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The Limousin horse (French: cheval limousin, Occitan: caval lemosin) is an extinct French and Occitan horse breed that was bred from the 12th century to the 20th century as a saddle horse, as well as to pull horse carriages, in the Limousin region of France, formerly part of Aquitaine and Occitania.[1][better source needed] The genetic foundation was based off of French native mares, Iberian horses, English Thoroughbreds, Arabians, and Anglo-Arabians. This breed was later influential in the 1958 creation of the Selle Français, a new French horse breed that merged several French regional horse breeds, including the Anglo-Norman horse, into one sport horse type.
 Limousin filly (1923) | |
| Conservation status | Extinct |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | France |
With the earliest records of the breed dating back to the 12th century (1100s), with some documents dating the origins of the breed to as early as 506 A.D.[2] and 1063 A.D.,[3][page needed] Limousin horses were bred during the Middle Ages and the era of the Angevin Empire (French: Espace Plantagenet) during the 12th-13th centuries, when the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine, and King Henry II of England, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, brought Aquitaine under the control of the House of Plantagenet and England. Horses were an important resource for the Duchy of Aquitaine for both military purposes and equestrian sports, and early Limousin horses served as mounts for Eleanor of Aquitaine[4][failed verification] and Aquitainian troops, as well as crusaders to the Holy Land.[3][page needed]
Limousin horses are also mentioned in the Chanson d'Antioche (c. 1180) as being used in First Crusade (1096–1099) by knights.[3][page needed] Some attribute Turkoman horses and Arabian horses brought back from the Crusades as giving the Limousin its conformation.[5][page needed]
A horse of medium size, Leclerc wrote in the 1700s that the best French saddle horses came from Limousin and were quite similar to the Barb horse.[6]: 235 It had a great reputation due to its association with French royalty and nobility until the French Revolution, as Limousin provided many horses for the army of King Louis XIV of France and the French cavalry. François Robichon de La Guérinière and Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon said the Limousin was "the best horse in France" from the 16th to 19th centuries.[5][page needed][7]: 4–5
Once used in sports like fox hunting, as well as field hunter and show hunter disciplines, the Limousin horse was also an excellent riding mount, bred largely by French aristocrats, bourgeois, and the Pompadour National Stud Farm at Pompadour Castle in Arnac-Pompadour, Corrèze, France. The two most common breed colors were bay and gray, with the average height of Limousin horses being around 14.2 hands (58 inches, 147 cm) to 15.2 hands (62 inches, 157 cm). The head of the Limousin horse was described as "long, with a convex profile", and it had "strong and small feet" and "excellent agility", being used in light cavalry divisions, as well as in classical dressage.
The use of the breed as a popular cavalry mount led to frequent requisitions under the First French Republic and the First French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte; and, in particular, for the War in the Vendée and the Napoleonic Wars, which caused the breed to become rare. Crossed with the Arabian and the Thoroughbred horse breeds during the 19th century, then re-converted to horse racing, the purebred Limousin horse largely disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, in part due to the new popularity of the Anglo-Arabian. The Limousin horse was merged into the Selle Français breed in 1958.
See also
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- ^ "Limousin Horse". The Equinest. 9 August 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- ^ Aubrun, Michel [in French] (1981). L'Ancien diocèse de Limoges des origines au milieu du XIe siècle [The Old Diocese of Limoges from its origins to the middle of the 11th century] (in French). Clermont-Ferrand, France: Institut d'études du massif central. pp. 94–97. ISBN 978-2-87741-020-5.
- ^ a b c de Blomac, Nicole; Barrière, Bernadette (2006). Cheval limousin, chevaux en Limousin [Limousin horse, horses in Limousin] (in French). France: Presses Univ. Limoges. ISBN 9782842874049.
- ^ Ching Man Au. "Eleanor of Aquitaine". Retrieved 27 September 2024 – via Pace University.
- ^ a b Vallon, Alexandre-Bernard (1863). Cours d'hippologie à l'usage de MM. les officiers de l'armée [Hippology course for the use of army officers] (in French). Javaud. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ Leclerc, Georges-Louis (1754). L'Histoire naturelle, générale et particuliére, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi [Natural History, General and Particular, with a Description of the King's Cabinet] (in French). Vol. IV. p. 235.
(translated) There are horses of all kinds in France, but the best ones are few in number; the best saddle horses come from Limosin; they are quite similar to the Barbes, and like them are excellent for hunting, but they are slow in their growth; they must be taken care of in their youth, and even not used until the age of eight.
(page 235) - ^ Denis, Bernard (30 July 2012). "Les races de chevaux en France au XVIIIe siècle. Et les idées relatives à leur amélioration" [Horse Breeds in France in the 18th Century. And Ideas for Their Improvement]. In Situ (in French) (18). doi:10.4000/insitu.9677. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
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