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Auxois
A little background...
Similar to the Ardennais draught, the Auxois draught results from crossing local Burgundy mares with Ardennais and Trait du Nord stallions, plus some breeding with Percherons and Boulonnais in the XIXth century.
Standard and breeding area
The cradle of the Auxois draught breed is located, as its name suggests, in the Auxois region of Burgundy. This lightly undulating, fertile region of grasslands reputed for their richness enabled a large (1.60m-1.70m), heavy horse with a sweeping and freeflowing gait to be bred. Its coat is generally bay or roan and it is also reputed for its docile and rustic character.
Today..
It has a low population (295 mares covered in 2008) in constant growth, bred by 135 members of the Breeders’ Union. The Auxois draught horse is a very good traction horse. It is used for forest clearing, vineyard work, horsedrawn tourism - in particular caravanning in the Morvan - and the production of mares’ milk. The best representatives of the breed meet each year at the breed’s Concours Spécial at Semur in Auxois, (second weekend of September). Since 1997, the dynamic Union has been equipped with a Promotion Centre at Bierre Les Semur, which trains drivers and horses and offers horsedrawn tourism and demonstrations. In 2008, under the impetus of the Union, a Breeding Centre was inaugurated. This new building houses several workshops linked with breeding: a reproduction station with stallions that belong to the Union, a foaling workshop and a milk production unit ran by the Semur agricultural college in Auxois. The Union is therefore equipped with a tool used to promote the specific character of the Auxois breed for its development and enable breeders to raise a horse that corresponds to a now exacting requirement.