The Balikun horse is a light horse breed from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, used for riding, light draft, and pack work.

Characteristics

The Balikun breed stands at high or more, and is most commonly

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

. They have heavy heads with small ears; the neck is thick, short, and well muscled; withers may be somewhat low; the back is short, flat, and very strong; the croup is sloped with a low-set tail. The shoulder is somewhat straight but muscular. This breed has powerful quarters and strong legs with good feet. The coat is very dense and thick, and the Balikun is able to live on steppe pasture, even at temperatures under -40F.

Breed history

The Balikun comes from the

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

Autonomous Region of

, and descends from Kazakh and Mongolian horses. In

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...

for over 200 years, the Balikun became a special breed.

Uses

This pony is very tough and well adapted to its habitat, which is frequently harsh. It is used extensively in the area for transport, but is also used as a light riding and draft pony.''International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds''. Hendricks, Bonnie. University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. Page 61. The Balikun can easily carry a pack weighing 220 pounds up to fifty miles in a day. It is considered a native breed in China.

References

Horse breeds originating in China {{Horse-breed-stub