The oldest draft horse in Europe and one of the oldest French breeds: The Ardennes. It belongs to the category of so-called heavy breeds. He is said to be the descendant of an extinct subspecies called the forest horse (Equus caballus germanicus), a common ancestor of many breeds of massive horses from Western Europe. The Ardennes breed is the only breeds mentioned since antiquity. Julius Caesar himself mentions it. He was then crossed with the Percherone breed to make a more slender horse. It is this one that is most often found as a draft or plowing horse in France.