The Nooitgedachter is a South African

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

of riding horse. It is the result of a selective breeding programme established in 1952 to preserve the Basutho Pony of

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

. It was later decided to give it a different name; it was at first called the Nooitgedacht Pony, named for the Proefplaas Nooitgedacht, the research station near Ermelo in Eastern Transvaal (now

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

) where it was bred; it was later called the Nooitgedacht Horse until the present name was chosen. It is a

rare breed In modern agriculture, a rare breed is a breed of poultry or livestock that has a very small breeding population, usually from a few hundred to a few thousand. Because of their small numbers, rare breeds may have a threatened conservation statu ...

, with only about 400 purebreds in existence.

History

The Nooitgedachter was created in the mid-twentieth century by the

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

of the Union of South Africa, which established a programme of selective breeding at the Proefplaas Nooitgedacht, a research station near Ermelo in Eastern Transvaal (now

). The project was initially called the Basutho Pony Project, and had two aims: to preserve the Basutho Pony of

, which had been in decline since the time of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902; and to create a breed of hardy riding horse for South Africa. The name was later changed, first to Nooitgedacht Pony, then to Nooitgedacht Horse, and finally to Nooitgedachter. Although the Afrikaans word means roughly "never imagined", this is not the origin of the name of the breed, which derives from that of the research station.

Characteristics

The Nooitgedachter was bred to be a sturdy and compact riding horse capable of carrying a heavy adult rider over difficult terrain for extended periods, with good stamina, a good temperament, and hooves so strong that it does not normally need to be shod. Height at the withers ranges from . In the early years of the breeding programme grey – in all its shades – was the preferred coat colour. Under the 2015 breed standard, the horses may be of any solid colour; patterned coats – such as spotted, skewbald or piebald – are disallowed, as are blue eyes and de-pigmented skin. The horses commonly have five horse gait, gaits. In addition to the usual walk, trot and canter they may also have an ambling gait, known as , and a Ambling gait#Rack, rack, which in South Africa is called "triple".

Uses

The Nooitgedachter is a strong and hardy riding horse, well adapted to the environmental conditions of South Africa, and suitable for use as a working equitation, working horse in the management of farm livestock.

References

{{Horse breeds of Africa Horse breeds originating in South Africa Horse breeds