Since ancient times, as soon as man tamed the horse, he needed massive and hardy animals. Let us at least remember the knightly horses or the faithful steeds of Russian heroes. They were about two meters tall and weighed about one ton. Do such beauties exist today and who is the biggest horse in the world? Find out the answers to these questions with us, and photos and videos will become a fascinating accompaniment while reading.
We can find out what medieval war horses looked like by looking at some modern ones. For example, the powerful Belgian Brabançons or English Shires today are direct descendants of knightly horses. And in such domestic breeds as the Vladimirsky or the blood of heroic horses flows. However, strange as it may sound, even among these giants there are their own record holders. These horses deservedly bear the title of “the biggest” and can be seen in the most interesting videos.
Great Samson
The largest horse was the stallion Samson, whose weight reached 1.52 tons and height at the withers was 2.20 meters. Why was it? Samson lived back in the 19th century and, unfortunately, there are practically no photos of him left today. The Shire stallion was born in 1846 in the English town of Bedfordshire. Already at four years old, this horse was the largest and most powerful not only in all of England, but also in the world. Then it was renamed Mammoth. His height record has never been surpassed by any horse since.
Giant Digger and Brooklyn Supreme
When talking about the largest horses in the world, it is impossible not to mention Digger and Brooklyn Supreme. Digger is a Shire who, at five years old, weighs 1,200 kilograms and is 2.02 meters tall. Every day this stallion eats more than 25 kg of hay and drinks about 75 liters of water. It is likely that he will be able to approach Samson's record.
The bay roan stallion of the Belgian breed Brooklyn Supreme is also a giant horse. At 10 years old, his weight was 1451 kilograms, and his height at the withers was 1.98. This animal was so enormous that it required horseshoes weighing more than 13 kg.
American record holder Big Jake
Big Jake is a 9-year-old Brabançon, who is listed in the Guinness Book as the tallest horse in the world. In terms of height, he is only 3 centimeters behind Samson, and his weight, according to the latest data, is 2.6 tons. Big Jake has a descendant - a stallion named Einstein. Visitors to the stable are simply delighted with the size of Big Jake. See photo.
Giant of modern times
Today there is also the largest horse. As of 2007, 16-year-old Shire, nicknamed Cracker, has a height at the withers of 1.98 meters and a weight of 1200 kilograms. The stallion lives in the English county of Lincolnshire and also claims to be in the Book of Records. For now, the horse lives peacefully in the stable and has already become a real TV star.
Which breed is considered the largest?
The largest horses of our time are the well-known heavy trucks. One of the most powerful are the Belgian Brabançons. Their weight already at 5-6 years of age reaches a ton, and sometimes more. The height at the withers of adult stallions reaches 170 centimeters. These horses are excellent workers, so they are successfully used as live tractors in rural work.
Ardennes
The Ardennes are another representative of the Belgian heavy horse breeding. This breed is very ancient and was bred in the 19th century in the Ardennes Highlands. It is known that these horses were used by Napoleon's army to transport heavy cannons and shells. And although this breed today belongs to the type of small draft horses, larger Ardennes are bred in the Baltics. Many of them can be compared in strength to the Brabançons.
Shire
Shires are the descendants of knightly war horses and today they are the largest English heavy horses, as can be seen in the photo. Slow, but very strong and powerful horses, Shires can pull loads up to five times their own weight. The height at the withers of stallions reaches 1.65-1.75 meters, weight - 1000-1200 kilograms. This breed is very elegant and beautiful, so it regularly takes part in various horse exhibitions and shows.
Percherons
Another very large and strong horse, as the photo demonstrates. In addition, with their enormous height and weight, these heavy horses are considered the most graceful and graceful. And this is largely due to the fact that blood flows in this French breed. These horses were bred at the beginning of the 19th century in the province of Perche. Breton and Boulogne stallions were used in breeding work.
Interesting! Percherons are loved in Russia; they are bred at the Oktyabrsky stud farm in the Ulyanovsk region.
