The Altai is a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

breed developed in the Altai Mountains of Central Asia. This is one of the most ancient horse breeds of Siberia.

Characteristics

The Altai has a head with a slightly dished profile, set on a relatively short neck. They have a strong back, a well-developed croup, and short cannon bones. They stand an average of 13.2–13.3 hands high, and their coat colors are chestnut, bay,

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

, and sometimes leopard spotted. In his ''The Book of The Horse'' Vesey-Fitzgerald gives the following traits of the Altai: height of 129.8 cm, body length of 104.2 cm, chest circumference of 154.0 cm, and

pastern The is a part of the leg of a horse between the fetlock and the top of the hoof. It incorporates the long pastern bone (proximal phalanx) and the short pastern bone (middle phalanx), which are held together by two sets of paired ligaments to fo ...

circumference of 16.8 cm. While ''A Standard Guide to Horse and Pony Breeds'' provides with the following characteristics of an average

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...

: 13 hands high, length of barrel of 140 cm, girth of 160 cm, and pastern of 17.2 cm. The horses similar in measures to the Altai were found in the

Pazyryk burials The Pazyryk burials are a number of Scythian ( Saka) "The rich kurgan burials in Pazyryk, Siberia probably were those of Saka chieftains" "Analysis of the clothing, which has analogies in the complex of Saka clothes, particularly in Pazyryk, led ...

, dating back to 3rd century BCE.

Breed history

The Altai is one of the breeds of Mongol origin and was bred as a utility bread to provide transportation as well as meat, milk, fat and

horsehair Horsehair is the long hair growing on the manes and tails of horses. It is used for various purposes, including upholstery, brushes, the bows of musical instruments, a hard-wearing fabric called haircloth, and for horsehair plaster, a wallc ...

. Their breeding has been influenced significantly by the harsh climate in which it was developed and the need for survival on only year-round pasture grazing. They were bred for the characteristics most needed by the mountain tribesmen and nomads, including strong cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular and skeletal systems. They are also sure-footed over steep mountain trails. Crossing Altais with other breeds usually results in larger, stronger horses that still retain the healthiness and easy management of the Altai. In the past, the Altai has been crossed with Lithuanian,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, and

Soviet Heavy Draft The Soviet Heavy Draft is a Russian breed of heavy draft horse.Советский тяжеловоз // Большой энциклопедический словарь (в 2-х тт.). / редколл., гл. ред. А. М. Прохоров. ...

horses.

References

Horse breeds {{Horse-breed-stub