Not for any kind of use without my written permission.
(Once again, sorry for the huge dA watermark. I wish it was possible to edit somehow...)

Time for horse number two in my Equine Legacy series:


Lord V. 136

Born: in 1895.
Died: in 1921.
Color: Dark bay with a star, white on the back left leg.
Height: 157 cm (15.5 hh)

Lord was born in Norway in 1895, and had registration number 553 in the Norwegian Dölehorse studbook. He was imported to Sweden in 1900. Here Lord became one of the greatest heavy trotters of his time. He won several prizes and awards, and between the years of 1900 and 1921 he covered 1,895 mares. Lord was considered a beautiful, well built stallion, and turned many heads at shows. Not only was he valued for his talent on the track, but also for having a very kind and gentle disposition. When Lord was shot in 1921, many mourned the loss of a great horse; a horse some thought possessed the intelligence bordering that of a human.

Although Lord’s popularity practically knew no bounds, he was never approved and registered in the national studbook. The “V” in his registration number is an abbreviation for a local preliminary studbook, in this case the one of Värmland County.

Before 1964 the North Swedish Horse was used both as a trotter and a work horse, as the local farmers liked to get together on weekends and race. When a growing number of permanent tracks were built, and the record times got pushed lower, it was hard to retain a fast trotter and a strong work horse in the same breed. Several breeders began forging the pedigrees of their horses in hopes of reaching new records. As this progressed into the 1950’s and -60’s, the number of “false” North Swedish horses increased, and many individuals looked more like warmbloods than drafts. To resolve this issue, and keep both those who wanted a quality work horse, and those who wanted to race, happy, the breed was divided in 1964. The first North Swedish Heavy Trotter stud book was published in 1965.

About the portrait:
I used a black and white photo as reference for this piece, the quality of the photo wasn’t the best, so there are quite a few guesses. In my drawing, the legs are positioned pretty much the same as in the ref, his head is raised a bit, and the mane and tail are gently windblown. Ever since I first noticed Lord’s name showing up quite often in pedigrees, I’ve been curious about him. When I finally saw his photo, I kinda fell in love with him. At first I didn’t intend to include Lord in this series, but he’s just too special to leave out.