Russian heavy truck
Our country also boasts some of the largest horses in the world. For example, the breed gained fame far beyond the borders of Russia. Bred on the basis of the Ardennes with an influx of Percheron and Brabançon blood, these horses turned out to be powerful and proportional, which is what we see in the photo. Until 1952, our breed was called the Russian Arden. The horse is incredibly strong and is a regular winner of major competitions.
Photo gallery
We invite you to take a closer look at the representatives of the largest breeds in photos and videos.
Video “Top 10 - the biggest horses in the world”
Big Jake (217 cm)
Until 2010, the title of the largest horse on Earth was held by Remington, a stallion from Texas, America, whose height is about two meters. However, then his place in the Guinness Book of Records was taken by a Belgian gelding named Big Jake, who is currently 11 years old. The massive stallion is 2 meters 17 centimeters tall!
Big Jake is truly huge and it's not just his height. It weighs like a large SUV - a whopping 2,600 kilograms! Any person who finds himself close to this gelding seems to be simply a midget. Currently, the stallion actively appears on various talk shows, and not so long ago he became the highlight of a television program created for the Ronald McDonald House Foundation, which provides charitable assistance to people around the world.
Interestingly, Big Jake took part in a joint tour with the smallest horse in the world, which we already wrote about.
Doctor Le Ger (213 cm)
in 1902, a Percheron stallion named Doctor Le Ger was born, whose maximum height reached 213 cm. The animal weighed almost like a middle-class car - about 1400 kg.
The Percheron is a breed of horse designed for heavy work, although it is often used for trail riding due to its unusually smooth ride. The average height is about 170-180 cm, the color is most often gray.
The first Percherons were bred in the mid-19th century in France, and they were named after the Perche region where they were raised. In our country, Percherons are also raised at the Oktyabrsky stud farm near Ulyanovsk.
Duke (207 cm)
Next on our list is a stallion named Duke, originally from the UK. According to the latest measurements, his height is 2.07 meters. According to the owner of this giant, its growth is associated with a special diet, which consists of an unusual variety of apples, as well as herbal infusion. Over the past few years, the horse has been growing several centimeters per year and the growth does not stop. Perhaps Duke will become the tallest horse in the near future.
The stallion's owner says that his appetite will be the envy of many. So, per day Duke eats more than 8 kg of hay and grain, drinks at least a hundred liters of water and about 20 liters of tea. By the way, they started giving him the herbal decoction after Duke got sick. However, he recovered very quickly and showed unprecedented growth.
Despite the fact that Duke impresses with his size, he has a very cowardly character, as he is afraid of tiny mice. At the same time, he treats other horses very kindly.
Noddy (205 cm)
Meet Noddy, a Shire horse whose height reaches 2.05 m. The horse is currently 5 years old.
Shires are English heavy horses that are very tall. Typically their height is 1.8 m, but some individuals are much taller.
The Shires are descended from Dutch stallions and English mares. Smaller specimens can be used for riding in the saddle, but larger ones are only suitable for carriage. Such horses are characterized by a wide back, chest and rump. And besides, there is a characteristic bald patch on his head, and white stockings on his legs.
Sampson (220 cm)
The world record holder for height of all time is a stallion named Sampson, who was born back in 1846 in Toddington Mills, which is located in the English county of Bedfordshire. Its owner's name was Thomas Cleaver. If you believe historical information, the height of this horse reached 2 meters 20 centimeters when it was 4 years old, while its weight was relatively small - just over 1.5 tons. At the age of one and a half years, Sampson was castrated and even then his testicles could be compared in size to a baseball.
Igor Nikolaev
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The best horses - what should they be? In fact, the question belongs to the category of rhetorical. Some people like powerful and huge heavy horses, others are crazy about fast, like the wind, purebred horses, and still others dote on their miniature falabella and consider it the best horse in the world.
The best horses in the world
This is a matter of everyone’s taste, and we do not undertake to discuss what is good for a horse and what is not. Our task is to talk about the “best of the best,” that is, about the record holders among the horse breed. So, let's begin…
The “oldest” of the currently known breeds of these animals is considered to be the Arabian. On the territory of the Arabian Peninsula, the first mentions of horses found by archaeologists date back to the tenth century BC. However, in its modern form, Arabian horses have been known since the seventh century AD, so it cannot be called the most ancient of the cultivated breeds.
