The people of the USE will need horses for a long time. The US in the OTL did not see full tractor mechanization of farming until well into the 50’s (the Depression and WWII contributed to the late date). The introduction of 19th century horse drawn farm machinery will spread. It is more efficient and not so far from what is already practiced. For many of the USE farmers the move up to motorized farming will not be pressing or economically practical for a long time. Electrifying the farms will be another matter and one not strictly related to powering farm equipment. My guess is that it will take at least 3 generations (60-90 years) to develop a mechanized farming infrastructure. Even at that there will be farmers continuing to use horse power over tractor power.
For stories touching on agriculture, transportation, and military matters in the USE the power will be overwhelmingly provided by horses (and mules). Grantville had to scramble to get enough draft horses to pull what horse drawn equipment they had that first harvest. They will still be scrapping together horses as they build new farm machinery. Grantville landed in an area picked over by both armies. There will be very few useful horses or mules or oxen available locally. What is available must come from outside the immediate area. Someone from Grantville will have to buy horses from areas not as destroyed. To that end I wondered just what horse breeds/types were around in 17th century Europe.
Here is a survey of horse breeds of Europe. I’ve included some modern (18th, 19th, & 20th century) breeds to cover the “But what about (fill in the breed here)?” questions. Also below are two short sections presented to give some background on draft horses.
Heavy Draft Horses
From the International Museum of the Horse on draft horses in America and why they bred them bigger in the 19th century. Note: This is Horse History Lite and refers to the USA.
By the early Medieval period (500 to 1,000 A.D.), a particular type of heavy horse known as the “Black Horse of Flanders” had settled in the European low country, in what is presently Belgium and Northern France. This would be the father of all modern draft horses.
The revolution in agricultural technology between 1820 and 1870, created a demand for a larger and stronger horse to power the new equipment. In 1862, Congress passed the Morril Land Grant Act which led to the establishment of state agricultural colleges. The first of the nation’s veterinary colleges opened at Cornell University in 1868. As farmers became more educated, there was a corresponding improvement in the care, feeding and breeding of horses.
The new and improved farm equipment greatly increased the productivity of the American farmer. With the McCormick reaper, which both cut and tied grains into stocks, one man could do the work of thirty. New steel plows, double-width harrows and seed drills, mowers, binders, combines and thresher’s decreased the need for manpower, but increased the demand for horsepower. Toward the end of the century, the typical Midwestern wheat farm had ten horses, which each worked an average of 600 hours per year. During harvest, it was not unusual to see giant combines pulled by teams of over forty draft horses.
The average American farm in 1790 was 100 acres. This figure more than doubled over the next 60 years. By 1910, 500 acre wheat farms were not uncommon. While oxen and light horses had been adequate for tilling the long-worked fields of Europe and the eastern United States, a stronger power source was needed to work the sticky, virgin soil of the American prairie. As a result, the first European Draft Horses were imported to America in the late 1830’s. Farm labor became scarce due to westward migration and casualties from the Civil War. This created a greater demand for the new farm equipment and draft horses to power them. By 1900, there were over 27,000 purebred Belgians, Clydesdales, Percherons, Shires, and Suffolk Punches in the United States. Although the purebred draft stock was seldom used in the field, the infusion of their blood resulted in an increase of the average horse size to between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds by 1900.
Draft horse Load Capabilities
Dale Wagner posted the following article to the Draft Chat Board.
The most efficient size of a draft animal is 1600 pounds. It has been proven on the treadmill and respirator tests where they measured every calorie and the oxygen going in and the output of energy and waste.
The 1600 pound horse has the ability to exert 200 pounds of tractive force for 10 hours with the ability to give brief moments of 2400 pounds. A ton horse can do only 220 pounds for 10 hours but has the overload ability of 3000 pounds momentarily (this is why they are preferred for starting heavy loads as in breaking logs loose). The 1200 pound horse has the ability to exert 180 pounds of tractive force for 10 hours but has only 1800 pound maximum pull. Also, at this weight, he does not have enough weight to give him enough traction to transfer that power as easily.
