146-689: The Finnhorse or Finnish Horse ( Finnish : suomenhevonen , literally "horse of Finland "; Swedish : finskt kallblod , literally "finnish cold-blood") is a horse breed with both riding horse and draught horse influences and characteristics, and is the only breed developed fully in Finland. In English it is sometimes called the Finnish Universal , as the Finns consider the breed capable of fulfilling all of Finland's horse needs, including agricultural and forestry work, harness racing , and riding . In 2007,
292-416: A genetic bottleneck resulting from the low number of Finnhorses that existed in the 1980s, colours such as grey and cream dilutions were preserved only by a few minor breeders. In the 1980s there were fewer than ten grey and palomino Finnhorses combined. All Finnhorse carriers of the cream gene today descend from a single maternal line, founded by the palomino mare Voikko (literally, "Palomino") who lived in
438-803: A "j", e.g. vesj [vesʲ] "water", cf. standard vesi [vesi] . The first known written account in Helsinki slang is from the 1890 short story Hellaassa by young Santeri Ivalo (words that do not exist in, or deviate from, the standard spoken Finnish of its time are in bold): Kun minä eilen illalla palasin labbiksesta , tapasin Aasiksen kohdalla Supiksen , ja niin me laskeusimme tänne Espikselle , jossa oli mahoton hyvä piikis . Mutta me mentiin Studikselle suoraan Hudista tapaamaan, ja jäimme sinne pariksi tunniksi, kunnes ajoimme Kaisikseen . There are two main registers of Finnish used throughout
584-599: A Latin-script alphabet derived from the Swedish alphabet, and is phonemic to a great extent. Vowel length and consonant length are distinguished, and there are a range of diphthongs , although vowel harmony limits which diphthongs are possible. Finnish belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family ; as such, it is one of the few European languages that is not Indo-European . The Finnic branch also includes Estonian and
730-563: A breeding animal, a horse must prove itself by meeting or exceeding the breed standard set for various qualities: performance ability, conformation, disposition, and in some cases, quality of offspring. Any horse offered for the Finnhorse studbook must be at least 4 years old, a stallion or a mare, and registered a Finnhorse. The stud book evaluation board considers the performance of horses in their desired discipline: riding , driving , harness racing , or workhorse events. Horses to be registered in
876-464: A buckskin and out of a palomino. She was blue-eyed and had "pink skin and very pale coat", and was officially recognised as a double cream dilute. The roan colour is rare, and today is passed on via a single dam line that descends from the strawberry roan mare Sonja, foaled in 1936. As of 2010, only six confirmed roan Finnhorses exist, all descendants of a 1987 mare, Taika-Tyttö, great-great-granddaughter of Sonja. The second-to-last roan line died out with
1022-468: A considerable influence upon the spoken word, because illiteracy is nonexistent and many Finns are avid readers. In fact, it is still not entirely uncommon to meet people who "talk book-ish" ( puhuvat kirjakieltä ); it may have connotations of pedantry, exaggeration, moderation, weaseling or sarcasm (somewhat like heavy use of Latinate words in English, or more old-fashioned or "pedantic" constructions: compare
1168-685: A croup measurement of 110 centimetres (43 in), and the all-around average height of the horses used by the cavalry was about 120 centimetres (47 in). During the Thirty Years' War in 1618–1648, the horses used by Finnish cavalry were small and unrepresentative, considered inferior even to the cargo horses used by the Swedish Royal Army. However, these animals had great stamina, a crucial quality during long, exhausting campaigns. The humble-looking Finnish horses were presumably exchanged when possible for other horses obtained as spoils of war. It
1314-589: A different theory in his doctoral thesis. He argued that three types of wild horses existed in Europe, one of which he believed to be the Przewalski's Horse . Rislakki believed this unrefined and notably large-headed type was the horse the early Finns encountered about 1000 BCE. He suggested that the Finns later encountered other peoples and horses south of the Gulf of Finland, and that these peoples had better proportioned horses with
1460-508: A few minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea and in Russia's Republic of Karelia . The closest relative of Finnish is either Ingrian , or depending on the definition, Karelian . Finnic languages form a dialect continuum, where for instance Finnish and Estonian are not separated by any single isogloss that would separate dialects considered "Finnish" from those considered "Estonian", despite
1606-404: A horse that is "honest and sincere": eager to cooperate with humans, obedient, and willing to work. They are hardy with good endurance, robust health, and are generally long-lived. The breed standard describes the head of a Finnhorse as dry and the profile straight, not long or convex, with well-spaced, short ears. The neck should be well-shaped and not underslung or ewe-necked; the body should be on
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#17328518952441752-464: A horse's offspring are evaluated by their competitive history or their stud book evaluation, and if of high enough quality, their parent then is also granted acceptance into the stud book. Conversely, a horse may be removed from the studbook if its offspring are found to have any inherited flaw or condition . A stallion may also be removed if his offspring are clearly below the average level in competitive success or stud book evaluations. The walking test
1898-401: A jumping evaluation and a ridability test, and possess clean gaits. Mares may be qualified solely on grounds of a ridability test and a movement evaluation. Despite the Finnhorse's image as a working farm horse, the breed was used as a cavalry mount from the 17th century until the end of World War II . After the mechanisation of Finnish agriculture in the 1960s and the 1970s, however, it
2044-405: A language of administration, journalism, literature, and science in Finland, along with Swedish. In 1853 Daniel Europaeus published the first Swedish-Finnish dictionary, and between 1866 and 1880 Elias Lönnrot compiled the first Finnish-Swedish dictionary. In the same period, Antero Warelius conducted ethnographic research and, among other topics, he documented the geographic distribution of
2190-526: A letter of reprimand to the merchants of Gotland , who were selling horses to the non-Christianized Finns. Apparently the Finns succeeded in improving their horse population, as the predominant form of Finnish trade in horses eventually shifted from imports to exports. A Russian chronicle from 1338 mentions " Tamma-Karjala " ("Karelia of the Mares"), presumably denoting a place of good horse breeding. As early as in 1347, King Magnus IV saw it necessary to put limits to
2336-468: A more systematic writing system. Along the way, Finnish lost several fricative consonants in a process of sound change . The sounds [ð] and [θ(ː)] disappeared from the language, surviving only in a small rural region in Western Finland. In the standard language, however, the effect of the lost sounds is thus: Modern Finnish punctuation, along with that of Swedish, uses the colon (:) to separate
2482-511: A nationalistic spirit was high, the Finnhorse began to be considered a symbol of Finland, and purebreeding became very popular. In addition, chestnut colour was officially chosen as an official aim for breeding as the "utmost original" colour of the Finnhorse, and named the "Hippos colour" after Hevoskasvatusyhditys Hippos, the name of the recently founded Finnish national horse breeding association (now Suomen Hippos ). Any colours other than chestnut were considered evidence of "foreign" blood, and
2628-445: A north–south split as well as an east–west split. The northern dialects of Proto-Finnic, from which Finnish developed, lacked the mid vowel [ ɤ ] . This vowel was found only in the southern dialects, which developed into Estonian , Livonian , and Votian . The northern variants used third person singular pronoun hän instead of southern tämä (Est. tema ). While the eastern dialects of Proto-Finnic (which developed in
