The Andravida or Eleia Horse is a light draft breed found in the region of Ilia in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. It owes its development to the crossing of

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 *Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature *Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1066 ...

with local breeds with additional crosses of Nonius

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

s after 1920. The breed is close to

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

ion and its

stud book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders ...

was only established in 1995. The members of the breed are predominantly brown, bay, chestnut, red roan, black and occasionally grey, though, this tends to be a rare phenomenon. The head is rectangular in shape - quite unremarkable and plain with long ears and a straight profile. The chest is broad and heavy-set with thick muscles; the back is slightly dipped; the shoulders should be well-sloped and the croup only gently so. The horse's legs should be free of excess hair, very strong and thick with good bone. The breed's temperament is described as willing but strong. The breed is of moderate height ranging between high with the average being at around . The breed is believed to trace to the cavalry horses of

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

; in the fourth century BC used by the

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Army. In peace times, the breed was used to transport goods from remote villages and for riding. Beginning in the 13th century,

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

blood was introduced to create the lighter strain of this breed. In the 20th century,

blood was added, but numbers went into decline. The breed was saved from extinction in the early 1990s, when Andravida's Selle Francais stallion Calin de Nanteuil, renamed Pegasus, covered some mares, resulting in 50 healthy

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal i ...

s that went to breeders throughout western Greece. Despite this, however, the breed's numbers are still very low, and they are rarely, if at all, found outside of Ilia, where they are bred almost exclusively.

References

External links

Forumish post at Everything2.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andravida (Horse) Horse breeds Horse breeds originating in Greece

References

Further reading

External links