page_title: Auxois
section_title: Present
hierarchical_section_title: Auxois / History / Present
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Etalon Auxois attelé au Haras de Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, FranceEnglish: Horse driving - Auxois stallion - Haras de Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France
context_page_description: The Auxois is a horse breed from eastern France. It is a large breed, with some individuals weighing over 910 kilograms, bred for horse meat, agricultural work and leisure pursuits. Overall, members of the breed are solid and muscular in appearance. They are usually bay or bay roan in color, although some other colors are accepted by the breed registry, and are known for their power and docility.
  The Auxois is a direct descendant of the Bourguignon of the Middle Ages. In the 19th century, blood was added from other French draft breeds before the creation of a stud book in 1912. After the creation of the stud book, only purebred Auxois or Ardennais and Trait du Nord crosses could be registered. World War I interrupted efforts to set the breed standard, but testing resumed in 1920, and between then and World War II the Auxois was the pride of regional farmers. The breed reached its peak in the 1930s, but by the 1960s began to decline with the advent of mechanization.
  By the 1970s, the Auxois had almost become extinct, and the French government began pushing the breeding of all native draft horses for meat production, as opposed to agricultural usage.
context_section_description: As it has been since the creation of the Auxois stud book, only purebred horses and Ardennes and Trait du Nord crosses are allowed to be registered. This is to ensure selection for the desired breed characteristics, which are now a lighter and more active horse than was seen during the time of breeding for horse meat. Horses bred through artificial insemination and embryo transfer are allowed to be registered; those potentially bred through cloning are not. The Syndicat du Cheval de Trait Auxois (Auxois Draft Horse Association) is the national registry, managing the stud book, breed standard and promotion of the breed. An annual breed competition is held in September in Semur-en-Auxois.
  The Burgundy region continues to celebrate the breed, and there is a museum dedicated to it in Bierre-les-Semur. The Auxois is also regularly seen at the International Agriculture Show in Paris.
  The population of Auxois is very low, and it is one of the rarest of the nine French draft horse breeds. In 2001, it had the eighth-smallest population of the nine breeds, making the threats of inbreeding and extinction very real. In 2006, 250 active breeding mares and 32 stallions were reported, with 125 breeders (the term breeder applying to any person owning at least one active breeding mare). The Auxois represented 1 percent of total French draft horse registrations in 2007. Burgundy is by far the main breeding area, with a few horses in the Rhône-Alpes and Auvergne regions. There are no known registered Auxois living outside France and it is almost unknown outside of its home region, even within the rest of France. Of the nine French draft horse breeds, the Auxois is the only one that is not exported. Between 1992 and 2011, between 80 and 146 foals were born each year, with numbers ranging from 105 to 128 between 2007 and 2011.
caption: A stallion being driven at the Cluny Stud
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