With the use of multiple hitches, farmers were able to get the power they needed. And in these big hitches, you could find horses of all sizes. With a normal loading, the smaller ones would wear out the larger on flat or even ground. On a long hill, the biggest had it easier. Another point is that I can put the harness on six 15-16 hand horses in less time than two of those 18+.
Web sites for further reading
European Draft horses
Austria
- Avelignese (Italian Alps region, small saddle, pack, & light draft horse – old breed)
- Lipizzan (warhorse, saddle horse, 16th century [1580 Archduke Charles II established breeding program])
- Noric (aka Noriker or Norisches Kaltbult (German), Pinzgauer – see below)
- Noriker (Draft horse, ancient breed. Four main bloodlines: South German Coldblood (also called the Bavarian), the Steier, the Tiroler and the Karntner)
Balkans
- Albanian, Mountain (small saddle horse, warhorse & pack horse – ancient, 14th century infusion of Arab blood)
- Albanian, Myzeqea (pony sized, saddle & pack horse – ancient, 14th century infusion of Arab blood)
- Danube (light riding and draft horse from Bulgaria – 19th century)
Belgium
- Ardennais (aka Cheval de Trait Ardennais or Ardennais (French), Belgian Ardennes – heavy draft, ancient)
- Belgian Draft Horse (aka Brabant, ancient breed, draft horse, may have been used as a warhorse by the Romans before being bred up in size)
Czech Republic
- Kladruber (aka Kladruby – carriage horse, 15th & 16th century roots, warhorse?)
Denmark
- Frederiksborg (saddle, carriage, and cavalry horse – predates 17th century)
- Knabstrup (saddle and carriage horse, old breed)
- Jutland (Draft horse, warhorse? old breed, updated in the 19th & 20th century)
Estonia
- Toric (aka Tori, all-purpose horse, 19th century)
- Estonian Native (aka Mestnaya estonskaya, Estonskaya loshad, Estonian Klepper, Estonian Pony, saddle & light draft horse, ancient)
Finland
- Finnish Horse (saddle horse, 19th century?)
- Finnish Draft (draft breed, 19th & 20th century)
France
- Auxois (draft horse, old breed updated in the 19th century)
- Breton (draft horse, ancient breed)
- Boulonnais (draft horse, ancient breed [1st-2nd century AD], may have been lightened up for use as a jousting horse. Larger version very rare today)
- Camarque (old breed, riding horse)
- Comtois (old breed, draft breed, may have seen use as a heavy warhorse)
- Mulassier (draft breed, now very rare, old breed. Horse half of the Poitou Mule)
- Percheron (draft horse, old breed – it was crossed with Arabians, may have been used as a heavy warhorse)
- Poitevin (draft horse, origins unclear but more than two centuries old)
- Selle Francais (new breed, saddle horse, 19th & 20th century)
- Poitou donkey (donkey half of Poitou Mule)
- Poitou Mule (draft mule)
Germany
- Hanoverian (origins may be 17th century, saddle horse)
- Holsteiner (old breed, 12th – 13th century, saddle, draft, carriage, cavalry horse)
- Oldenburg (16th century breed, saddle horse)
- Trakehner (18th century breed, saddle horse, troop horse)
- Rhenish German Coldblood (draft animal, 20th century, rare today)
- Schleswig-Holstein (draft horse, carriage horse, 19th century)
- South German Horse (heavy draft horse, 19th century)
Great Britain, Scotland & Ireland
- Cleveland Bay (saddle, pack, draft, carriage horse, 17th century)
- Clydesdale (heavy draft, at least 18th century)
- Hackney horse (saddle & carriage horse, 18th century)
- Irish Draught (saddle & light draft, 19th century)
- Shire (heavy draft, warhorse?, pre 15th century, size may have increased in the 18th century)
- Suffolk Punch (heavy draft (farming), 13th century)
Hungary
- Nonius (draft, carriage, & saddle horse, 9th century – originally draft horse, 19th century lightened for riding)
- Kisber Felver (saddle horse, 19th century)
- Shagya (saddle horse, 18th & 19th century)
Iceland