2774-466: A pulling capacity of 60 percent of the horse's weight. An award of 20 points corresponds to 90 percent of the horse's weight being pulled. The general drivability test is performed by trotter stallions. It is optional for draught type horses in lieu of the pulling test, and for pony-sized horses in lieu of the rideability test. The horse is driven by two different members of the studbook evaluation committee during this test, and asked to perform at
2920-607: A separate breeding section since 1965, when the "universal horse" section of the Finnhorse studbook was renamed and replaced by the trotter section. While the total number of Finnhorses dropped during the 20th century, the popularity of harness racing turned Finnhorse birthrates around from the historical lows of the 1970s and 1980s. Today, approximately 2,000 Finnhorses are in training and 3,000 compete in harness racing. The official Finnhorse racing championship Kuninkuusravit began in 1924 and has been held annually ever since, attracting tens of thousands of spectators. The Finnhorse
3066-568: A separate section of the stud book. Finnhorses have good gaits that are regular with elasticity, and relatively low, steady action. They are fast for a coldblooded breed, known as good trotting horses and used for harness racing. There are four separate breed sections in the Finnhorse studbook, and a Finnhorse's overall conformation should be typical of the section in which it is recorded, though some horses are registered in multiple sections. Over 90 percent of Finnhorses today are chestnut . Flaxen manes and tails as well as white markings on
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#17328518952443212-546: A separate taxonomic " Finno-Samic " node is controversial. The Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California , United States, classifies Finnish as a level III language (of four levels) in terms of learning difficulty for native English speakers. Finnish is spoken by about five million people, most of whom reside in Finland. There are also notable Finnish-speaking minorities in Sweden, Norway, Russia, Estonia, Brazil, Canada, and
3358-461: A shorter muzzle and wider forehead, descended from the Tarpan . In addition, Rislakki suggested that the Finns came across European horses of Spanish and French origin during the first few centuries CE, larger in size and with narrow foreheads. Rislakki believed that his craniometric examinations, carried out in the 1920s, proved the influence of all these three horse types. Almost 20 years later, during
3504-517: A smaller number of stallions , both Finnish horses and horses imported from Sweden. Gustav Vasa also imported mares from the lands bordering the North Sea ; most likely of a Friesian type. His goal was to increase the size and weight of the Finnish horse population. His successor, Eric XIV prohibited the exporting of Finnish horses, which demonstrated the success of these efforts as well as the importance of
3650-478: A state stud farm in conjunction with the Haapaniemi military school. The stud had a few stallions described as " Arabian " and " Andalusian ". For about 30 years, these stallions influenced the local horse population outside the military school as well, and a number of writings from the 19th century mention a "Haapaniemi breed". Similar if smaller crossbreeding programs developed elsewhere; at Tavinsalmen kartano ,
3796-406: A test and does not resume within one minute, or stops four times before reaching the required distance, the test is discontinued. Two points are awarded for every testing stage completed successfully, with a maximum total score of 20. The pulling style is also evaluated, and given 4 to 10 points. To pass the test, the horse must successfully complete pulls for at least five "steps". This corresponds to
3942-440: A total amount of Finnish-speakers roughly between 7,200 and 15,600. In the latest census , around 1000 people in Russia claimed to speak Finnish natively; however, a larger amount of 14,000 claimed to be able to speak Finnish in total. There are also forms of Finnish spoken by diasporas outside Europe, such as American Finnish , spoken by Finnish Americans , and Siberian Finnish , spoken by Siberian Finns . Today, Finnish
4088-434: A walk and trot. Its cooperation and disposition are evaluated on a scale of 4 to 10 points. The draught section drivability test, which evaluates disposition: adaptability, reliability, and calmness, consists of four parts, and 0–5 points are given for each. To pass the test, the horse must score at least one point for each part of the test, and its combined score for the test must be at least 10 points. The first part examines
4234-507: A walk, trot and canter. The horse's movement, balance and disposition are evaluated and given 4 to 10 points. The horse should express cooperation, gentleness, attentiveness, sensitivity to cues , and active effort. This test is required for riding-type horses, and optional for pony-sized horses in lieu of the driveability test. The ancestors of the modern Finnhorse were important throughout Finnish history, used as work horses and beasts of burden in every aspect of life from antiquity well into
4380-492: Is chestnut , often with white markings and a flaxen mane and tail. The exact origins of the early Finnish horse are currently not known. Because the Finnhorse breed and its progenitors were the only horses in Finland for centuries, the history of horses in Finland parallels the history of the Finnhorse itself. The documented history of the distinct breed begins at the turn of the 13th century. Outside influences by many light and warmblood breeds were recorded beginning in
4526-484: Is "masked" in chestnuts. Second, when it does act on black and bay base coats, it produces a chestnut-like phenotype . Silver dapple bays were long registered as "cinnamon chestnuts", and silver dapple blacks as "flaxen-maned dark chestnuts". The Finnhorse stud book was created in 1907. Today it has four sections: the Working section (T; draught type), Trotter section (J), Riding section (R) and Pony-sized section (P) In 1924,
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4672-422: Is 19,9aly, was long held by the quintuple Finnhorse racing champion stallion Viesker, but was finally broken by Jokivarren Kunkku in 2015 (19,5x) The coldblood horse world record in harness racing was long held by Finnhorses, until in 2005 the record was broken by Järvsöfaks , a Scandinavian coldblood trotter from Sweden. As of 2010, the official Finnish record for mares, and the world record for coldblood mares,
4818-477: Is 20.2aly, held by the double Finnhorse racing female champion I.P. Vipotiina. The absolute Finnhorse speed record is 19.4aly, held by the stallion Sipori. As the result was not achieved from a win, the time is not an official Finnish record. Finnhorses have been so successful against other coldblood trotter breeds of Scandinavia, that by the 21st century, they have been admitted to Swedish and Norwegian races only by invitation. Some conformation flaws common in
4964-486: Is a Finnic language of the Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland, alongside Swedish . In Sweden , both Finnish and Meänkieli (which has significant mutual intelligibility with Finnish ) are official minority languages . Kven , which like Meänkieli is mutually intelligible with Finnish,
5110-563: Is a papal letter in 1229. During the Swedish rule of Finland that followed, foreign horses obtained by the Finnish cavalry, whether purchased for replenishment or seized as spoils of war, probably influenced the Finnish horse population. The first significant, planned efforts to improve the quality of horses through selective breeding in Finland occurred in the 16th century, when Gustav Vasa , known for his interest in horse breeding, founded mare manors ( Finnish : tammakartano ), stud farms , on his properties in Western Finland. He ordered
5256-503: Is abbreviation of word-final vowels, and in many respects they resemble Estonian. The Tavastian dialects ( hämäläismurteet ) are spoken in Tavastia . They are closest to the standard language, but feature some slight vowel changes, such as the opening of diphthong-final vowels ( tie → tiä , miekka → miakka , kuolisi → kualis ), the change of d to l (mostly obsolete) or trilled r (widespread, nowadays disappearance of d
