The Soviet Heavy Draft – breed developed in the USSR.

The Soviet Heavy Draft is a Russian breed of heavy draft horse. It derives from the Belgian Brabant heavy draft breed. It was developed in the former Soviet Union for agricultural draft work, and was recognized as a breed in 1952. It is one of several heavy draft breeds developed in the Soviet Union in the twentieth century, others being the Russian Heavy Draft – which derived mainly from the Ardennais – and the Vladimir Heavy Draft, which was derived principally from the Clydesdale.

The Russian Empire had no indigenous breeds of heavy draft horse.  The origins of the Soviet Heavy Draft date to the late nineteenth century, at the Khrenovski stud farm in Voronezh Oblast. Imported Brabant draft stallions from Belgium were cross-bred with mares of various types: some were of Ardennais, Jutland, Percheron or Suffolk Punch draft type, others were riding horses. Breeding was later transferred to the Pochinki Stud Farm in Pochinki, in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, with another center at the stud farm of Gavrilov Posad, in Ivanovo Oblast, and another in Mordovia.

The Soviet Heavy Draft was named and officially recognized in 1952.  In 1980 the total population was about 35,000, of which almost 4,000 were pure-bred. It has a straight or convex profile, and a short neck. The torso is wide and muscular, with a wide strong back and a muscular sloping croup. The abdomen is rounded. The legs are short and sturdy with solid joints and broad rounded hooves.