Post by horselover4life on Aug 26, 2014 9:54:13 GMT
Do to my Swedish heritage I became interested in these as a young child. They have always seemed just something special about them to me in pictures.
My mom saw some "real" ones when she went to visit her relatives in Sweden. She took some pictures of them for me knowing my love of horses, all horses.
So...what I could take from Wikipedia about a "someday" addition to a herd I would love to put together of many breeds....
The Gotland Pony
Gotland pony or Gotland russ is an old Swedish pony breed. Gotland ponies are claimed to descend from Tarpans that lived on the small island of Gotland that is on the South-Eastern coast of Sweden right after the last ice age. The Gotland pony is the only breed of pony native to Sweden. The Öland horse from the neighboring island of Öland was a close relative of the Gotland, but went extinct in the early 20th century.
The Gotland Russ has a light and narrow build with sloping quarters and a low-set tail. Their hooves are good and hard. This pony generally stands from 11.1 to 12.3 hands at the withers. The pony is strong and hardy, and can be ridden by children and small adults.
Common colors include bay, chestnut, black, buckskin, and palomino, but all colors except for dun, grey, and pinto, are allowed. Bay or black is usually preferred.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gotlandsruss-slottsskogen-goteborg.jpg
**apologies...I have no pictures available to post...only can give a link to the pictures on Wikipedia where my information came from.