Arabian stallion
It is worth noting that no other horse breed has made such a contribution to the development of modern horse breeding as this one. Hippologists call these animals the “golden fund” of the entire world selection.
The very first cultivated breed of horses
The first breed whose breeding took place with the direct participation of humans is the Akhal-Teke.
The selection of this purebred horse began in the third millennium BC, on the territory of modern Turkmenistan, in the Ahal oasis. This place gave the name to this variety. Akhal-Teke breed to this day “in themselves”, not allowing the blood of other breed groups. However, the hot and capricious character prevented the wide spread of Akhal-Teke horses, and in world breeding work they are significantly inferior to Arabian horses.
The heaviest horse in the world
In this category, the championship naturally belongs to the Belgian Brabançon heavy truck.
A bay-roan stallion named Brooklyn Supreme weighed 1,451 kilograms at the age of ten, and his height at the withers was one meter and ninety-eight centimeters.
The total weight of the horseshoes of this mighty giant was 13 kilograms 600 grams. However, there is a horse that looked even more impressive than this monster of the horse world.
The biggest horse
The absolute record holder for his height among all the horses in the world was a stallion named Sampson, who belonged to the breed of English heavy draft horses - the Shire. His height at the withers was two meters nineteen centimeters, for which he received a second nickname - Mammoth.
This colossus gave birth in 1846 in England, in Toddington Mills. At the time of setting this phenomenal record, he was four years old. They say that it weighed more than one and a half tons, but, alas, no evidence or photographs have survived.
The smallest horses
Argentine Falabella ponies are the smallest representatives of these animals. The very first falabella, named Recco de Roca, weighed less than twelve kilograms and grew to only 38 centimeters at the withers.
However, the record for miniature size belongs to another representative of these equine midgets. In 1975, a stallion of this breed named Little Pamkin stopped growing, and impartial measurements recorded a height of 35.5 centimeters and a weight of only 9 kilograms 70 grams.
The horse is a long-liver
The real Methuselah among these animals was a draft horse named Billy, who was born in England in the town of Woolston. He managed to live for 62 years, and this despite the fact that until his very last days he did the hardest work - dragging barges along the river. His owner said that Billy was in excellent health and practically never got sick. The years of life of this record holder are 1760-1822, and so far none of the horses have managed to live such a long life
The strongest horses
Here we again return to heavy trucks. The absolute record at the moment is the result shown by a pair of representatives of these animals, who in a place called Nester (USA, Michigan) managed to move a load weighing 130.9 tons and dragged it as much as 402 meters. The load lay on a sleigh and was dragged along a frozen road.
In 1893, a pair of English shires, whose dead weight was 1587 kilograms, dragged fifty logs with a total weight of 42.3 tons.
In April 1924, an exhibition was held in Wembley (England), at which two striking results were shown at once. The stallion Vulcan, attached to a dynamometer, produced a tractive effort of 29.7 tons! There, another pair of heavy trucks produced a traction pull of 51 tons.
Here, naturally, there are no equals to purebred horses, which to this day are the fastest in the world.
A stallion named Big Racket in 1945 at the races in Mexico City showed an amazing result of 69.6 kilometers per hour (over a distance of a quarter mile).
Until now, no one has run faster than their horses.
The fastest horse in the world - Big Racket
Speed endurance record
The fastest horse in the world at a distance of one mile is still a horse named Pine Chip. He set a time of one minute 51 seconds back in 1994, and to this day no one has been able to break this record.
Highest jump
A stallion named Huaso jumped the highest in the world, in the saddle of which sat a rider named Morales.
At a competition in Chile, he overcame an obstacle with a height of two meters and forty-seven centimeters, and this was back in 1949.
Farthest Jump
A horse named Something made the world's longest jump at a competition in Johannesburg (South Africa). In 1975, he managed to jump over a ditch with water eight meters and forty centimeters wide.