- Icelandic (aka Islenzki hesturinn, Icelandic toelter horse, Iceland Tolter – very ancient breed, saddle & light draft)
Italy
- Haflinger (old breed, riding & light work horse)
- Italian Heavy Draft (draft horse, late 19th century)
- Murgese (light draft & riding horse, origins unclear)
Lithuania
- Zhemaichu (aka Zhmudka, saddle, pack, & draft horse, 16th century references to the breed)
Netherlands
- Dutch Draft Horse (Modern breed, 20th century)
- Dutch Warmblood (20th century sport horse, saddle horse)
- Friesian (old breed, saddle & carriage horse)
- Gelderland (17th century breed, saddle horse, carriage horse)
- Groningen (old breed?, draft & carriage horse)
Norway
- The Dole Gudbrandsday (aka Dolehest, Gudbrandsdahl – small draft horse, saddle horse, old breed)
- Norwegian Fjord Horse (bred in Norway for 2K years, small, Viking warhorse, light draft)
- Nordland (pony, light draft, riding – origins unclear, probably ancient)
Poland
- Hucul (aka Carpathian pony, ancient breed, saddle & light draft, earliest written records from 1606)
- Carpathian Pony (see above)
- Konik (small saddle, pack, light draft, ancient breed later updated with Arabian blood)
- Polish Draft (five different types of horses, all called Polish Draft, bred in different regions for different purposes. The five main types are the Lowicz, the Sztum, the Sololka, the Gravolin and the Lidzbark.)
Portugal
- Lusitano (see Andalusian – old warhorse breed, very ancient breed)
Russia
- Alti (saddle horse, ancient mountain horse)
- Bashkir (light draft and utility horse, origins unclear but definitely old)
- Budenny (aka Budyonny or, less commonly, Budonny or Budennovsky – 20th century breed, saddle horse)
- Don Horse (developed by the Cossacks in the 16th and 17th centuries, saddle horse, cavalry horse)
- Kabarda (saddle horse, origins unclear)
- Karabair (saddle horse from the steppes, date of origin unclear)
- Karabakh (saddle horse from Azerbaijan, ancient mountain horse)
- Kazakh (saddle horses from the Steppes, ancient breed [5th century B.C.])
- Kustanai (aka Kustanaiskaya – saddle horse, 19th century, from Kazakhstan)
- Orlov Trotter (18th century light harness horse with great endurance)
- Russian Heavy Draft (19th century draft horse)
- Russian Riding Horse (Orlov-Rostopchin Horse) (19th & 20th century descendent of the Orlov riding horse)
- Russian Trotter (19th century trotting horse)
- Tersky & Strelesky (19th century light cavalry horse)
- Vladimir (heavy draft horse, 19th century)
- Vyatka (aka Vyatskata, 14th century, saddle, pack, light draft horse)
Spain
- Andalusian (aka ‘Spanish Horse’, in Portugal known as Lusitano – old warhorse breed, very ancient breed)
- Carthusian (aka Carthusian-Andalusian – a side branch of the Andalusian)
- Astrurian (aka Asturcon, small saddle horse, pacers or amblers, ancient – Pliny mentions them)
- Galiceño (small saddle & harness horse, ancient breed)
- Losino (small saddle & harness horse, ancient breed)
- Pottok (aka Basque, Vasca (Spanish) – small saddle, pack, & light draft horse, origins unclear, may be ancient)
- Sorraia (aka Marismeño, prehistoric breed, wild horse in Spain, foundation stock for many European saddle breeds)
- Spanish Barb (ancient breed, saddle horse, warhorse)
- Tiger (aka Spanish Jennet, Caballo Tigre, ancient breed, very popular in Europe from 15th through the 18th centuries, an ambler)
Sweden
- Gotland (aka Skogsruss, Russ, Gotlandsruss, Skogsbaggar, Skogshäst, small horse/pony, records from 13th century, saddle, light draft)
- North Swedish horse (draft horse, carriage horse, cavalry horse, old breed)
Switzerland
- Freiberger (Swiss mountain horse, saddle, pack, light harness – 19th century breed?)
Ukraine
- Russian Heavy Horse (aka Russian Heavy Draft horse – see above)
Turkmenistan
- Akhal-Teke (saddle horse, warhorse, ancient breed)
- Iomud (aka Iomudskaya (Russian), Yamud (Iran) – saddle horse)