Irish Draught is considered one of Ireland’s native breeds. The Irish Draught Horse breed is designated as endangered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Ireland). 

According to the Irish Rare Breeds Society, “The Irish Draught is considered an “endangered maintained” breed by the Food and Agriculture Committee of the United Nations. In 2009, the breed was upgraded to the “Watch” category on the American Livestock Breed Conservancy’s Rare Breed Conservation Priority List.”

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Canadian population

The purebred herd in Canada is very small with a handful of dedicated breeders. The rule of "supply and demand" applies to Irish Draughts in Canada.​

Irish Draughts are registered based on proven parentage. For a horse to be registered as an Irish Draught the DNA must confirm this horse’s sire and dam are Irish Draught.

Additionally, for an Irish Draught to be considered suitable breeding stock they must be classified through inspection and assigned Class 1 (exemplary breeding stock) or Class 2 (suitable breeding stock). Horses classified “class 3” did not pass veterinary inspection, and those not inspected are class 4 until inspected.

While some breeders may choose to not inspect their horses the Class 1 horse is by far more marketable in Canada and internationally.

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Characteristics of Irish Draught Breed

The horse has a graceful carriage of head and neck with a big, kind eye, strong limbs with particularly short cannon bones. Despite the power, the horse should be free moving and not ponderous. The feet should be like those of a hunter and not like a carthorse. The feet are one of the most important points and the reason why the Irish Draught is required for the breeding of show jumpers is that they have to withstand the concussion from jumping, often on hard surfaces.

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Height: Ideally Irish Draughts should stand between 158cms (15.2hh) and a maximum of 170cms (16.3hh) at maturity.

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Head: Should be pleasant, not coarse or hatchet like with plenty of room between the jaw bones. Wide forehead and kind eyes, set well apart, and with large quality ears.

 

Neck: Good length of rein with head well set on, neck should be correctly muscled and well shaped.

 

Bone: Approximately 23 centimetres (9 inches) of strong, clean, flat bone.

 

Front legs: Long muscular forearms, short cannon bones with plenty of strong clean, flat bone, not back at the knee or tied in below the knee. Pasterns should be in proportion with good hoof pastern axis.

Hooves should be of equal size, hard and sound with plenty of room at the heel. They should not be boxy, over large, or flat.

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Shoulders: A sloping shoulder neither loaded, nor too heavy, nor too short, with well defined withers well set back.

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Body, back and hindquarters: Deep girth with a good spring of rib, strong back, loins and quarters. The croup and buttocks should be long and gently sloping. Hips should not be too wide.

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Hind legs: Strong gaskins, well-shaped clean hocks set into short shins. Should not be cow hocked or wide apart at the hocks.

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Action: Should be straight and free not heavy or ponderous. Movement should be active and strong, showing good flexion of joints and freedom of the shoulders.

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Colour: Any strong whole colour including bay, grey, chestnut, black, brown, and dun. Excessive white markings are not desirable.

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Canada's low number of Irish Draught's makes them costly and Canadian breeders spend significant amounts of money on artificial insemination and embryo transfer as the most viable options to ensuring a diverse pedigreed herd in Canada. Importing Irish Draughts is the other costly alternative. Supporting the Canadian Irish Draught breeders by shopping at "home" first might just result in finding a hidden gem and top quality Irish Draught to add to your own paddock.