Descended from draft and light riding horses imported to Canada in the late 1600s from France, it was later crossed with other British and American breeds.

A few chestnuts are found, occasionally with flaxen manes and tails, and the cream gene appears in the breed as the result of the genetic influence of one stallion.

Their heavy and wavy mane and tail, arched necks and finely boned heads are all reminiscent of Andalusian and Barb ancestry.

[6] As in many other breeds, there is a set naming system that is used to identify individuals based on the registration format employed by the Canadian Livestock Records Corporation.

[5] The Canadian Horse descended from the French stock Louis XIV sent to Canada in the late 17th century.

[6] The initial shipment, in 1665, consisted of two stallions and twenty mares from the Royal Stables in Normandy and Brittany, the centre of French horse breeding.

[1] The exact origins of all the horses are unknown, although the shipments probably included Bretons, Normans, Arabians, Andalusians and Barbs.

[5][7] The horses were leased to gentleman farmers or religious orders for money or in exchange for a foal, and they remained the property of the king for three years.

During the 1700s, the "French Canadian Horse" spread through what is now eastern Michigan and Illinois in the United States, and lived a generally feral existence, with many escaping human control completely.

[9][10] In the late 18th century, imported horses from the US and the British Isles were crossbred with existing Canadian stock.

His paintings generally portrayed the Canadian horse in a utilitarian, workhorse role, often in winter scenes.

[7] By the middle of the 19th century, Canadian horses had spread through the northeastern US, where they were used for racing, as roadsters, and, due to their stamina, to pull freight wagons and stagecoaches.

[1] Many played a role in the development of other breeds, including the Morgan horse,[12] the American Saddlebred and the Standardbred.

[9] By the 1970s, the popularity of the breed had decreased significantly, and there were approximately 400 Canadian horses worldwide, with only around five annual registrations between 1970 and 1974.

[14] Several interested breeders began a campaign of preservation and promotion, which resulted in a Canadian team winning the 1987 North American Driving Championships.

[1] Popularity began to increase, and by the mid-1990s population numbers were between 2,500 and 3,000, and The Livestock Conservancy, which had classified the breed as "critical", changed its designation to "rare".

The first, the Canadian Heavy Draft or St. Lawrence, which disappeared by the late 1700s, probably developed from Shire and Clydesdale crosses.

[1] The second, the Frencher, sometimes also called the St. Lawrence, was a trotting horse known for its power and speed, resulting from crosses with Thoroughbreds.

They instead moved to local rivers, whose smooth, frozen surfaces provided useful raceways, and the resulting contests drew attention to the pacers from Quebec.

In the early 1800s, a roan-coloured stallion named Copperbottom was imported to Lexington, Kentucky, from Quebec, through Michigan.

Appearing in Kentucky in 1824, he was offered for stud, and his offspring (many of whom carried on the family name, being differentiated only by the name of the owner) began the family of Standardbreds that included Little Brown Jug, Brown Hal, Star Pointer, Adios and Good Time, all champion harness racing horses.