5402-408: Is also a tendency toward ossification of the hoof cartilages of the front feet, which tends to increase with age, and appears to be heritable. This condition, called sidebone when it affects the lateral and medial cartilages of the foot, is common in draught breeds. However, a study of affected Finnhorses also noted that horses with long toes and low heels were common and ossification correlated with
5548-419: Is capable of pulling about 80 percent of its own weight, while a Finnhorse can pull as much as 110 percent. In work horse competitions, the best Finnhorses can achieve even higher results, pulling more than 200 percent of their own body weight. A draught-type horse must pass two tests in the studbook evaluation: a walking test and either a pulling or a general drivability test. The points given for
5694-418: Is caused by one of two recessive alleles at the extension locus (genetics) . Extension has three known alleles: the wildtype "E", necessary for the bay and black coat colors, plus two mutations "e" and "e ", both of which are capable of causing the chestnut color. Each individual horse has two copies of the extension gene. If either copy is "E", then the horse will be bay- or black-based. But if
5840-423: Is considered a "base color" in the discussion of equine coat color genetics. Additional coat colors based on chestnut are often described in terms of their relationship to chestnut: Combinations of multiple dilution genes do not always have consistent names. For example, "dunalinos" are chestnuts with both the dun gene and one copy of the cream gene . The chestnut or sorrel color, genetically considered "red",
5986-462: Is found on chromosome 3 (ECA3) and is part of the gene that codes for the equine melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R). This receptor is part of a signalling pathway which when activated causes melanocytes to produce eumelanin , or black pigment, instead of pheomelanin , or red pigment. The two mutant alleles "e" and "e " code for dysfunctional receptors unable to activate this pathway, so absent "E", only red pigment can be produced. At least one copy of
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6132-403: Is given only to draught type Finnhorses and measures the horse's endurance while pulling a load. The horse tested pulls a 500 kilograms (79 st; 1,100 lb) load for 500 metres (550 yd), walking. The calculated time per kilometre must be no more than ten minutes to qualify as accepted. A horse qualifying with this time will be given four points. Extra points are given for faster times at
6278-445: Is one of the most common horse coat colors , seen in almost every breed of horse. Chestnut is a very common coat color but the wide range of shades can cause confusion. The lightest chestnuts may be mistaken for palominos , while the darkest shades can be so dark they appear black . Chestnuts have dark brown eyes and black skin, and typically are some shade of red or reddish brown. The mane, tail, and legs may be lighter or darker than
6424-591: Is one of two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedish), and has been an official language of the European Union since 1995. However, the Finnish language did not have an official status in the country during the period of Swedish rule , which ended in 1809. After the establishment of the Grand Duchy of Finland , and against the backdrop of the Fennoman movement , the language obtained its official status in
6570-727: Is popular) and the personal pronouns ( me: meitin ('we: our'), te: teitin ('you: your') and he: heitin ('they: their')). The South Ostrobothnian dialects ( eteläpohjalaismurteet ) are spoken in Southern Ostrobothnia . Their most notable feature is the pronunciation of "d" as a tapped or even fully trilled /r/ . The Central and North Ostrobothnian dialects ( keski- ja pohjoispohjalaismurteet ) are spoken in Central and Northern Ostrobothnia . The Lapland dialects ( lappilaismurteet ) are spoken in Lapland . The dialects spoken in
6716-411: Is released by the pituitary gland and stimulates the production and release of melanin in skin and hair. Red hair color in horses ("e") is created by a missense mutation in the code for MC1R, which results in a protein that cannot bind to MSH. When only mutant copies ("e) of the gene are available, non-functional MC1R proteins are produced. As a result, no black pigment is deposited into the hair and
6862-430: Is slower to mature than lighter breeds, and thus usually enters harness racing competition at the age of four. However, its build withstands competition better than light trotters, and the breed's effective competition career can be very long. The Finnish harness racing bylaws allow Finnhorses to be raced from ages 3 to 16. For a "coldblood" breed, the Finnhorse is quite fast. The official Finnish coldblood record from 2010
7008-624: Is spoken in the Norwegian counties of Troms and Finnmark by a minority of Finnish descent. Finnish is typologically agglutinative and uses almost exclusively suffixal affixation . Nouns , adjectives , pronouns , numerals and verbs are inflected depending on their role in the sentence . Sentences are normally formed with subject–verb–object word order, although the extensive use of inflection allows them to be ordered differently. Word order variations are often reserved for differences in information structure . Finnish orthography uses
7154-468: Is the lightest Finnhorse. A trotter section horse should be of light conformation yet muscular, with a relatively long body and long legs. At the studbook evaluation, a trotter-type horse must meet the standards in racing results and/or in breeding value index as decreed by Suomen Hippos . A trotter's disposition is evaluated during the drivability test. However, type is not part of the studbook evaluation standard for trotters. The trotter type has existed as
7300-634: The Continuation War , Rislakki also measured Karelian horses, and proposed they also came from an original Northern European animal descended from the Tarpan. Modern studies have discredited theories suggesting modern domesticated horse breeds descending from the Tarpan or the Przewalski's horse. The modern Konik horse resembles the extinct Tarpan however. In the early 20th century, English J. C. Edward and Norwegian S. Petersen , proposed that Finland and
7446-594: The Finnish Diet of 1863. Finnish also enjoys the status of an official minority language in Sweden . Under the Nordic Language Convention , citizens of the Nordic countries speaking Finnish have the opportunity to use their native language when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable to any interpretation or translation costs. However, concerns have been expressed about
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#17328518952447592-764: The Finnish Middle Iron Age , beginning from circa 400 CE. Breeds considered to descend from the same early types as the Finnhorse include the Estonian Native horse , the Norwegian Nordlandshest/Lyngshest , the Swedish Gotland Russ , the Mezen horse from the region of Archangelsk , Russia, and the Lithuanian Žemaitukas . At some point in their history, not clearly documented, horses bred in
7738-493: The Middle Ages . Foreign horses were also brought to Finland during military campaigns, and additional animals were imported to manor houses for driving . The crossbreed offspring of Central European and Finnish horses were larger than their Finnish parents, and even more suited for agricultural work. The earliest known documentation of Finnish trade in horses, both as imports and exports, dates to 1299, when Pope Gregory IX sent
7884-521: The Ural Mountains region and/or the bend of the middle Volga . The strong case for Proto-Uralic is supported by common vocabulary with regularities in sound correspondences, as well as by the fact that the Uralic languages have many similarities in structure and grammar. Despite having overlapping geographical distributions, Finnic languages and Sami languages are not closely related, and the hypothesis of
