Draught Horses?

No_Angel

No_Angel

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2003
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Ireland
How do Draught Horses differ to cobs?
I know most cobs are descended form draught horses somewhere along the line, but are there any major differences?

I have always thought my Murphy was a cob, he has a lot of bone and is chunky, but isn't as short coupled or as wide/rounded as most heavyweight cobs I see.

I don't know much about his history, I bought him from someone who got him as an unbroken 3 year old from riding school somewhere, I assumed he was imported from ireland, being a cob, but every time I look at an ardennes horse i think it looks like him.

The vet asked if he has exmoor in him, as he looks like a giant exmoor,lol.
 
I have a heavy wieght 16.2.
I always say cob, but think he is more a heavy horse cross.
When I got him I thought he was irish draught, but he is so heavily feathered I dont think he is.
My friends say he looks like a huge highland, and in a field with nothing to put him into perspective he really does.
 
Do you mean draught as in Irish Draught specifically or as in generic draught horse which could be shire/clydesdale/suffolk punch etc etc?

Basically the cobs were the 'little 'oss' of the farm to use to go out hunting and for jobs where it wasn't worth harnessing up the big guys but you still needed some muscle.

How chunky or not they are really depends on what they are crossed with on the other side - you can have a nice 16hh eventer who is a Clydesdale X TB or similar and has hardly any feather etc and then you can have someone like Alfie who is believed to be Shire X Dales (I suspect he is actually heavy cob X Dales rather than pure Shire X as he is fairly small and very native looking) is 15hh and very chunky and quite ponyish.

Here he is, you can really see the Dales in him

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after doing some googling i probably mean draft-duh!:rolleyes:

I know cobs are usually small round and bred to pull gypsy carts etc etc, but looking at a horse, how do you know if they are a cob, or some sort of draft breed? Other than most cobs being coloured, is their actually a way?
 
However you spell it usually the 'real' draught or draft horses are far bigger than the cobs. 'Officially' (for showing) cobs have to be 15.1hh or under, anything over that either really is a draught breed, a heavy hunter or what is basically a big cob but you can't call it a cob :D Cobs are not technically mostly coloured they can be any colour, its just the coloured ones are fashionable at the moment (were deeply unfashionable in the main horsey world until a few years ago), the coloureds are common because the gypsy (or whatever you want to call them) cob breeders liked them but so are blacks like Alfie with white markings.

If a proper draught breed they should visibly conform to that breed standard and usually (not always, depends on the breed) the easiest way to see is that they are at least 16.2hh and often a lot more :D That does depend on what breed it is though, especially if you are including mainland European breeds.
 
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Jim is a 16.2/3 Irish Draught which is a light draught breed. They were used for general work on small Irish farms & also doubled up as a hunter, they wouldn't have been expected to do the work a Shire or other true heavy would do. Even so you can see the power bred into the neck & shoulder & he isn't the heaviest ID I've seen by a long way!

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I am thinking more along the lines of the ardennes horse and horses of that type, which are not necessarily large horses, such as a shire, it says that the ardennes horse goes from heights of 15-16.3 for a stallion, and 14.2-16.2 for a mare.

the breed standard:
COLOUR: All colours permitted, except part-coloured (piebald/skewbald). No white markings permitted on head in stallions. In mares a little white below fetlock is allowed (but not encouraged), nowhere else except on head.

HEAD: Intelligent expression, flat (snub) nose or rectilinear profile. Pronounced eye sockets, eyes large and docile. Ears pointing forwards. Forehead flat or concave. Large well-opened nostrils. Must avoid long heavy heads, drooping lips, misshapen ears, domed foreheads.
NECK: Medium length, well set on, with full arched crest in stallions.

BODY: Stocky, expressing mass, density and power. Chest ample and deep, close to ground. Back and loins, powerful and well supported. Haunches large and wide, hindquarters long and well muscled, low set tails are common but not to be encouraged.

LIMBS: Long supported shoulders. Arm, forearm and legs very muscular, short and hard. Joints set wide and well defined. Clean cut tendons. Neat round feet with hard blue/brown horn. Not excessively hairy. Avoid fat and puffy joints, spindly limbs, lumpy or spongy bone, hollow knees or outward turning toes.

ACTION: Correct and above all active and energetic.

It isn't exactly an in depth breed description, and my cob matches most of what is said, so would I then say he is an Ardennes horse, or a similar type?
(do you get what im getting at?lol)

What is the line between draft horse and cob apart from breed papers?
 
there is typical ardennes type draft horse posted on my thread about a draft stallion going for slaughter - he is a very different stamp from a cob
 
ive looked at your thread big ears, but why is he a different stamp? What makes him a different stamp?
What makes him a draught and others a cob?
My horse who I think its a cob looks similar to him, but hes a cob, so how can he look like both breeds, what defines him as one or the other?
Height doesn't come in to it anymore, as above it is shown they can be the same height, is it bone? is it feathers?
 
I thought draught horses were anything that's known to be a draught breed rather than a type. Some of the draught breeds are very different from each other so there's not really a draught type, beyond a tendancy to be large! Whereas cob is pretty much anything built like a tank whatever the breeding :D
 
But if you buy a horse privately, how do you know its a cob, and not a draught breed that has not got papers?
(is this making any sense or am i confusing everyone?lol)
 
I suppose without papers the best you can do is call it a cob, or a 'draught type' or something like that if the description fits. Its easy enough with the huge 18hh+ and chunky horse to tell that its a draught, but for the smaller ones there's a lot of overlap with the cob type, so if you don't know the breeding I guess cob is as good a description as any. Unless you know which breed it is and can call it an unregistered whatever.
 
There is usually a huge gulf between a heavy draught breed and a cob, even in the smaller breeds such as the Ardennes, they are typically far heavy than even the heaviest cobs usually are for a start. They really are usually a different stamp of horse, so much more powerful.

To be honest it is very easy to get a cob and very difficult and usually expensive to get a draught breed, even unpapered. Slightly different in mainland Europe but over here very few are imported so the chances are a heavy cob is just that, a heavy cob. As Melanie says, unpapered you will have to call it a cob anyway.
 
No_Angel I told you he is soooo Dexters brother!!!
Shire x Haflinger it explains it all :p
Dexters not cob like, he has a wither and angles and things and also has the panagre and wild bay markings.
 
I know this is an old conversation but there is no mistaking an Ardennes for a cob, you have to see one to believe it my ardenne is a lot shorter than our shire but is larger in body and bone shes 15.2hh and is as broad as a table top she is built like a bull dog. You need to see one to truelly appreciate their size. They are however crossed with arabs which is called an aratell (not sure on spelling) to produce a riding horse. check out a few websites the cumbria heavy horse have two. best of all see one in the flesh it will get rid of any doubt. related breeds are the belgian draught and the brabent but these are bigger than the Ardennes.
 

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Here is one of the most recent pics of my boy. As you can see he is leggier than a cob. He is 15.1, has 11 inches of bone and has a huge head (x full bridle- he used to have a shire headcollar until the farrier made fun of him,lol)

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He is gorgeous and I completely get the 'giant Exmoor' comparison - except for his head, which does look like a draught horse size and shape!

I've only returned to riding a year ago after a 30 year break, but I'm sure when I was young 'cob' was a height rather than a type - I seem to remember it described the sort of 14 to 15 hand, or maybe it was 14 to 14.2 - anyway, those animals that were a bit more than a pony but not quite a horse.
 
That's another thing about my boy, he is very much a horse. My friend has a lovely HW cob mare and she is more pony than horse.

Poor confused Mr Murphy,lol
 
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