About Tori Horses

Tori, or Tori Hobune, horses were developed at the Tori stud in Estonia from 1890 to 1950. They were developed by crossing native Estonian mares with European half bred stallions. They were mainly founded by a stallion named Hetman, whose sire was Stewart, a crossbreed of a Norfolk Trotter and an Anglo-Norman mare. The Tori breed was formed by breeding Hetman and his sons. Thus, a valuable breeding nucleus rapidly formed, that slowed as signs of inbreeding depression were found in the 1930's. This deteriorated performance and robustness. To eliminate this inbreeding depression, Toris were crossed with Breton Post-horse stallions, and as a result, the massive type of Tori became widespread while the quality of the gaits declined. The need for a combination of utility and sporting qualities in horse led to crossings with Hanoverian and Trakehner stallions. Recent horse breeders have been trying mainly to get a very light sport horse-type of horse, resulting in a rapid loss of purebred Tori. There are fewer than 100 purebreds and only three purebred studs remaining.    

Tori horses are found mainly in the black, bay, palomino, chestnut, and liver chestnut. Today's Tori is a harness horse that has a clean and solid build. They have a large to medium-sized head, a shortened poll, a neck that is medium in length and fleshy, withers that are average in height, a back that is long and flat, a loin that is broad as well as a croup that is broad, and they are well muscled. They have a very broad and deep chest, and their limbs that are clean and properly set. Tori stallions are usually 162 cm or 16 hand high at the withers. The mares have high fertility ratio, with 86 foals per 100 mares.