Brabants and Belgians Explained

At one time it was said, “All Brabants are Belgians, but not all Belgians are Brabants.” That isn’t the case anymore. Nowadays, not all Brabants are European Brabants and not all Belgians are European Belgians.

At one time, a Belgian was a Belgian. In fact, until the mid 1900’s, the Belgian Brabant Draft Horse and the American Belgian Draft Horse were essentially the same. After World War II however, breeders in Belgium and the Netherlands bred their Belgian Brabants to be thicker bodied, more drafty with heavily feathered legs. On the other hand, in the United States the American Belgians were bred to be taller, lighter-bodied and clean-legged, thus creating a divergence in the breed.

Today, the archetypal American Belgian Draft looks nothing like a European Belgian Brabant Draft. Due to the ever-increasing differences between the American and European Belgian breeds, in 1887 The American Association of Importers and Breeders of Belgian Draft Horses transitioned to the modern-day Belgian Draft Horse Corporation of America. At that point, many began to associate the name “Belgian” with those of the American Belgian style. That's why Europeans more-and-more began to refer to the European-style Belgians as the “Belgian Brabant Draft Horse,” to better distinguish theirs from Belgians in America. Brabant is actually a province in Belgium near the center of the country where the largest stud farms were established generations before, so the name seemed fitting. Now, the Belgian Brabant Draft Horse is simply called the “Brabant” for short.

For some time, the Belgian Draft Horse Corporation of America welcomed imported Belgian Brabant Draft Horses into their registry, however their policy changed in the early 2000’s and they closed the registry to imports. And so, not all Belgians are European Belgians.

Enthusiasts of the Belgian Brabant Draft Horse recognized the need to establish an independent club – one in which they could promote and breed the old-style Belgian Draft. This small group of devotees often crossed farm-style American Belgians with those of imported Brabant heritage. Thus, in 1999, The American Brabant Association was formed. As the Belgian Draft Horse Corporation of America closed its registry to imported Belgian Brabant Draft Horses, The American Brabant Association founded their own registry in 2018, and welcomed imports as breeding stock. They refer to this new breed as “Brabants.”

Just as the European Belgians and the American Belgians are different, so too are the European Brabants and the American Brabants.

The American Brabant Association is based on a three-book system. Book one is reserved for the new breed of American Brabant with varying percentages (25-99%) of verifiable Belgian Brabant Draft Horse heritage, book two is reserved for 100% Belgian Brabant Draft Horses and book three are 24% or less. Therefore, while the American Brabant is crossed with Belgian Brabant Draft Horses, it is not the same as European Brabants. And so, not all Brabants are European Brabants.

A new studbook, the European Brabant Registry of America (EBRA), was launched in October 2021 after the American Brabant Association (ABA) declared their American Brabants as a new breed apart from the European (Belgian) Brabant. Owners and breeders of imported Belgian draft horses identified a need for a new registry whose goals would be to maintain European breed standards and purebred bloodlines.
More info can be found at www.europeanbrabant.com.

For more information about the history of the Belgian Brabant Draft Horses, visit this page.