The Russian Trotter is a Russian sport breed bred for harness racing.

An American-Russian combination:
Back in the 19th century, Russia's harness racing was dominated by a native Russian breed called Orlov Trotter. Orlovs were known throughout Europe for their speed and stamina as trotters, but that changed when American Standardbreds were imported to the continent.

The Standardbred was far faster than the Orlov Trotter, and therefore Russian breeders imported more Standardbreds until the Russian government forbade the importation of additional Standardbreds and ordered that only Russian breeds will be used in racing.

In order to cope with these new restrictions, starting from the 1890s, Russian breeders crossed their Orlov Trotters with the Standardbreds that were already imported to the country. As a result, the Orlov Trotter nearly went extinct, but a new breed was born: the Russian Trotter.

(See 'Orlov Trotter' for more info.)

A Russian trotter:
During the 20th century, Russian Trotters were bred for their speed and stamina. They were officially recognized by the Russian authorities in 1950, and underwent further crossing with American Standardbreds in the 1960s.

Today, the Russian Trotter is a popular breed in Russia, where it is used for harness racing.

Conformation:
Russian Trotters have a straight-to-convex profile, a long, straight neck, a long back, and long legs.

The mane is short or medium in length, and the legs are clear from feathering.

Performance metrics:
The following are the: range, average, (SD), and MOE of performance metrics of ordered Russian Trotters 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: 16.8-17.8, 17.3 (0.3), 0.05.
Sprint: 48-61, 55 (2), 0.49.

Accel: 0.79-0.96, 0.87 (0.04), 0.01.
Decel: 0.87-1.03, 0.96 (0.03), 0.01.

Jump: 5.25-5.52, 5.39 (0.06), 0.01.
Pull: 2.13-2.76, 2.43 (0.12), 0.02.

Turning: 45.29-58.85, 51.97 (2.71), 0.53.
Reverse: 2.4-2.9, 2.6 (0.1), 0.02.

Stamina: 46.99-50.88, 48.93 (0.93), 0.18.
Reaction: 0.76-0.85, 0.81 (0.02), 0.00.

Coats & Height:
Colors: bay, black, brown, chestnut, and grey.

Additionals: flaxen, sooty, dark mane & tail, grey mane & tail.

Height: 15.1 to 16.1hh.