8030-506: The stem of a word and its grammatical ending in some cases, for example after acronyms , as in EU:ssa 'in the EU'. (This contrasts with some other alphabetic writing systems, which would use other symbols, such as e.g. apostrophe, hyphen.) Since suffixes play a prominent role in the language, this use of the colon is quite common. In the 19th century Johan Vilhelm Snellman and others began to stress
8176-633: The 16th century to increase the size of the Finnish horse, and were employed for breeding in the royal farms up until the 1650s. Gustav Vasa also carried out major reforms of his cavalry . After the decline of heavy cavalry in the Late Middle Ages , light cavalry was gaining importance, and with it a new approach to horse breeding. In 1550, he gave orders that "stud manors" ( Finnish : siittolakartano ) be founded on royal farms (Sw: kungsgård ), not only in Sweden but also in every municipality of Finland. These studs were to each hold 20 mares and
8322-421: The 16th century, making the breed larger and more usable. An official Finnhorse studbook was founded in 1907, producing purebred animals in significant numbers for many years. Due to mechanisation of agriculture and the dismantling of Finnish horse cavalry in the late 20th century, the Finnhorse population plummeted from a high of just over 400,000 animals in the 1950s to a low of 14,100 in 1987. However,
8468-399: The 1920s. While both cream dilution and black are rare, there are some known smoky blacks in the breed, the first of which was a filly foaled in 2009, identified as smoky black and confirmed as such by a DNA test in 2010. The filly is considered "if not the first ever, at least the first in a long long time." In April 2010, a filly appearing to be a double cream dilute was born, sired by
8614-470: The 1950s to 14,000 in the 1980s. In the 21st century, the numbers of the breed have stabilised at approximately 20,000 animals. Although multiple hypotheses exist on the origins of the horse in Finland, an indigenous wild horse origin is thought improbable, as significant numbers of domesticated horses were imported from earliest times. The Finnhorse is most likely descended from a northern European domestic horse. One theory suggests that horses arrived from
8760-488: The 20th century. The modern breed's precise line of descent is unclear, but numerous outside influences have been recorded throughout the history of Finland. Linguistic analysis suggest that horse was in use in Finland in the bronze age , but the earliest archaeological evidence of horses existing in what today is Finland dates to the Finnish Middle Iron Age (400–800 CE). The Finnhorse and its progenitors later became an indispensable asset for military forces from
8906-400: The Finnhorse stud book , each with different goals: to develop a heavier working horse, a lighter trotter type, a versatile riding horse, and a pony-sized animal. The combined breed standard for all four sections defines the breed as a strong, versatile horse with pleasant disposition. The average height of the breed is 15.1 hands (61 inches, 155 cm), and the most typical colour
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#17328518952449052-429: The Finnhorse was the breed that made up almost all of the horses that were part of the Finnish army and mounted police forces. While officers mostly rode various foreign light horse breeds, the so-called "light type" of Finnhorse was used for the enlisted members of the cavalry. Many of the most talented Finnhorses had competitive success during their service. After the war, the Finnish cavalry was converted to infantry, and
9198-401: The Finnhorse was viewed as rugged and unsophisticated. The riding section studbook, created in 1971, grew slowly and gained only a few dozen horses during its first decade, as the idea of a Finnhorse used for riding was considered near-ridiculous at the time. The Suomenratsut ry (SuoRa, or "Finnmounts") organisation was founded in 1974 to promote the use of the Finnhorse under saddle, and with
9344-453: The Finnish dialects. The most important contributions to improving the status of Finnish were made by Elias Lönnrot . His impact on the development of modern vocabulary in Finnish was particularly significant. In addition to compiling the Kalevala , he acted as an arbiter in disputes about the development of standard Finnish between the proponents of western and eastern dialects, ensuring that
9490-674: The United States. The majority of the population of Finland (90.37% as of 2010 ) speak Finnish as their first language . The remainder speak Swedish (5.42%), one of the Sámi languages (for example Northern , Inari , or Skolt ), or another language as their first language. Finnish is spoken as a second language in Estonia by about 167,000 people. The Finnic varities found in Norway's Finnmark (namely Kven ) and in northern Sweden (namely Meänkieli ) have
9636-455: The beginning of the 19th century, was a crossbreed between the Finnish horses and Orlov trotters. The influence of Don horses was seen as late as in the 1920s and 1930s among the black and bay horses used by the Finnish cavalry – the dragoons of Nyland had two full squadrons of these colours. Finnish language Finnish ( endonym : suomi [ˈsuo̯mi] or suomen kieli [ˈsuo̯meŋ ˈkie̯li] )
9782-442: The behaviour of the horse while it is being harnessed and loaded, then unloaded and unharnessed, and the remaining three parts evaluate the way the horse behaves when being driven. These parts often include regulation of the speed of the horse's walk, halts, turns around obstacles, and backing with a load around a corner. In the rideability test, the horse is evaluated by a member of the studbook evaluation committee by being ridden at
9928-514: The body coat, but unlike the bay they are never truly black. Like any other color of horse, chestnuts may have pink skin with white hair where there are white markings , and if such white markings include one or both eyes, the eyes may be blue. Chestnut foals may be born with pinkish skin, which darkens shortly afterwards. Chestnut is produced by a recessive gene. Unlike many coat colors, chestnut can be true-breeding; that is, assuming they carry no recessive modifiers like pearl or mushroom ,
10074-524: The border created between Sweden and Finland in 1809 when Russia annexed Finland. This caused the speakers of Meänkieli to be isolated from the developments of standard Finnish and instead be influenced by the Swedish language. However, it is still mutually integible with Finnish, and is thus sometimes considered a dialect of the Finnish language. The Kven language is spoken in Finnmark and Troms , in Norway. Its speakers are descendants of Finnish emigrants to
10220-417: The breed managed to survive thanks to its popularity for harness racing and its versatility as a mount. The breed standard defines the Finnhorse as a multi-purpose horse of average height and sturdy conformation . The ideal Finnhorse is easy-to-handle, versatile, and combines strength, agility, speed and endurance. Finnhorses are lively, with both a reliable and alert temperament. The breed standard encourages
10366-425: The breed of a lighter build, with longer neck, better gaits and fewer faults in conformation , allowing modern riding-type Finnhorses to work more easily on the bit . Even the temperament of the riding section animals appears to have become more lively. To pass the studbook evaluation, a riding type horse must either have placed in a Grade IV dressage or combined driving competition, or pass a dressage test; must pass
10512-411: The breed that may hinder a trotter's success include a heavy forehand and overangulated hind legs. Another problem that affects some Finnhorses is a tendency to trot with the front and hind legs directly in line with other, which creates a high probability of forging , where the hind hooves hit the front pasterns , which can cause breaking gait. This can be helped to a degree with careful shoeing . There
10658-471: The breed was declared the official national horse breed of Finland. The Finnhorse is claimed to be among the fastest and most versatile "coldblood" breeds in the world. In Finland, the term "universal horse" is used to describe the Finnhorse and breeds such as the Fjord horse that are relatively small with a body type that is heavy for a riding horse but light for a draught. There are four separate sections within
