so that the foal falls on the warm season, when there is enough grass.

There is a difference in the exterior between the horses of the Pochinkovskiy and Mordovian stud farms, which is explained by genetic roots. Mordovian heavy trucks are smaller, more mobile and more temperamental due to crossing not only with Brabancons, but also with Suffolks. As a result of a long selection for certain economic purposes in different climatic conditions, 3 types of Soviet heavy trucks have developed:

1. The horse is large, muscular, with a light head, wide croup, energetic.
2. Horse of medium height, with a wide body, muscular chest, short legs, heavy head. The animal is undemanding to feed, enduring to long-term physical exertion.
3. The horse is very massive, disproportionate build, with a heavy head, phlegmatic, demanding to feed and care.

The first two types are used to obtain a breeding herd. When crossed with small-bred horses in the first and second generation, offspring with good characteristics and working capacity are obtained. The third type is not suitable for breeding.

Diseases

Failure to care for heavy trucks leads to the development of diseases such as rheumatic hoof inflammation. The reason is the drinking of hot horses with cold water, the cooling of a sweaty animal under a stream of draft. With untimely or incorrect treatment, a hedgehog hoof is formed, limiting the horse's performance.

Inadequate diet, dark, damp and unventilated stalls lead to the development of a streptococcal infection: horse moth. Foals older than 6 months and horses under 5 years of age are most susceptible to washing. Infection is transmitted by air, through drinking, feeders.

If the hygienic rules of maintenance and care are not followed, horses may develop biting biting (a subspecies of eczema). Dirty hooves and bedding serve as a source of infection that affects any part of the animal's body. Too frequent washing dries out the skin and reduces immunity to bacterial infection. Timely vaccination will protect animals from smallpox, anthrax, tuberculosis, tetanus, rabies.

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