The East Bulgarian is an elegantly-built warmblood

Warmblood

Warmbloods are a group of middle-weight horse types and breeds, primarily originating in Europe, registered with organizations that are characterized by open studbook policy, studbook selection, and the aim of breeding for equestrian sport...

 breed of horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 that developed over the last 100 years. They are used mainly for under saddle

Equestrianism

Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...

 and light draft

Draft horse

A draft horse , draught horse or dray horse , less often called a work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred for hard, heavy tasks such as ploughing and farm labour...

 work, and are well-suited for a variety of competitive sports, ranging from dressage

Dressage

Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...

 to eventing

Eventing

Eventing is an equestrian event comprising dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This event has its roots in a comprehensive cavalry test requiring mastery of several types of riding...

.

History

The East Bulgarian began to be developed at the end of the 19th century at the "Kabiuk" stud farm (former Vassil Kolarov) near Shumen

Shumen

Shumen is the tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and capital of Shumen Province. In the period 1950–1965 it was called Kolarovgrad, after the name of the communist leader Vasil Kolarov...

 and at stud farm in Bozhurishte

Bozhurishte

Bozhurishte is a town in western Bulgaria. It is the administrative center of Bozhurishte Municipality in Sofia Province; close to Kostinbrod and the capital Sofia. The old airport of Sofia, now a military one, is near the town. Bozhurishte was first mentioned in 1750...

 near Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

, in Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, by crossing local horses with Arabians

Arabian horse

The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...

, Anglo-Arabian

Anglo-Arabian

The Anglo-Arabian or Anglo-Arab is a crossbred horse that now also has its own status as a horse breed. It is a Thoroughbred crossed with an Arabian. The cross can be made between a Thoroughbred stallion and an Arabian mare, or vice-versa...

s, Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

s and English half-breds. Once established, only additional Thoroughbred blood was added to improve the breed's quality. They were officially recognized as a breed in 1951.

Breed characteristics

The East Bulgarian generally stands 15 to 16 hands high, and is usually chestnut

Chestnut (coat)

Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...

, black

Black (horse)

Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and novices frequently mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. However, some breeds of horses, such as the Friesian horse, Murgese and Ariegeois are almost exclusively black...

, or bay. Typically, East Bulgarians have quiet but energetic temperaments and are nicely put together, with good conformation. In appearance, they have a fine head with a straight profile that is well set onto an elegant, muscular neck. The withers

Withers

The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...

are prominent, and they have strong shoulders, a full and deep chest, a straight, long back, a slightly sloping croup, and well-made, though muscular, legs.