9 largest horses in the world

Review of the best according to the editorial board. On the selection criteria. This material is subjective, does not constitute advertising and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.

Horses are surprisingly elegant and beautiful pets. Despite their rather large size, they happily accompany people, giving not only their physical strength, but also devotion. It is not for nothing that children suffering from health and social problems are sent to hippotherapy.

Also horses are one of the biggest pets. Their growth not only often exceeds human growth. Horses are larger than cows, bulls, other cattle, and can only compete in size with yaks. But some representatives of this species are even huge.

And it is about these impressively large animals that will be discussed in our material. We have collected 9 of the largest horses in the world that have ever lived.

Ranking of the largest horses in the world

Nomination	a place	name	Height	Weight
Ranking of the largest horses in the world	1	Cracker	190 CM	1200 KG
	2	Duke	207 CM	1200 KG
	3	Digger	207 CM	1200 KG
	4	Morocco	215 CM	1300 KG
	5	Noddy	205 CM	1300 KG
	6	Dr. Le Ger	213 CM	1400 KG
	7	Brooklyn Superior	198 CM	1450 KG
	8	Samson	220 CM	1520 KG
	9	Big J	217 CM	2600 KG

9th place: Cracker (190 cm, 1200 kg)

Rating: 4.2

The Cracker is one of the most famous horses in Great Britain. And this glory came to him absolutely deservedly! This famous English Shire is not only huge but also very handsome.

Cracker's size is so impressive that he is often called the largest horse of our time. This gelding weighs 1200 kg, and its height at the withers is 198 centimeters. With such dimensions, it is not surprising that this shire has an impressive appetite.

The daily diet of the black gelding Cracker includes two bales of hay and up to 5 kilograms of grain. And he drinks these plants with a huge amount of water – up to 18 buckets a day! Impressive appetites are another reason the gelding often appears on television.

However, even with this size, Cracker does not really stand out from the number of other shires. This breed was originally bred as heavy trucks, so many representatives weigh over 1 ton. Despite some slowness, they are able to pull loads, all of which exceed the horse weight by 3-5 times! The origins of the breed are unknown, but experts say that the English shires originated from large knightly horses, which were tournament horses in the Middle Ages.

8th place: Duke (207 cm, 1200 kg)

Rating: 4.3

Duke is a British gelding, the breed of which is almost impossible to find out. However, in his pedigree there were heavy horses familiar to the island – shire. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the gigantic size of the gelding.

And it is really huge. Now his height is 207 centimeters! And this colossus weighs about 1200 kilograms. According to the owner, the animal continues to grow, so perhaps sooner or later Duke will get the glory of the largest horse in the world.

However, this gelding is interesting not only in size, but also in character. The hostess says that he is quite shy, so his diet includes herbal tea that soothes the nerves. Gelding needs 20 liters of this drink a day!

For the huge, gigantic size of the horse, not only the pedigree is responsible. According to the hostess, Duke eats in a strictly defined way, and it was thanks to the diet that he was able to achieve such impressive indicators. True, the secret of the diet is not disclosed, and the owner reports that the bulk of the feed is simply hay and grain, which the gelding gets plenty of.

7th place: Digger (202 cm, 1200 kg)

Rating: 4.4

The British Royal Horse Guards are accustomed to horses of impressive size. After all, these animals represent one of the greatest countries in the world! They are supposed to inspire awe. But even these experts were amazed when the horse Digger entered the service of the British crown in 2012.

Digger is a lean and fast horse. This is not a heavy truck like the previous representatives of the rating. Therefore, with a mass of 1200 kilograms, it is 202 centimeters tall! In many ways, he should be thanked for such indicators of long and slender legs – which are slightly proportionally higher than those of the representatives of the English shires.

Of course, such a giant needs to be fed, and the active Digger's appetites are truly royal. Every day this gelding needs 25 kilograms of hay – which is more than two half-meter bales. And to drink this amount of food, the giant needs 95 liters of water.

Representatives of the Guinness Book of Records have already included Digger in their 'hall of honor'. However, experts from the British Royal Horse Guards say the gelding is still growing. So it looks like he will also be taking part in the race to become the largest horse in the world – and in just a few years.

6th place: Morocco (215 cm, 1300 kg)

Rating: 4.5

But it is not only the English shire who are the largest horses in the world. For the right to be called the largest, another breed competes with them – the Percherons. Ironically, but it was bred in France.

The history of the Percherons is about the same as that of the Shire. The breed appeared in the XVIII-XIX centuries, the exact origin is unknown, but experts believe that it originates from knightly tournament horses. The Percherons were used as heavy trucks, are characterized by considerable physical strength, and are now derived primarily from the love of their impressive exterior. After all, tractors and cars are now entrusted with hauling loads.

Percherons are, in principle, not a particularly large breed. Most of them are 150 cm tall at the withers and weigh up to 1000 kg. But some representatives are impressive in size. And Morocco was just that.

Morocco lived at the beginning of the last century, and today there is not much information about it. In fact, there is only one newspaper clipping, which shows a photograph of a horse next to the owner, as well as some information about this raven gelding. His height was an incredible 215 cm, and the weight, according to experts, could reach 1.3 tons.

5th place: Noddy (205 cm, 1300 kg)

Rating: 4.6

As early as the nineteenth century, British shires began to spread throughout the world. It was a period of the beginning of industrialization, mankind already needed to transport and transport various heavy loads, and tractors, in fact, had not yet been invented. Or they were too expensive so that ordinary farmers could not afford such a 'helper'.

