Tori Horses

The Tori comes mainly in the colors black, bay, palomino, chestnut and liver chestnut. Today's Tori is a harness horse that has a clean and solid build. It has a large to medium-sized head, a shortened poll, a neck that is medium in length and fleshy, withers that are average in height, a back that is long and flat, a loin that is broad as well as a croup that is broad, and the horse is well muscled. The Tori has a very broad and deep chest, and limbs that are clean and properly set. Tori stallions at the studs are usually 162 cm high at the withers. This breed has a high fertility ratio, with 86 foals per 100 mares.

From 1890 to 1950, this breed was developed in Estonia at the stud in Tori, Pärnumaa. It was developed by crossing native Estonian mares with European crossbred stallions. This breed was mainly founded by a stallion named Hetman, whose sire was Stewart, a crossbreed of a Norfolk Trotter and an Anglo-Norman mare. The Tori breed was formed by breeding Hetman and his sons. Thus, a valuable breeding nucleus rapidly formed, that slowed as signs of inbreeding depression were found in the 1930s. This deteriorated performance and robustness. To eliminate this inbreeding depression, Toris were crossed with Breton Post-horse stallions, and as a result, the massive type of Tori became widespread while the quality of the gaits declined. The need for a combination of utility and sporting qualities in horse led to crossings with Hanoverian and Trakehner stallions. Recent horse breeders have been trying mainly to get a very light sport horse-type of horse, resulting in a rapid loss of purebred Tori. There are fewer than 100 purebreds and only three purebred studs remaining.

A very exciting frontier for the Tori horse breed, Tori horses have been exported from Estonia into Australia. These are the first in the Southern Hemisphere and with this new stud farm, a new beginning for the Tori horses.