As the Brabant breed grows in popularity and exposure, I get a lot of questions about these horses. One of the most common occurs when someone sees a horse listed as a '75% Brabant' or a '50% Brabant' and wonders how that works. So what's the deal with the percentages in these horses?
Well first, a quick history lesson. The Belgian horse originated in, funnily enough, Belgium! Horses imported to America before the world wars were the foundation of the American Belgian breed. Due to the wars there was a time period where no importing occurred, leading to a difference in the look of the American Belgians and the Belgian horses in Europe. 'Brabant' was a term coined for the horses imported from Belgium after the wars who retained the European look and were distinct from the American Belgians. Unfortunately, things didn't stay quite so simple! With the release of a new breed registry through the American Brabant Association came a desire to focus on breeding the 'American Brabant'- a combination of the European and American bloodlines- as distinct from the European stock that were brought over as 'Brabants'. Today, the European style horse is generally referred to as either a European Belgian or a European Brabant.
With that in mind, the percentage system used by the registry is a way to track the amount of European blood in a given horse. The other breeds in the horse's pedigree will vary but are often American Belgian, Percheron, Suffolk or at times even unknown draft horses. The registry does not permit registration of light horses crosses as an American Brabant. Generally speaking, the more European blood in the horse the more they will look like the horses bred today in Belgium. There are exceptions, of course, but depending on the goals for a given farm you can often predict what kind of horses may be the best fit. The 100% European Brabant horses (imports or bred from imported stock) are generally heavier in their bone and feather and a little slower when working. The 50% horses tend to be a touch lighter in bone and feather and have a little more get-up-and-go to them, which can be beneficial if they are being used for farm work because they will cover more ground in a day. Of course, these are all generalities and you'll find exceptions on both sides as well as everything in the middle!
The most important thing to remember is that both high and low percentage stock can be good horses! I think at times this message gets lost when breeders are very passionate about the specific type of horses that they breed. Here at AKH we have found that our favorite horses to breed and work with are the high percentage European stock, but we also have some grade and Percheron mares that we use to produce 50% horses for our customers who are looking for a working horse or a team. In reality, there are differences to be aware of and the real fun comes in selecting a horse that meets the needs of the person shopping. We love this breed for the combination of beauty, brains, and versatility so there really is something for everyone.
As a final note, you can see some of the differences in type in the photo below of the two 3-year-old fillies that we'll soon be upgrading from the youngster field to our broodmare band. On the left you can see Spruce, a 50% filly bred here in the US out of European and American Belgian horses. On the right is Magnolia, one of our imported (100%) fillies. You can clearly see the difference in bone and feathering. Spruce will also likely be a bit taller and longer bodied than Magnolia at maturity. These are both good girls and we look forward to adding them to our breeding program. Follow along to see what kind of foals we get out of the same stallion when bred to Spruce for a 75% foal and to Magnolia for a 100% foal.
