Switzerland

    Despite the mountains and "all electric" appearance of the principal towns, Switzerland is a horse-minded country.  There is no native breed, and since World War II the studs have been steadily built up, all founded on imported animals.
    The practical Swiss breed dual-purpose horses of equable temperaments.  At Avenches, a modern Freiberger is bred, a compact, elegant horse, based on the old type, with Norman, Postier Breton and Hungarian Shagya crossings.  The Einsiedler, a very similar type, is a ride, drive and army horse.  Swiss horses and riders are very successful in international equestrian events.
    Show-jumping is popular, held in winter on frozen lakes where powdery snow makes an excellent surface.  There, too, race-horses, many of Thoroughbred blood, compete in flat and hurdle events, draw light sleighs (instead of sulkies) in trotting contests, or tow ski-shod drivers attached by traces and reins in perilously exciting Ski-Joring races.
    The sleigh-horses, with their decorative head plumes and jangling bells, are part of the ski-resort scene.  Their winter work is hard, averaging eight hours a day with journeys of up to twelve miles.  However, the horses feed well on silage, uncrushed oats and the handful of salt that gives their coat a bloom.  In summer, they cart hay.
    In addition to the above-mentioned breeds, Switzerland is or was also home to the Ardennais draft, the Burgdorfer heavy draft, the Erlenbuch horse, the Laumont horse, the Willisburg horse, Irish and Hungarian military horses, and a number of imported breeds, including the Nivernais (French) draft, Percheron and Shire.

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