 Russian Orlov trotters and Don horses also influenced the Finnhorse population in the first half the 19th century, improving its size, ridability and refinement. The horse type originating in Northern Savonia known as the "Fürstenbergian breed," bred by the engineer Fürstenberg at the beginning of the 19th century, was a crossbreed between the Finnish horses and Orlov trotters. The influence of Don horses was seen as late as in the 1920s and 1930s among the black and bay horses used by the Finnish cavalry – the dragoons of Nyland had two full squadrons of these colours.
