The Furioso line was founded by an English thoroughbred named Furioso, born 1836 in a Hungarian stud farm Karolyho, sired by Privateur and out of Miss Furey. He was sold to the military stud farm Mezöhegyesh where he was breeding from 1841. He was a strong and bony bay horse, 168 cm tall. He was active in Mezöhegyesh from 1841 till 1851, he was very fertile and left behind him 95 stallions and 81 mares. He was also very strong and influential in his progeny, which gave the initiative for the breeding of an individual lineage named after him.
A smaller part of the Furioso lineage was moved from Mezöhegyesh to both of the Austrian state farms in Radovec and Piber, where this lineage was independently reproduced for the use in individual Austrian countries. When it finally came to the separation of Austria and Hungary in 1867 the breeding of horses somewhat declined as well as a direct influence of the Mezöhegyesh stud farm on the breeding of horses in Austria, Bohemia and Moravia. Also from that time the breeding of Furioso line continued separately in both Austrian state stud farms and in Mezöhegyesh, though they often draw the pure blooded material from the maternal farm. In Hungary from the year 1870 the main objective was to keep the Furioso lineage as pure as possible and was combine only with his “sister-lineage” North Star established by a thoroughbred stallion of the same name. Eventually the Furiosos merged with North Stars into one lineage called also Furioso-North-Star, which was sometimes refreshed with a selected thoroughbred. For the solidifying of the Furioso line there was also implemented occasional inbreeding.
The Mezöhegyesh Furiosos were rougher, mainly in the head, more massive than the Radovec Furiosos, especially when it came to the XXI lineage. In order to maintain the toughness and durability of these horses, a great attention was paid to the final results of the performance tests during the selection of individual stallions for reproduction. Besides in Mezöhegyesh and Radovec, the Furioso lineage was also bred in the Rumanian stud farm Bontid. During WW II, the Mezöhegyesh bred Furiosos were destroyed only to be renewed again from the scattered and again collected material from the country breeding in Hungary. Besides in Hungary and Rumania, the Furiosos are also bred in Bulgaria and formal Yugoslavia.
In the breeding of the Furiosos in Austria, the attention was not paid exclusively to the purity of the blood; in Radovec the Furioso was often bred on the Anglonorman blood foundation, mainly the Nonius. The inbreeding technique was not used and in the reproduction a great emphasis was paid to the dry shapes, durability and endurance of the horses. The Austrian line was bred in two lineages, the Furiosos VIII (resp. XIII), whose members were of rougher type, and the Furioso IX (resp. XI) whose descendants were of lighter caliber, and more refined and rounded shapes after the admixed Oriental blood.
The halfblooded Furioso line is a representative of all around useful horse. First of all his exterior shows a medium high and massive frame of warmblooded horse e.g. average height 175 cm and weight 620 kg. The old rougher type of the head is no longer present. The required characteristics are, straight head, regular and relatively long and muscular neck, distinct withers, strong uper line, relative depth, dry limbs, dry foot and regular stand. The most common fault of the Furioso is the narrower and “roof” like hindquarters and “strangled” front shins. The Furiosos are easy keepers, tough, hardy and can be easily measured in their all around usefulness against any other lineages or breeds.
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