Breed Characteristics
The Italian Heavy Draft generally stands between 14.2 and 15.3 hands (58 and 63 inches, 147 and 160 cm) high, and weighs between 1,320 and 1,540 pounds (600 and 700 kg). They are generally chestnut (usually with flaxen mane and tail), although they may be red roan, or bay. The head is light for a draft breed, with a straight or slightly convex profile, and it is set on a short, broad and muscular neck. The withers are fairly pronounced and muscular, the chest broad and deep, and the shoulders sloping. The back is straight and short, the flanks short and rounded, with a sloping croup. The legs are short, with broad joints and smallish, though well-formed, hooves. It closely resembles the Breton breed, which was used heavily in the creation of the Italian Heavy Draft. Although larger, it also bears a resemblance to the Haflinger, also developed in northern Italy. Horses that meet the breed conformation standards set by the breed registry are branded with a design of a ladder with five pegs enclosed by a shield. Foals are examined twice, at between two and seven months and again two and a half years. Horses passing the first evaluation are branded on the left hindquarter; those that pass the second are marked again on the left side of the neck.
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