The Irish draught horse breed – the working horse pre, post war and the present day

Abstract

The Irish Draught horse is a historic breed of horse that has been involved in society and industry from the 16th century to the present day. They were the original ‘work horse’ and have progressively changed over there years in line with the demands for its use. The protection of the breed has come from Governing bodies and from the introduction of Policies to guide breeders on their methods of breeding. The aim of this thesis is to establish the change from the working horse of the past to the competition horse at present and to highlight the ways of protecting the breeding of the ID into the future.