Most prolific
As you know, female horses bear offspring for quite a long time - 11 months, and therefore cannot boast of a large number of their foals. Most often, mares give birth to one foal. However, among horses there are “heroine mothers”. It is reliably known that one mare, whose name, unfortunately, has sunk into oblivion, gave birth to and nursed 19 foals during her life.
Long hair record
The mane is rightfully considered one of the main decorations of any of these animals, and the longer it is, the more impressive the horse looks. At the moment, the record for the length of this horse pride belongs to a stallion named Dino. His luxurious hairstyle has grown to three meters and four centimeters!
This place is occupied by a thoroughbred horse named Sharif Dancer. For this beautiful stallion with an amazing pedigree, which included many winners of the most prestigious races in the world, the Arab sheikh paid as much as... forty million American dollars!
The most expensive horse Sharif Dancer
The biggest horse heart
We all know that horses are very kind and sympathetic animals. They say about such people: “he has a big heart.” If we approach this from a mathematical point of view, then the largest weight of this organ was recorded in a thoroughbred horse named Eclipse.
This figure was 6.3 kilograms.
The largest horse in the world held his title until 2012, this is the stallion from Texas Remington, his height is almost 2 meters. But after some time, his place in the Guinness Book of Records was taken by a Belgian gelding, whose name was Big Jake, now he was 11 years old, his height was 2.17 meters.
Big Jake is very huge, weighing 2600 kilograms (the weight of one SUV). Next to him, anyone can seem like a midget. The stallion currently appears on various talk shows and actively participates in them. The gelding recently became the highlight of a television program created for the Ronald McDonald House charity. This foundation provides charitable assistance to people in need around the world.
In history, more than 100 years ago (1902) a horse of the Percheron breed was born, who was given the nickname Doctor Le Ger. Its height reached 214 centimeters, and its weight was 1400 kilograms, almost the same weight as a middle-class car. This breed of horse was bred and designed for hard work. But after some time they began to be used because of their soft ride for horse riding. The Percheron has an average height of 170 - 180 centimeters, and the color of the horse is usually gray.
The very first Percherons were bred in France in the 19th century; the breed received its name from the Perche region of the same name. This type of horse is also raised in other European countries and in Russia.
The stallion from Great Britain named Duke is 2.07 meters tall. His owner claims that the growth of this horse is directly related to his special diet; the animal eats a special variety of apples and herbal infusion. Such nutrition stimulates the growth of the animal and gives strength. Over the past few years, Duke has been growing several centimeters per year, and his growth has not stopped. It is possible that in a few years this horse will become the tallest horse on the planet.
Duke's appetite, as his owner says, can be the envy of many. A horse eats more than 8 kilograms of grain and hay in one day, drinks at least 100 liters of water, and approximately 20 liters of tea. But this horse, despite his size, has a timid character; he is afraid of small mice. He treats other horses kindly, which speaks of his kindness and friendliness.
There is also a Noddy horse of the Shair breed living in the world, her height is 2.05 meters, she is now 5 years old. Shires have always been quite tall; this breed was bred in England; individuals are classified as heavy draft horses. On average they are 1.8 meters tall, but some horses are slightly taller.
The Shires take their origin from English mares and Dutch stallions. Animals that are smaller in stature are used for riding in the saddle, but large individuals may only be suitable for carriage. This type of horse has a wide chest and rump along with the back, their legs are covered with white stockings, and there is a small characteristic bald patch on the head.
The horse Sampson is a world record holder due to his height. He was born in 1846 in the small English county of Bedfordshire. His owner, Tomma Skliver, measured the horse's height; if these historical references are accurate, then it was 2.2 meters. Sampson was 4 years old at that time, the animal weighed relatively little, about 1.5 tons. At the age of one and a half, Sampson was castrated, perhaps this affected the growth hormone, and the horse began to grow rapidly.
Recently, information appeared in the media that the current record for the largest horse will soon be broken. This was stated by English grooms who are experimenting on a new breed; they have already had the first positive results. Perhaps they will make themselves known soon.
