Breeds of Horses - d

Dales horses come from the Pennines in northern England. They received their name by the famous Yorkshire Dales.  

Dales horses are related to Pennine Pony that were cross bred with Friesian horses. Scots later cross breed them with Scottish Galloway horses. The resulting horses had increased speed and were better all around athletes. They continued on to be bred with many other horses, such as the Clydesdale, Yorkshire, Norfol ...

Danish Warmbloods, formerly know as the Danish Sports Horse, are large-framed horses from Denmark. They were developed by crossing Frederiksbork horses with Thoroughbreds. The mares resulting from this were then bred with Anglo-Norman horses, Thoroughbreds, and Trakehners. This and selective breeding produced a Danish Warmblood. Danish Warmbloods are the youngest of all European warmblood breeds.

Danish Warmbloods are similar to T ...

Danube Delta horses are a feral breed that are found in and around the Letea Forest of Romania. It is documented that 300 to 400 years ago the ancestors of these horses were brought by the Tatars to the north of the Danube delta. The collapse of communism in 1989 along with the nation’s economy led to farms closing and releasing the horses into the wild. As a result, there are roughly, 3600 of these horses live in the Danube Delta and 500 in ...

Over many centuries ponies were allowed to run freely on the high moorland of Devon in the south west of England. These ponies were well adapted to the harsh climate. As the trade route between Exeter and Plymouth became more important the native ponies came in contact with the many different horse breeds that travelled on that road. They also were influenced by Arabian and Barb horses brought back by Crusaders. During the Industrial Revolut ...

Datong horses are are native to the Datong River basin in the northern Qinghai Province of China; where their history dates back 4000 years. They are considered to be related the fabled Longma or Dragon horse.

References to the Dragon Horse appeared first under the reign of King Mu and have been immortalized in ancient Chinese art. They were said to have 2 small, bony projections on their forehead that resembled horns. The Daton ...

Deli ponies arre native to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. They are closely related to Batak Ponies -both were developed in the Batak hills. They are most likely named from the large numbers of ponies exported from the port of Deli. They were first exported to Singapore, Malacca, and Penang, and from there spread they out across Malaysia.    

It is believed that the first horses in the Malay Archipelago arrived several h ...

Dellagiara Ponies, also known as the "Cavallino della Giara" (The little horse of Giara), are originally from the highland region of the same name, in Sardinia. Little is known about its origins. Probably it was brought into Sardinia by the Greeks in the 5th or 4th century B.C., at the time of the nuraghe. It is accustomed to grazing free in its difficult native terrain. To save the horse from extinction a breeding and re-populating center was se ...

Desert Norman horses are essentially a smaller version of the Percheron breed. Development of Desert Norman horses began in La Perche, a district of Normandy southwest of Paris, France - one of the oldest horse-breeding areas in the world. In 732 A.D., Arabian horses abandoned by Moors after their defeat in the Battle of Tours, were crossed with the massive Flemish stock and from this cross came the Percheron type which has endured for twel ...

Djerma horses are from Western Africa and the middle of the Niger. They originated from Barb and Dongola horses. The name Djerma comes from the tribes people of Djerma. To own a Djerma horse, in Africa, is considered a sign of wealth. These horses are held in high esteem in Africa especially by the tribes people. Their owners adorn the animals with colorful fabrics, fringes, braids, etc. The riders adorn themselves, as well. These horses can ...

Dole Gudbrandsdal (also known as Dolahest or Dole) horses originated in the Gudbrandsdal Valley near the North Sea coast of Norway. It is likely that the Friesian played a part in the breeding of the Dole. The Friesians traded heavily with Britain, Norway, and the Rhine Delta during the period from 400 to 800 A.D.  

The Dole horse of today is found in two types: a heavy work horse and a light draft horse (the cold-blooded trot ...

Don horses come from Russia. They are the spawn of one of the most famous horse styles to come from the early eighteen hundreds, the Cossacks, well known Russian warhorses that were built and bred for being strong, tempered, and very good during a battle. They however, were originally designed to be a smaller horse, but as time progressed they were made much larger. In fact, they were given blood lines from Arab styles as well as Karabakh v ...

Dongola (also known as Dongolah or Dongolawi) horses originated in the Sudan in the Dongola Province, Egypt and Eritrea. It is also thought that they descended from the Iberian horses that were taken to Egypt from what is now Algeria, in the 13th century.    

They are taller than Arab horses, but related. They have a fiery temperament like the Arab and lots of spirit. They have large, long heads which tend to be narrow, a c ...

Dosanko horses, also known as Hokkaido washu, are a popular Japanese breed of horse. It is believed that Dosanko horses were brought to Hokkaido, Japan, by fishermen from Honshu during the Edo period (1600–1867). They were used for transportation, but were left in Hokkaido when the fishermen returned home in autumn. The ponies were expected to survive in very harsh weather, in a land with very little vegetation, covered with snow, which is h ...

Drum horses were originally used by the Queen of England for her ceremonial band. They had to be large and sturdy enough to carry large kettle drums during any type of pageantry. This meant that they were required to carry a great deal of weight through crowds of people. The mounted drummers needed their hands free to play, so they controlled their animals via reins attached to their stirrups.

They are an elegant heavy horse that uti ...

Dülmen Ponies are the only remaining pony of German origin that has always lived in completely natural conditions.

Their bloodlines date back more than 600 years in Westphalia, Germany where there have always been pockets of land for them to roam. Over time their territories were shaped by the urban growth, until the mid 19th century when the Duke of Croy had them rounded up and taken to a refuge.  

Dülmen Ponies a ...

Dutch Harness, or Tuigpaard, horses are a warmblood type of fine driving horse that has been developed in the Netherlands since the end of World War II. Their studbook is kept by the Koninklijk Warmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland (Royal Warmblood Horse Studbook of the Netherlands) or KWPN. They are based on native Groningen and Gelderland horses, which were formerly indispensable in agriculture and transportation services. Strict selection ...

Dutch Warmblood horses are exceptional sport horses that have recently been prominent in the international equestrian. Some of the Dutch Warmblood superstars include Calypso, Next Milton, Big Ben, Ampere, Ommen, Zucarlos, Linky, Eastern Sunrise, Pascal, Ideaal and many more.  

Dutch Warmblood horses are sport horses that have evolved from Dutch Gelderlander and Groningen horses. Gelderlander horses come from the light sandy soil ...