Dülmener

The Dülmener or Dülmen is a German breed of small feral horse.[5] It was formerly known as the Merfelderbrücher.[6] A herd of approximately 300 head lives in feral conditions in an area of about 3.5 km2 in the Merfelder Bruch, near the town of Dülmen in the Kreis of Coesfeld in north-western Nordrhein-Westfalen, in north-western Germany.[2][4]: 462 [7]: 176 

Dülmener
Conservation status
Other names
  • Merfelderbrücher
  • Dülmen Horse
  • Dülmen Pony
Country of originGermany
DistributionNordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Traits
Height
  • 122–132 cm[4]: 462 
Colourusually striped dun

It is gravely endangered; in 2014 it was the "endangered breed of the year" of the Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen,[8] and in 2021 was classified in category I, extrem gefährdet (extremely endangered) on the Rote Liste of that association.[3]

History

Use

Most Dülmener mares live in unmanaged feral conditions in the Merfelder Bruch. Once a year, at the end of May, the horses are rounded up and some colt foals are separated from the herd to be sold at auction. Once trained, these may make good riding or driving horses.[5]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dülmener.
  1. Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  2. Breed data sheet: Dülmener / Germany (Horse). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed March 2021.
  3. Dülmener (in German). Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen. Accessed March 2021.
  4. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  5. The famous Wild Horses of the Merfeld Marsh. Stadt Dülmen. Archived 17 June 2008.
  6. Gerhard Carls (1995). Das Dülmener Pferd (in German). Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen. Archived 26 March 2019.
  7. Élise Rousseau, Yann Le Bris, Teresa Lavender Fagan (2017). Horses of the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691167206.
  8. Die Gefährdete Nutztierrasse des Jahres 2014 (in German). Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen. Archived 20 March 2019.


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