10804-412: The breed, and bays, blacks and greys existed in much greater numbers than today: 34 percent were bay, 16 percent black, and the remaining 3 percent were grey, palomino or spotted. Wide blazes and high leg markings were rare, unlike today; bold markings became common only in the 20th century. The change came about through selective breeding . At the turn of the 20th century, when
10950-444: The colloquial language) ei kö teillä ole e(i) ks teil(lä) oo "don't you (pl.) have (it)?" (compare eiks to standard Estonian confirmatory interrogative eks ) Chestnut (coat) Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs. It
11096-404: The country. One is the "standard language" ( yleiskieli ), and the other is the " spoken language " ( puhekieli ). The standard language is used in formal situations like political speeches and newscasts. Its written form, the "book language" ( kirjakieli ), is used in nearly all written texts, not always excluding even the dialogue of common people in popular prose. The spoken language, on
11242-478: The difference between saying "There's no children I'll leave it to" and "There are no children to whom I shall leave it"). More common is the intrusion of typically literary constructions into a colloquial discourse, as a kind of quote from written Finnish. It is quite common to hear book-like and polished speech on radio or TV, and the constant exposure to such language tends to lead to the adoption of such constructions even in everyday language. A prominent example of
11388-476: The eastern and western regions of Finland that remained distinct from one another until at least the middle of the 19th century. The eastern origin of the breed was first proposed by archaeologist Johannes Reinhold Aspelin , who published Suomalaisen hevosen kotoperäisyydestä ("On the Nativity of the Finnish horse") in 1886–1887. Aspelin proposed that Finnish horses descended from an animal that had accompanied
11534-445: The effect of the standard language is the development of the consonant gradation form /ts : ts/ as in metsä : metsän , as this pattern was originally (1940) found natively only in the dialects of the southern Karelian isthmus and Ingria . It has been reinforced by the spelling "ts" for the dental fricative [θː] , used earlier in some western dialects. The spelling and the pronunciation this encourages however approximate
11680-411: The entire coat is red-based. However, the skin of chestnut horses is still generally black, unless affected by other genes. Some chestnut foals are also born with lighter eyes and lightened skin, which darken not long after birth. This is not the same as the blue eyes and pink skin seen at birth in foals carrying the champagne gene . It is a genetic mechanism not fully understood, but may be related to
11826-512: The face and legs are common. As of 2007, 6 percent are bay and 1.2 percent black . Roans , palominos , buckskins and silver dapples exist in smaller numbers. The genes for other cream dilutions and rabicano are present in the gene pool. A distinctive sabino , non-SB1 pattern is moderately common, but is usually minimally expressed due to the selective colour breeding of the 20th century. A single white horse , registered as pinto and deemed "sabino-white," has been recorded in
11972-471: The first split in the stud book was created, with the working or draught type ( Finnish : työlinja ) horses in one section, and the "all-around" or "universal" lighter trotting horses in another. In 1965, this all-around section was renamed the trotter section. In 1971, this lighter horse section was divided into three parts: the trotter ( Finnish : juoksijalinja ), riding ( Finnish : ratsulinja ) and pony-sized ( Finnish : pienhevoslinja ) types. Today,
12118-551: The formal. However, in signalling the former in writing, syncope and sandhi – especially internal – may occasionally amongst other characteristics be transcribed, e.g. menenpä → me(n)empä . This never occurs in the standard variety. he mene vät ne mene e "they go" loss of a number contrast on verbs in the 3rd person ( menee is 3rd person singular in the formal language) ( minä) o le n mä o o n "I am" or "I will be" and no pro-drop (i.e., personal pronouns are usually mandatory in
12264-477: The functional "E" allele is required to activate the signal and produce black pigment. In general, alleles that create fully functional MC1R proteins are inherited dominantly and result in a black-based coat color ("E"), while mutated alleles that create "dysfunctional" MC1R are recessive and result in a lighter coat color ("e"). Normally MC1R would bind to the Melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) which
12410-446: The future status of Finnish in Sweden, for example, where reports produced for the Swedish government during 2017 show that minority language policies are not being respected, particularly for the 7% of Finns settled in the country. The Uralic family of languages, of which Finnish is a member, are hypothesized to derive from a single ancestor language termed Proto-Uralic , spoken sometime between 8,000 and 2,000 BCE (estimates vary) in
12556-493: The goal was to make the Finnhorse an all-chestnut breed. The breeding regulation of 1909 stated that no stallion "with coat of white, grey, palomino or spotted" could be accepted into the stud book. The popularity of bay and black Finnhorses dropped as well, and at least one mare was removed from the stud book solely because of her bay colour. Selective breeding combined with the export of horses in colours popular in neighbouring countries, especially bays into Sweden, and made chestnut
12702-456: The grammatical and phonological changes also include the most common pronouns and suffixes, which amount to frequent but modest differences. Some sound changes have been left out of the formal language. For example, irregular verbs have developed in the spoken language as a result of the elision of sonorants in some verbs of the Type III class (with subsequent vowel assimilation ), but only when
12848-446: The growing popularity of riding and the support of SuoRa, Finnhorses of riding type gained a foothold, though by the late 1970s, even SuoRa estimated that only about 300 Finnhorses were being used for riding. However, the popularity of harness racing and the breeding of trotter type Finnhorses made the breed lighter and faster overall, which also benefitted the riding section. In addition, the Finnish state horse breeding institute of Ypäjä
12994-410: The height of the Finnish horse. However, the Finnish cavalry survey records ( katselmuspöytäkirjat ) from the 1620s indicate this goal was not achieved. The heights of horses surveyed in 1623, measured not at the withers but at the highest point of the croup , which provides a height measurement significantly different from standard measures, ranged between 105 and 130 centimetres (41 and 51 in),
13140-419: The horse exports from Karelia to Russia. Later, the 16th century writer Olaus Magnus mentioned the high quality of the horses used by the early Finns; in the 1520s, Gustav Vasa found the Finns exporting horses by the shipload to Lübeck , and strictly prohibited such trading, banning the sale of horses under the age of 7 years. The earliest document noting the importation of outside horses to Finland
13286-447: The horse's performance in these tests are added to those given for its temperament and gaits, resulting in the final workability score. The horse is also given a score for its conformation. In addition to achieving the minimum scores for both workability and conformation, stallions accepted for the working-horse section of the stud book are required to trot 1,000 metres (1,100 yd) in less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The trotter type
13432-514: The horses of the region of Finland. The horse breeding farms lasted only for about 100 years under later rulers of the Vasa line before the programs deteriorated. The last of the stud manors, that of Pori , was closed in 1651, and the crown-owned stallions and mares of the Pori stud were transported to Gotland . Outside of these breeding efforts, Finnish horses were widely kept in semi-feral conditions through
