It is named for the state stud farm of Novo-Oleksandrivka [uk] in Bilovodsk Raion of Luhansk Oblast in the easternmost part of Ukraine, where it was bred.

It was bred for draught work, but it is also reared for meat and particularly for mare's milk, of which it is a high-yielding producer.

Selective breeding of what would become the Russian Ardennes began in the 1860s at the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy in Moscow and at various stud farms including the historic Derkulsky Stud [uk] at Danilivka [uk], in Bilovodsk Raion of Luhansk Oblast in the easternmost part of Ukraine.

[3]: 323 Several breed lines had developed within the Russian Ardennes, of which the smallest was the Dibrivsky, from the stud farm of the same name at Dibrivka [uk] in Myrhorod Raion of Poltava Oblast.

[7] Following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine, the Novoolexandrian Draught received official recognition from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy in November 1999.