The Auvergne is a rare French breed of a small draft horse.

Background:
The Central Massif is a mountainous region in southern France and is the home of the Auvergne horse. It is unknown when or how those horses arrived at this place or how they were created, but we do know that by the 12th century the Auvergne already roamed those mountains.

The Auvergne proved to be a good farm horse, and farmers used them extensively until the mechanization of agriculture during the 20th century. Serving a purpose no more, the numbers of Auvergne horses quickly plummeted, and the breed faced extinction.

Luckily, dedicated breeders formed the Auvergne National Breed Horse Association, and continued breeding their Auvergne horses in small numbers, thus ensuring the preservation of this lovely breed.

The Auvergne today:
Today, the Auvergne roams the Central Massif in small numbers. Auvergne horses are used for trekking and driving in the mountains, roles in which they excel thanks to their strength and sure-footedness.

Conformation:
Auvergne horses have short but deep and broad heads with a concave-to-straight profile, a squarish muzzle, and small ears. The neck is muscular and often has a roundish topline. The back is short, the croup is large and sloping, the chest is large, and the girth is deep. The legs are thick and are on the short side, the hooves are broad, and the body is heavily muscled.

The hair of the mane and tail is wavy and grows long and thick. The legs have light-to-medium feathering.

Performance metrics:
The following are the: range, average, (SD), and MOE of performance metrics of ordered Auvergnes in Horse Isle (not bred ones). In rare cases, horses might have metrics outside of the range. Breeders can produce horses that are beyond this range.

Speed: 13.0-14.5, 13.7 (0.4), 0.07.
Sprint: 28-45, 36 (4), 0.75.

Accel: 0.73-0.93, 0.83 (0.04), 0.01.
Decel: 1.01-1.14, 1.07 (0.03), 0.01.

Jump: 4.70-5.03, 4.87 (0.06), 0.01.
Pull: 3.18-3.85, 3.49 (0.14), 0.03.

Turning: 42.49-55.68, 48.89 (2.99), 0.59.
Reverse: 2.0-2.6, 2.3 (0.1), 0.03.

Stamina: 50.51-54.96, 52.84 (0.97), 0.19.
Reaction: 0.71-0.81, 0.76 (0.02), 0.00.

Coats & Height:
Colors: always dark-bay (termed brown) or seal brown.

Additionals: sooty (common,) mealy (rarer.) The coat is always solid and lacks white markings except for the occasional white star.

Height: 14hh to 15.2hh.