13578-586: The importation of larger horses from Central Europe, mainly from the region of Friesland . These horse were brought to Sweden and probably into Finland as well. The imports were kept at regional royal farms ( Swedish : kungsgård , literally, "King's estate") to service local mares. In a letter from 1556, Gustav Vasa mentions that there were 231 breeding horses of this kind in Finland. It is not known whether these horses were imported directly from Central Europe to Finland, or descended from imports brought first to Sweden. Friesian stallions were used in Finland early in
13724-452: The interval of 30 seconds, and the maximum points given is 10, for a time no longer than eight minutes and 30 seconds. The pulling, or tensile resistance, test is also a test only for the draught type horses, and it measures pulling capacity in relation to size. The test is performed in several progressive stages, called "steps", with the load increased each time. The horse tested will pull a weighed sled on semi-rough sand. The friction between
13870-470: The language, which he based on Swedish, German, and Latin. The Finnish standard language still relies on his innovations with regard to spelling, though Agricola used less systematic spelling than is used today. Though Agricola's intention was that each phoneme (and allophone under qualitative consonant gradation ) should correspond to one letter, he failed to achieve this goal in various respects. For example, k , c , and q were all used for
14016-513: The length of the heels. The riding horse section Finnhorse is a capable and reliable mount. It lacks some traits required for competing at the highest levels of international riding sports, but its combination of size and good temperament makes it suitable for both adults and children. To qualify for the riding section, a horse must carry itself well, and have a long neck, small head, sloping shoulder and well-defined withers. The body must not be too long. The universal Finnhorse breeding goals have made
14162-513: The long side, but rounded and proportionate; and the croup should neither be level nor with a too-high connection to the tail . Finnhorses are strongly muscled, with good bone, sturdy "dry" legs, and strong hooves . Finnhorses typically have thick manes and tails, and the legs have light feathering . The average height is 15.1 hands (61 inches, 155 cm). Pony-sized Finnhorses—under 14.2 hands (58 inches, 147 cm)—exist and are licensed for breeding in
14308-415: The main cultural and political centres. The standard language, however, has always been a consciously constructed medium for literature. It preserves grammatical patterns that have mostly vanished from the colloquial varieties and, as its main application is writing, it features complex syntactic patterns that are not easy to handle when used in speech. The colloquial language develops significantly faster, and
14454-425: The majority of Finnhorses are of trotter type. The working or draught type is the oldest of the Finnhorse types, and has had its own separate breeding section since the studbook was first split in 1924. Though the oldest of the Finnhorse types, it is rare today, with a total of only about 1,000 horses registered in the working section as of 2004. Draught-type Finnhorses are heavier and have a longer body than horses of
14600-946: The mating between two chestnuts will produce chestnut offspring every time. This can be seen in breeds such as the Suffolk Punch and Haflinger , which are exclusively chestnut. Other breeds including the American Belgian Draft and Budyonny are predominantly chestnut. However, a chestnut horse need not have two chestnut parents. This is especially apparent in breeds like the Friesian horse and Ariegeois pony which have been selected for many years to be uniformly black , but on rare occasions still produce chestnut foals. Chestnuts can vary widely in shade and different terms are sometimes used to describe these shades, even though they are genetically indistinguishable. Collectively, these coat colors are usually called "red" by geneticists. Chestnut
14746-444: The mid-19th century. Ethnologist Kustaa Vilkuna describes how all horses regardless of sex and age were let out on forest pastures for the summer after the spring fieldwork was finished. The pasture was scarce and the terrain challenging, with both rocky ground and wetlands. Vilkuna considers this practice an important factor in making the Finnhorse an easy-keeping , hardy breed. The goal of Gustav Vasa and others had been to increase
14892-501: The migration of Finnic peoples from the Volga region and middle Russia to the shores of the Gulf of Finland . A similar idea was suggested over a hundred years earlier by natural historian Pehr Adrian Gadd , and this theory has continued to receive support into modern times. Ludvig Fabritius considered the proposed prototype a side branch of a " Tartarian " breed, and considered it possible that
15038-466: The modern history of the breed. The number of non-chestnuts is increasing due to dedicated breeding for other colours, and as of 2009, a few dozen black and grey Finnhorses exist. SW1 , one of the genes responsible for the splashed white markings, has been found in individuals by genetic testing . Through the 18th and 19th centuries, chestnut in various shades was the prevailing colour of Finnish horses, making up about 40–50 percent of
15184-411: The modern-day eastern Finnish dialects, Veps, Karelian, and Ingrian) formed genitive plural nouns via plural stems (e.g., eastern Finnish kalojen < * kaloi -ten ), the western dialects of Proto-Finnic (today's Estonian, Livonian and western Finnish varieties) used the non-plural stems (e.g., Est. kalade < * kala -ten ). Another defining characteristic of the east–west split
15330-607: The most part, the dialects operate on the same phonology and grammar. There are only marginal examples of sounds or grammatical constructions specific to some dialect and not found in standard Finnish. Two examples are the voiced dental fricative found in the Rauma dialect , and the Eastern exessive case . The Southwest Finnish dialects ( lounaissuomalaismurteet ) are spoken in Southwest Finland and Satakunta . Their typical feature
15476-419: The need to improve the status of Finnish. Ever since the days of Mikael Agricola, written Finnish had been used almost exclusively in religious contexts, but now Snellman's Hegelian nationalistic ideas of Finnish as a fully-fledged national language gained considerable support. Concerted efforts were made to improve the status of the language and to modernize it, and by the end of the century Finnish had become
15622-453: The original pronunciation, still reflected in e.g. Karelian /čč : č/ ( meččä : mečän ). In the spoken language, a fusion of Western /tt : tt/ ( mettä : mettän ) and Eastern /ht : t/ ( mehtä : metän ) has resulted in /tt : t/ ( mettä : metän ). Neither of these forms are identifiable as, or originate from, a specific dialect. The orthography of informal language follows that of
15768-399: The other countries surrounding the Gulf of Finland were the home region for the so-called "yellow pony". A later ethnologist , Kustaa Vilkuna (1902–1980) supported this view, proposing that an "Estonian-Finno-Karelian pony" descended from a small forest horse previously widespread in the lands surrounding the Gulf of Finland. Earliest horse equipment (bits) found in Finnish graves date from
15914-596: The other hand, is the main variety of Finnish used in popular TV and radio shows and at workplaces, and may be preferred to a dialect in personal communication. Standard Finnish is prescribed by the Language Office of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland and is the language used in official communication. The Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish ( Nykysuomen sanakirja 1951–61), with 201,000 entries,
16060-424: The passing of the 1981 stallion Jesper Jr, who had no offspring. Grey exists in one dam line, descending from mare Pelelaikka, especially through her maternal grandson E.V. Johtotähti 1726-93Ta, an award-winning stallion. The second-last grey line died in 2010 with the 1988 mare Iiris 2275-88R, who had no grey offspring. The silver dapple gene survived for two reasons. First, it only affects black colour and therefore
16206-447: The phoneme / k / . Likewise, he alternated between dh and d to represent the allophonic [ ð ] (like th in English this ), between dh and z to represent / θː / (like th in thin , but longer in duration), and between gh and g to represent the allophonic [ ɣ ] . Agricola did not consistently represent vowel length in his orthography. Others revised Agricola's work later, striving for
