{{Short description|Ancient French breed of horse}} {{Infobox horse breed |name=Merlerault |image=Cheval demi-sang anglo-normand (1852).jpg |image_caption=A Merlerault horse in 1852, in Encyclopédie pratique de l'agriculteur published by Firmin-Didot and Cie, t. 5, 1877. |image2= |features=A square head, shoulder well defined, short hindquarters, graceful legs. |altname=Merlerautin |country=France |distribution=Le Merlerault |status= |use=To ride and tilbury pulling |height=Medium size |note= |group1= |std1= }}
The '''Merlerault''' is a formerly common breed of horse that originated in the canton of Le Merlerault. Bred under the Old Regime, this reputedly elegant half-bred was used to ride and pull tilburies.
== Names == Another common name for these horses is ''"Merlerautin"''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Charnacé |first=Guy de |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65501783/f3.image.texteImage.item |title=Les races chevalines en France |publisher=C. Delagrave |year=1869 |location=Paris |language=fr}}</ref>
The breed is sometimes erroneously referred to as ''"Mellerauds"'', notably by M. Cardini, who also claims (incorrectly) that Merlerault horses were once raised semi-wild in the woods.
== History == The Merlerault is the oldest known breeding cradle of horses in Normandy.<ref name=":0">{{Harvtxt|Frémont|1967|p=56}}</ref><ref>{{Harvtxt|Frémont|1967|p=50}}</ref> A breeding tradition has existed there for centuries,<ref name=":1">{{Harvtxt|Frémont|1967|p=103}}</ref> with secular and religious guilds establishing stud farms as early as the Middle Ages.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Frémont|1967|p=55}}</ref> However, according to Jacques Mulliez, the breed of this name is not that old,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mulliez |first=Jacques |title=Les chevaux du royaume: histoire de l'élevage du cheval et de la création des haras |publisher=Montalba |year=1983 |pages=56 |language=fr}}</ref> despite traditions dating back to the Crusades or the Merovingian kings.
Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, designated the Le Merlerault region as Normandy's horse production center;<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Harvtxt|Du Hays|1866|p=7}}</ref> this first stud farm was replaced in 1730 by the Haras du Pin.<ref name=":0" />
According to Bernard Denis (2012), Merlerault horses are "probably an artificial breed" created by the nobility from purebred horses.<ref name=":2">{{Harvtxt|Denis|2012}}</ref> This breed was very popular at the end of the Old Regime.<ref name=":2" /> Le Merlerault supplied the nobility with saddle horses in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref name=":1" />
== Description == [[File:Anglo-normand du Merlerault-GAYOT ATLAS STATISTIQUE 1850.jpg|thumb|An Anglo-Normand horse from Merlerault in the {{Lang|fr|Atlas statistique de la production des Chevaux en France|italic=yes}}, 1850.]] The Merlerault is an elegant half-breed<ref>{{Harvtxt|Gast|1889|p=41}}</ref> of medium size, with a square head on a well-set neck.<ref name=":3">{{Harvtxt|Moll|Gayot|2018|p=609}}</ref> The shoulder is well defined, the hindquarters short, the legs graceful but sometimes a little spindly.<ref name=":3" /> The hocks may lack sharpness, and the animal is lightly built, with broad shoulders, agility, and speed.<ref name=":3" />
== Uses == The Merlerault horse is particularly suited to ride and tilbury pulling.<ref name=":3" />
== Distribution == The breed originated in the Alençon area, particularly in the department of Orne.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Odolant-Desnos |first=Joseph |title=Orne; La France; description géographique, statistique et topographique |publisher=chez Verdière |year=1834 |language=fr}}</ref>
In the middle of the 19th century, the Merlerault was the second most numerous horse breed in Normandy after the Cotentin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Houël |first=Ephrem |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6538380s.texteImage |title=Traité des courses au trot |year=1842 |volume=6 |pages=3 |language=fr}}</ref>
== See also == * List of French horse breeds
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Bibliography == {{Commons category|Merlerault horse}} * {{Cite journal |last=Denis |first=Bernard |date=2012 |title=Les races de chevaux en France au xviiie siècle. Et les idées relatives à leur amélioration |url=http://insitu.revues.org/pdf/9677 |journal=In Situ |issue=18 |doi=10.4000/insitu.9677 |language=fr}} * {{Cite book |last=Du Hays |first=Charles |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6528342t/f7.item.texteImage |title=Le Merlerault, ses herbages, ses éleveurs, ses chevaux, et le Haras du Pin-la Plaine d'Alençon-le Mesle-sur-Sarthe |publisher=Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique |year=1866 |location=Paris |language=fr}} * {{Cite book |last=Frémont |first=Armand |title=L'Élevage en Normandie : étude géographique |publisher=Presses universitaires de Caen |year=1967 |isbn=978-2-84133-480-3 |location=Caen |language=fr}} * {{Cite book |last=Gast |first=Edmond |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6525358r.texteImage |title=Le cheval normand et ses origines : situation hippique de la France, étalons nationaux; Orne, Calvados, Manche, différents élevages, généalogies, portraits; courses au trot; remontes militaires; percherons... |publisher=J. Rothschild |year=1889 |location=Paris |language=fr}} * {{Cite book |last=Mégnin |first=Jean-Pierre |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6528017q/f7.item.texteImage.zoom |title=Le cheval et ses races: histoire des races à travers les siècles et races actuelles |publisher=Vincennes Aux bureaux de l'Éleveur |year=1895 |language=fr}} * {{Cite book |last1=Moll |first1=Louis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmACAAAAYAAJ |title=La connaissance générale du cheval : études de zootechnie pratique, avec un atlas de 160 pages et de 103 figures |last2=Gayot |first2=Eugène Nicolas |publisher=Didot |year=2018 |isbn=978-0274430161 |language=fr |orig-year=1861}}
{{Horse breeds of France}} {{#related:List of French Horse Breeds}}
Category:Horse breeds Category:Normandy Category:Horse breeds originating in France Category:Extinct horse breeds