[2] Initial breeding began at the stud farm of Gavrilov Posad, in Ivanovo Oblast, where local horses were cross-bred with imported Clydesdale stock, with some limited influence from Cleveland Bay, Percheron and Suffolk Punch.

[5]: 276 The amount of cross-breeding was progressively reduced during the 1920s, and over the next twenty years the character and type of the breed were fixed.

[4]: 327  It is more solidly built than the Clydesdale, and unusually deep in the girth – thoracic circumference may reach 2.07 m. It is usually clean-legged, though feathering can occur.

[6] In 1968, the 10-year-old heavy draught Grozny / Грозный (translated as Fearsome) set a record for the urgent delivery of cargo at a trot pace, covering a distance of 2 km with a load of 1.5 tons in 4 minutes and 21 seconds.

In 1988, the five-year-old Pevets / Певец (translated as Singer) set a record for urgent cargo delivery at a walk pace, covering a distance of 2 km with a load of 4.5 tons in 12 minutes and 24 seconds.