16352-469: The pony-sized Finnhorse's size is an advantage, allowing for greater agility. The section is popular for therapy and riding school use. Although its breeding section was created at the same time as the trotter and riding types, the pony-sized Finnhorse is technically the newest of the sections, as trotters and riding horses were bred as "universal horses" in a combined section beginning in 1924. The Finnhorse had been bred for larger size for centuries, and when
16498-422: The pony-sized breeding section was established, few pony-sized lines existed. The section remains the rarest type of Finnhorse, with only about 80 stallions and 420 mares accepted in the studbook as of 2010. To be registered as a Finnhorse, a horse must either have parents registered as Finnhorses, or be verified to be descended from at least three generations of Finnhorses. To qualify for the Finnhorse stud book as
16644-408: The prevailing colour. In the earliest section of the first Finnhorse studbook, 105 of the stallions listed were chestnut and only 8 were bay. There were stallions of other colours as well, but they were not included in the first book. At one point, chestnuts made up more than 96 percent of the breed. Because of the vigorous colour breeding for chestnut in the early 20th century, combined with
16790-636: The qualities of a full-size Finnhorse. Especially thorough attention is paid to the pony-sized horse's character, obedience and cooperation. The pony-sized Finnhorse is suited to practically any use the larger Finnhorse is, with the exception of heavy draught work because of its smaller size and proportionally reduced strength. However, some individuals have been able to compete with and even win against full-size Finnhorses in work horse competitions. Many pony-sized individuals are cross-registered for trotter section breeding, as small Finnhorses can be equal competitors in harness against larger ones. In combined driving ,
16936-714: The region in the 18th and 19th centuries. Kven is an official minority language in Norway. The Eastern dialects consist of the widespread Savonian dialects ( savolaismurteet ) spoken in Savo and nearby areas, and the South-Eastern dialects now spoken only in Finnish South Karelia . The South Karelian dialects ( eteläkarjalaismurteet ) were previously also spoken on the Karelian Isthmus and in Ingria . The Karelian Isthmus
17082-426: The region of Finland during the times of Swedish and Russian rule, and since independence as well. In addition to functionality as military and working horses, the Finnhorse has also been bred for speed in harness racing, and it can be argued that this sport was the main factor in the survival of the breed after its numbers crashed during the later half of the 20th century, from approximately 400,000 animals in
17228-457: The royal estate ( kungsgård ) of Tavinsalmi , at least one of the mares had been imported from Sweden. Russian Orlov trotters and Don horses also influenced the Finnhorse population in the first half the 19th century, improving its size, ridability and refinement. The horse type originating in Northern Savonia known as the "Fürstenbergian breed," bred by the engineer Fürstenberg at
17374-555: The same prototype also influenced Estonian, Swedish and Norwegian horse populations. A genetic study in 2014 concluded that closest relatives to the Finnhorse were the Estonian horse , Mezen horse , Yakutian horse and Mongolian horse . Later, agronomist Axel Alfthan (1862–1934) and veterinarian Kaarlo Gummerus (1840–1898) expanded Aspelin's hypothesis, proposing that the horse population later diverged into Eastern Finnish and Mid-Finnish types, which had remained distinguishable as late as
17520-401: The second syllable of the word is short. The result is that some forms in the spoken language are shortened, e.g. tule-n → tuu-n ('I come'), while others remain identical to the standard language hän tulee "he comes", never * hän tuu ). However, the longer forms such as tule can be used in spoken language in other forms as well. The literary language certainly still exerts
17666-421: The sled and the sand is taken into account and is measured before the test. The sled is loaded according to the horse's weight; on the first attempt, the load equals 36 percent of the estimated weight of the horse; with each subsequent stage of the test, the load is increased by 6 percent of the horse's weight. The horse must pull the sled for 10 metres (33 ft) at each weight. If the horse stops during
17812-636: The status of official minority languages, and thus can be considered distinct languages from Finnish. However, since these languages are mutually intelligible , one may alternatively view them as dialects of the same language . No language census exists for Norway, neither for Kven, standard Finnish, or combined. As of 2023, 7,454 first- or second-generation immigrants from Finland were registered as having Norwegian residency, while as of 2021, 235 Finns were registered as foreigners studying at Norwegian higher education. Great Norwegian Encyclopedia estimates Kven speakers at 2,000-8,000. Altogether, this results in
17958-460: The stud book are tested for performance at the stud book registration inspection . With the exception of the trotter section, they are also evaluated on "type"; the suitability of the horse's overall build for the section for which it is offered. Individuals that do not qualify for the studbook on their own merits during the stud book evaluation process may be accepted later, based on the quality and accomplishments of their offspring. For this to occur,
18104-502: The taller animals being the horses of officers. Only the horses owned by Colonel Herman Fleming were taller, with a croup measurement of 135 to 140 centimetres (53 to 55 in). It is not known if these horses were domestic crossbreeds or imported. The average height of the horses of the troops of Hollola , Pori and Raseborg was only 115 centimetres (45 in) one year, but those in the next year's survey were 125 centimetres (49 in). Overall, there were no pony-sized horses below
18250-459: The travel journal, the words are those of a Finnish bishop whose name is unknown. The erroneous use of gelen (Modern Finnish kielen ) in the accusative case, rather than kieltä in the partitive, and the lack of the conjunction mutta are typical of foreign speakers of Finnish even today. At the time, most priests in Finland spoke Swedish . During the Middle Ages, when Finland
18396-413: The trotter and riding types. Though relatively small compared to other draught breeds, Finnhorses have considerable pulling power and can pull very heavy loads because of the breed's good pulling technique, with powerful take-off and a low, efficient body stature during the actual pulling. The Finnish Draught type is, pound for pound, stronger than many larger draught breeds. An average horse in draught work
18542-464: The trotting section suffers from oversupply. A pony-sized Finnhorse must measure no more than 148 cm (14.2-1/2 hands , 58-1/2 inches) at the withers or the croup . Both sexes are also required to pass either a drivability or a ridability test. The horse's pedigree is also evaluated, and uncharacteristically small individuals descending from larger-sized lines are not accepted. The horse should be proportionately small all over, and express all
18688-433: The turn of the 20th century. Photographs support these claims: the small Karelian horse was blocky and stout, with pronounced withers , a short neck and large head. The small horse from central Finland , on the other hand, was "more noble", with a longer body, lighter neck and more refined head. The Swedish professor Eric Åkerblom even suggested that the Finnish horse spread along river valleys to Troms , Norway, and
18834-445: The two copies are any combination of "e" and "e " (e/e, e/e , or e /e ), then the horse will be red-based. Alternate extension "e " is rare and there is no known difference in appearance between it and the more common "e". Because the red color is recessive, two bay or black parents can produce a chestnut foal if both carry "e" or "e ". However, two chestnut parents cannot produce a bay or black foal. The extension locus (genetics)
