Development and breeding of the Norwegian Dole Horse

The Døle is a medium sized horse of draught type. It is rough, hardy and with a nice, steady temper. It originates from the eastern part of Norway, where it has been breed systematically since the 1860’s. The Døle was formerly used for transport, farming and forestry, but as the technological society evolved, the horse was no longer needed for such purposes, and the Døle population has decreased dramatically. The breeding association arranges shows every year where breeding animals are selected. A stallion can be approved for breeding from the year he turns 3. To be licensed the stallions always have to go through a performance test. First a test included in the evaluation at the actual show, and then, at a later time, an extended performance test at the National Equine Centre. In the case of the Døle this extended performance test is based on, amongst others, evaluation of the individual’s health, temperament, willingness to work, behavior in stable and behavior when working. In work mainly the ability as a harness horse is tested. Historically the Norwegian coldblooded trotter originates from the Døle. In the Døle breeding the stallion Veikle Balder has been one of the most important stallions throughout time, and the same stallion can also be seen on the pedigree of all coldblooded trotters in Norway. In 1937 the coldblooded trotter was separated from the Døle herd book, and is now considered its own breed. The problems of inbreeding started already in the 1920’s where the use of highly inbred stallions was common. From the 50’s to the 70’s introducing coldblooded stallions in Døle breeding was an attempt to fight this. Since this practice was prohibited the inbreeding rate has gradually increased as the population size has decreased. The research during the last 20 years shows a clear decrease in effective population size, increase in inbreeding coefficient, and as a consequence a clear decrease in genetic variety in periods of time. It was attempted to solve the inbreeding problem by using coldblooded trotter and North-Swedish stallions in Døle breeding, but with limited success, as their offspring was aborted from further use as breeding animals. 34 The amount of foals born each year should be at least 200 to achieve a sustainable breeding work. In the future the emphasis in the breeding work should be to increase the population through more foals born per year, and in addition, to gain fresh genetic material by selecting young, new stallions for breeding