The Furioso-North Star is a

horse breed A horse breed is a selectively bred population of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a broader sense to define landrace animals of a common phenotype located within a lim ...

developed in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

at the Mezőhegyes stud farm. Today it is considered a

warmblood Warmbloods are a group of middle-weight horse types and breeds primarily originating in Europe and registered with organizations that are characterized by open studbook policy, studbook selection, and the aim of breeding for equestrian sport. ...

breed, noted as a breed with a sound, durable build capable of light farm work, yet with a refined appearance that reflects its Thoroughbred influence.

Characteristics

The Furioso breed averages in height and is predominantly

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 ...

, liver

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 ...

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 have o ...

. It is a medium-heavy horse, also bred in northeast Europe for competition and harness use. Once a popular breed in neighboring Romania, the Furioso-North Star is now said to be endangered there.

History

There were two primary

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 that are considered foundation sires of the breed. The first was a

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

stallion named Furioso, foaled Hungary in 1836 and who, beginning in 1841, was crossed with local Hungarian mares. The second was another Thoroughbred stallion, North Star (foaled 1844),Reddick, Kate. ''Horses''. New York, Ridge Press, 1976, p. 64. who was imported from England in 1852, who was also crossed with local mares and possibly with horses of Norfolk Trotter descent. Some

crossbreeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

with Nonius horses may also have occurred. Initially, the two bloodlines were kept separate, with the Furioso line used to produce riding horses and the North Star line producing

driving Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and bicycles. Permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met and drivers are required to fol ...

horses, but the lines were merged in the late 19th century. Nonius and Furioso Horses. Accessed February 6, 2011.

Characteristics

History

See also

References

Further reading