18980-422: The two standard languages being not mutually intelligible. Finnish demonstrates an affiliation with other Uralic languages (such as Hungarian and Sami languages ) in several respects including: Several theories exist as to the geographic origin of Finnish and the other Uralic languages. The most widely held view is that they originated as a Proto-Uralic language somewhere in the boreal forest belt around
19126-495: The use of Finnish through parish clerk schools, the use of Swedish in church, and by having Swedish-speaking servants and maids move to Finnish-speaking areas. The first comprehensive writing system for Finnish was created by Mikael Agricola , a Finnish bishop, in the 16th century. He based his writing system on the western dialects . Agricola's ultimate plan was to translate the Bible , but first he had to develop an orthography for
19272-705: The use of the Finnhorse for riding purposes nearly ended. The Finnish horse had been intentionally crossbred from as early as the 16th century. Friesians and Oldenburgs were among the first known influences in the breed, having been used in the early 17th century to add size. Friesian horses were used systematically until the 1650s. During the 18th century, new warmblood breeds were created throughout Europe by crossing local native horse populations with light, hotblooded riding horses. Finnish military officers developed an interest in similar breeding while on study secondments (assignments) in foreign military forces. In 1781, Colonel Yrjö Maunu Sprengtporten founded
19418-492: The vicinity of the Ural Mountains . Over time, Proto-Uralic split into various daughter languages , which themselves continued to change and diverge, yielding yet more descendants. One of these descendants is the reconstructed Proto-Finnic , from which the Finnic languages developed. Current models assume that three or more Proto-Finnic dialects evolved during the first millennium BCE. These dialects were defined geographically, and were distinguished from one another along
19564-627: The west, brought to what today is western Finland by the Vikings during the Viking Age , circa 800–1050 CE. These Viking horses would have been of northern European ancestry. The other main theory suggests that non-Viking peoples, who migrated into Finland from the southeast and south, brought with them horses of Mongolian origin that had been further developed in the Urals and Volga River regions. Both theories have merit, as there were two distinct horse types in
19710-626: The western dialects preferred by Agricola retained their preeminent role, while many originally dialect words from Eastern Finland were introduced to the standard language, thus enriching it considerably. The first novel written in Finnish (and by a Finnish speaker) was Seven Brothers ( Seitsemän veljestä ), published by Aleksis Kivi in 1870. The dialects of Finnish are divided into two distinct groups, Western and Eastern. The dialects are largely mutually intelligible and are distinguished from each other by changes in vowels, diphthongs and rhythm, as well as in preferred grammatical constructions. For
19856-403: The western parts of Lapland are recognizable by retention of old "h" sounds in positions where they have disappeared from other dialects. One form of speech related to Northern dialects, Meänkieli , which is spoken on the Swedish side of the border is recognized in Sweden as its own distinct language, having its own standardized language separate from Finnish. This form of speech developed from
20002-462: The western regions crossbred with horses that originated south of the Gulf of Finland . This made the western Finnish horse type larger and better suited to farming and forestry work. The characteristics of the original western Finnish type prevailed, however, even though influenced by outside blood and traces of outside influence could be detected for a long time. Later, this mixed type was further crossbred with larger horses from Central Europe during
20148-492: Was a prescriptive dictionary that defined official language. An additional volume for words of foreign origin ( Nykysuomen sivistyssanakirja , 30,000 entries) was published in 1991. An updated dictionary, The New Dictionary of Modern Finnish ( Kielitoimiston sanakirja ) was published in an electronic form in 2004 and in print in 2006. A descriptive grammar (the Large grammar of Finnish , Iso suomen kielioppi , 1,600 pages)
20294-515: Was evacuated during World War II and refugees were resettled all over Finland. Most Ingrian Finns were deported to various interior areas of the Soviet Union. Palatalization , a common feature of Uralic languages, had been lost in the Finnic branch, but it has been reacquired by most of these languages, including Eastern Finnish, but not Western Finnish. In Finnish orthography, this is denoted with
20440-505: Was founded in the 1970s, and was the first stud farm to breed and train Finnhorses for riding on a larger scale. Well-trained Finnhorse mounts from Ypäjä, seen in growing numbers in competition, added to the popularity and credibility of the breed for under-saddle use. After the slow beginning, the Finnhorse was increasingly appreciated as a riding horse. Today, over 5,000 are used for riding. Riding section horses currently are sought after while
20586-506: Was not clear if the Finnhorse would make the transition into a riding horse, even though the long use of the breed by the Finnish cavalry had proven it well-suited for the job. The Finnhorse had a strong image as a harnessed working horse, associated with rural life and old times. When riding as a hobby emerged and became more established in Finnish cities during the 1960s, imported horses and ponies were preferred as mounts; warmblooded horses represented modern times, leisure time and wealth, while
20732-520: Was probably rare for a cavalryman to return with the same horse with which he left, and it is likely that the horses brought back to Finland were crossbreeds or of purely Central European lines. Reinforcements to replace the considerable horse casualties were obtained from the Baltic States , but during the reign of Charles XI almost all of the cavalry horses were imported from south of the Gulf of Finland, due to their larger size. Before World War II ,
20878-545: Was published in 2004. There is also an etymological dictionary, Suomen sanojen alkuperä , published in 1992–2000, and a handbook of contemporary language ( Nykysuomen käsikirja ). Standard Finnish is used in official texts and is the form of language taught in schools. Its spoken form is used in political speech, newscasts, in courts, and in other formal situations. Nearly all publishing and printed works are in standard Finnish. The colloquial language has mostly developed naturally from earlier forms of Finnish, and spread from
21024-543: Was the ancestor of the Nordlandshest/Lyngshest , found around the Lyngenfjord . The Norwegians continue to utilise Finnhorse bloodlines, having purchased the Finnish pony-type stallion Viri 632-72P for stud use in 1980. However, Åkerblom dismissed the possibility that the eastern Finnhorse came from same prototype as the western pony breeds. In 1927, veterinarian and professor Veikko Rislakki (then Svanberg) proposed
21170-543: Was the use of the reflexive suffix -(t)te , used only in the eastern dialects. The birch bark letter 292 from the early 13th century is the first known document in any Finnic language . The first known written example of Finnish itself is found in a German travel journal dating back to c. 1450 : Mÿnna tachton gernast spuho sommen gelen Emÿna daÿda (Modern Finnish: " Minä tahdon kernaasti puhua suomen kielen, [mutta] en minä taida; " English: "I want to speak Finnish, [but] I am not able to"). According to
21316-558: Was under Swedish rule , Finnish was only spoken . At the time, the language of international commerce was Middle Low German , the language of administration Swedish , and religious ceremonies were held in Latin . This meant that Finnish speakers could use their mother tongue only in everyday life. Finnish was considered inferior to Swedish, and Finnish speakers were second-class members of society because they could not use their language in any official situations. There were even efforts to reduce
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