Nine coat colors ..../May 5th, 2021: "Belgian draft horse: Mane, tail and legs are black." Tail? Is missing! Congratulations for Gloria: she was allowed to keep her tail!
Tails are cut short to prevent them from interfering with the rigging of carriages or other equipment they pull. It is now prohibited in Belgium and the Netherlands (since 2001), and other european countries as well.
@@Tiisiphone / June 9th, 2021: Of course, you may ask - and I appreciate your question because I think to be a real horse-lover: In spite of the ban (law) from 2001 there are a lot of draft horses without tail, I found the following example: a contest in 2017, this RU-vid-video showed that the stallions were born in 2015, and the tails were amputated, i. e. extremely short, not existing (with only one single exception)!!!!!
Sam Clegg/May 5th, 2021: This is a good question, I like it - I have been waiting for since a long time. I plead for horses w i t h t a i l. Even the responsible persons can't find a plausible answer to this question because tails belong to horses - since milleniums.
@@charlottebonnie5320 I could hypothesize that long numbers of teams the horses in the front would whip their tails in the faces of the ones in back causing a distraction. But I really would like someone who knows to fill me in.
@@samclegg2805 / May 6th, 2021: There will probably be comments either by advocates (supporters) or by opponents of tail docking (= me).--- There is a gap between the tail of the first horse and the head of the following: for the hindlegs' movements and for part of the coach (shaft/pole/drawbar - see Budweiser Clydesdale Horses accident). In addition it is possible to tie the tailhairs up to the tail-bone instead of amputation.
@@samclegg2805 The original practice to dock a draft horse's tail was due to the fact that when used out on the land it was in danger of getting stuck between parts of whichever machinery they were pulling and thus being able to cause serious injuries. Nowadays if you see an animal with a docked tail in Belgium it is done illegally or the animal is older as it is forbidden.
That’s because they are a different type. what americans call the belgian draft is called the ‘flemish draft horse’ over here ( they are taller, leaner and miss the furry feet and they are sorrels). The draft horses in this video are derived from the flemish draft horse and the brabant draft horse to create the ‘belgian draft horse’