Norfolk Roadster

The Norfolk Roadster or Trotter is perhaps one of the most influential of all trotting breeds and is the foundation for most modern trotting breeds of today.
Origins ...

- Norfolk Roadster -
The Norfolk Roadster is probably the best, most influential road horse ever known. It is also known as the Norfolk Trotter, and it forms the foundation for most of the existing trotting horse breeds.

From these sources developed two earlier breeds, now extinct, the Norfolk Roadster and the Yorkshire Roadster, foundation stock for the general purpose horse that formally became the Hackney Horse.

Gelderland horses trace their ancestry to native mares of the Gelderland province who where crossed with Andalusian, Neapolitan, Norman, Norfolk Roadster and Holstein stallions.

Although its exact origin, like many native breeds, is unknown, the modern horse gets much of its character from Spanish blood and the Norfolk Roadster.

The Nonius carried Norman blood, and was also influenced, early on, by the Norfolk Roadster The breed was continually refined by Thoroughbred blood to produce light carriage types and then riding horses.

The breed was developed during the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain, from the well-known trotting breeds: the Norfolk Roadster and the Yorkshire Roadster.

This lovely horse is descended from Friesian and also Norfolk Roadster, Welsh Cob and Clydesdale giving it its strength and active paces combined with a willing temperament.

As the Norfolk Roadster and Arab-bred horses gained popularity later on, they too were selected to stand at the royal stud.

This attractive breed stems from a variety of sources, notably Andalusian,Norman and Norfolk Roadster.

George, his Norfolk Roadster/Yorkshire Trotter stallion foaled in 1866, to breed with Fell Pony mares, and then interbred the offspring to make a fixed type of horse. The Hackney Pony probably also has much Welsh Pony blood.

This was done by crossing the English Thoroughbred, the native Norman mares and the Norfolk Roadster. Later, Standardbred blood was added to give more speed to the breed.

Besides the purebred Oldenburgs, Oldenburg crosses and Hanoverian, Norfolk Roadster, Ardennes and East Friesians were widely used. A special role in breed formation was played by the Okte stud in the Talsa region.

During the early half of the 20th century, 65 Oldernburg stallions and 42 Oldenburg mares were imported from the Netherlands which became the base for developing the breed. There were then crosses made using Hanoverian, Norfolk Roadster, ...

See also: Stallion, Thoroughbred, Bay, Chestnut, Arabian