The Norik: one of Europe's oldest harness races

Noriker 

The Noriker is a breed of horse that comes from Austria and southern Germany. The Norik is one of Europe's oldest Harness races and was named after the Roman Empire vassal Noricum, who administered the area which currently represents Austria.

The Noriker horse is best known for the dark flaxen colour but all colours can occur. The spotted Norikerhasten is a variant that is very rare and is bred and reared in Salzburg and then mostly known as a Pinzgauer. The Norikerhastarna has very relaxed and swinging movements, and often the confirmation is compromised by breed faults with the horses legs but they have a good temperament and are easy to handle.

History

The Noricum comes from the Norik homeland whose connection was with Venetoi in Northern Italy. This area was very famous for their bloodstock.

Veneto was later the Haflinger and Avelignesens horses home state so there is therefore a natural connection between these three races. The Norik ancestors were almost certainly heavy horses. The Roman war horses were also used as drag and pack horses and the Veneti were known prominent horse breeder.

During the Middle Ages the Norik horse was conceived mainly in Salzburg in a mountainous area known as the Gross Glockner. The Archbishop Kuen founded the breed in the early 1500l stable at the Meadows in Hallein a stud that would dominate the breeding of the Norik over 200 years.

The Norikerhasten was known as the Styria Horse or Karntenhast and these horses had the biggest influence on the breed. The Norik is acknowledged as a race from as early as 1565, when the monasteries in the area took the breed under its protection.

This initiative was under the guidance of the Archbishop of Salzburg, who also looked after the Salzburg studbook. The Burgundian was a heavy horses bred that was bred back into the race to make it bigger and heavier. However it was the Spanish horse that’s was the one that came to be the most important influence on the Norik and labelled the Norik in terms of their special colours and characteristics.
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The breed was established in 1884 and had its own standard, but its own stud book did not come until 1903. The stud book by then had over 450 stallions and 1 000 mares recorded in the book.
The horses have their present name the Norikerhast, even if both name and appearance may vary between German, Austrian and Italian breeders.

Attributes

The Noriker horse is a variant called the southern German Harness horse and they show the very typical breed colours.

The tandem breeds of the Norik are a robust and medium-sized Heavy Draft horses are the most common workhorse in the Austrian Alps. The legs are short and often have confirmation errors but they are incredibly strong. This breed is easy to keep breeding is uncomplicated they are easy working animals and do not get ill.

The movements are the breed's great weakness, which can be very swinging and sloppy. The gates are part of a breed improvement exercise where the breeders are aiming to remove these confirmation problems through selective breeding of individuals who have better movement.

The head of the Norikerhasten is quite heavy with a straight or outwardly curving nose profile but the neck is muscular and beautifully curved. This is a heritage from the Spanish horses. The Mane and tail are often sharp and horse’s hair can often be wavy.

The horses back may be slightly lower sometimes. The horses are tough, with tough hooves and the legs can be quite strongly feathered.

The most common color of Norik is a darker variant of flaxen. It is really dark, almost black, brown coat with flaxen or sometimes almost white mane and tail.

This particular color is immensely popular, which also explains the relationship with the always flaxen Haflinger. The Norikerhastar may be several different colours and the horses reared in Salzburg can be both brindle and grey, which is otherwise very rare.

From the Norik breed there are several other "subtypes" which have emerged including the Black Forest Horse, which is very similar in appearance, and always carries the flaxen coat gene. The Noriker horse is bred and reared in different places and have different localized names.

In Bavaria and in Germany there are born a smaller variant of the Norik also called the Oberlander which as a breed variant has better movement than the usual Norik type horse.

The Tyrol is Norikerhastarna which is a powerful horse and are still engaged in agriculture in the mountains where machines can not get through to.
In the middle of Austria the breed has given birth to a spotted Norikerhastar called the Pinzgauer. The Horses can also go by the name of the Southern German Harness horse.

Today the Norikerhasten is responsible for almost half of the total Austrian horse population. It is true that all other races have been subjected out breeding but this breed has nevertheless retained its unique features.

The breed has recently become popular as a riding horse, but it will be a while before it is seen in any race meetings, but the Norik has a good mind and knows when a road is not safe. They are also easy to handle, quiet and have a long life.