But the British Shires did an excellent job of helping around the house. They easily carried various loads, even many times exceeding the weight of a horse, were distinguished by their unpretentiousness and ease of care. Some sluggishness – however, inherent in all heavyweight breeds – did not interfere with the economy at all.

So it’s hard to see anything strange that a gelding named Noddy, the fifth largest horse in the world and a British Shire breed, lives on the other side of the world – in Australia. Probably, precisely because of the favorable climate, he was able to grow up to 205 cm in height and 1.3 tons in weight.

These physical parameters were passed on to Noddy from his grandfather, named Edward. He lived just the same in Great Britain, and at one time was one of the largest horses in the world. Of course, the 'massive genes' have gone further down the line of inheritance.

Noddy is interesting because it is not a show horse, but quite a workhorse. He belongs to a private farmer and works on a private farm. This helps to at least partially justify the expensive horse maintenance.

4th place: Dr. Le Ger (213 cm, 1400 kg)

Rating: 4.7

And again the French percheron. Dr. Le Ger is the largest horse in the history of horse breeding in France. This gelding, painted in an unusual red color for the breed (the overwhelming majority of representatives are gray and black), reached a height of 213 cm, and its weight was comparable to the weight of some average city car – 1.4 tons.

Dr. Le Ger was born in 1902 and almost immediately became famous throughout France. This is in part thanks to the illustration showing the horse's incredible beauty and impressive size. This drawing, which has survived to our time and is now a valuable historical artifact, was used as a postcard. And soon the whole of France learned about the existence of this horse.

Percheron in the figure is shown lean. This is due not only to the exterior, but also to other characteristics of the breed. Percherons combine traction and driving qualities. They are not only strong, but also enduring, and thanks to the even step of the horse, the rider also does not get tired while moving. Horses of this breed are able to run up to 60 km without getting tired!

The character of the Percherons is also interesting. Despite some weight, they are very active, mobile and energetic. Horses are easy to train, calm and balanced. This breed can even be recommended to novice breeders – calm disposition and complaisance make it ideal for beginners.

3rd place: Brooklyn Superior (198 cm, 1450 kg)

Rating: 4.8

Speaking of draft horses, one cannot fail to mention another very famous breed – the Belgian Brabancons. They are surprisingly powerful, yet graceful animals. Woolen 'pants' on the legs add attractiveness to their exterior.

Brabancons have become the hallmark of Belgium. Their recognizable and undoubtedly attractive exterior will be remembered for a long time. But they are famous not only for their beauty. It is believed that Brabancons are the strongest horses in the world! Therefore, they are still used in agriculture for heavy physical work.

However, one glance at Brabancon is enough to understand that this is not a riding horse. A powerful rounded croup, characteristic relief muscles like those of bodybuilders, strong legs – all this gives him a heavy draft. In addition, unlike other similar breeds, the Brabancon does not sag back. It's straight, which is extra impressive.

And if even the most ordinary representatives of the breed, with a height of about 1.5 meters and weighing up to 1 ton, cause an admiring look, then what about a gelding named Brooklyn Superior, who at the beginning of the last century was considered the largest horse in the world? Already at the age of 10, this giant reached 198 centimeters at the withers – and at the same time weighed almost one and a half tons.

The gigantic size of Brooklyn Surima is already indicated by the fact that each of his horseshoes weighed 3.5 kilograms! Usually the weight of these 'shoes' is 700 grams.

2nd place: Samson (Sampson) (220 cm, 1520 kg)

Rating: 4.9

In the middle of the century before last, in 1846, in the British town of Toddington Mills, a gray gelding of the English Shire breed was born. The horse was named Sampson – or Samson, depending on the method of transliteration. And already at the age of 4, he was awarded the title of the largest horse in the world!

And this title came to him quite deservedly. At the age of four, Samson reached a height of 2.2 meters, and his weight exceeded 1.5 tons. The data were measured quite officially, at the same time a high-quality photograph of the animal was taken. To this day, the size of the horse is impressive.

After Samson was awarded his honorary title, he was officially renamed Mammoth. And today he is considered the largest representative of the breed. And even though it is not mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records – for the simple reason that this almanac was not published at that time – other historical evidence confirms the colossal size of this horse.

1st place: Big Jake (217 cm, 2600 kg)

Rating: 5.0

The largest horse in the world at the moment is the horse named Big Jake. With a height of 217 centimeters, it only slightly fell short of the title of the highest, but more than compensated for this with an impressive weight. The gelding weighs 2.6 tons!

True, the animal does not differ in wide sides and generally in excess fat. On the contrary, Big Jake looks very harmonious, it is even incomprehensible where he managed to 'hide' several hundred kilograms. But the impressive weight was recorded directly by the representatives of the Guinness Book of Records, and they cannot be easily deceived.

Like many other animals listed in the Guinness Book of Records, Big Jake is a very public person. He performs as part of the Ronald McDonald House show program, but all the money earned by the horse is donated to charity.

Big Jake's appetites are really … equine. To keep itself in shape, the gelding eats two bales of straw every day (this is about 25 kg) and 5 kilograms of oats. And drinks another 30 liters of water.

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Attention! This rating is subjective and does not constitute an advertisement and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.