Draft horse
![Shire horse, of typical draft conformation](/Images/godic/202501/09/ShireDraftHorse4802.jpg")
![Size comparison of a draft horse of Percheron breeding with a stock horse type light riding horse](/Images/godic/202501/09/MuttAndJeffHorses4802.jpg")
![Extracting logs with a Clydesdale at Eglinton Country Park in Scotland.](/Images/godic/202501/09/Logging_in_the_Larch_wood4802.JPG")
![These Shire horses are used to pull a brewery dray delivering beer to pubs in England. In this picture, members of the public are being given a ride.](/Images/godic/202501/09/Wadworths.dray.in.devizes.arp4802.jpg")
A draft horse (US), draught horse (UK and Commonwealth) or dray horse (from the Old English dragan meaning "to draw or haul"; compare Dutch dragen and German tragen meaning "to carry"), less often called a carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal doing hard tasks such as plowing and other farm labor. There are a number of breeds, with varying characteristics, but all share common traits of strength, patience, and a docile temperament which made them indispensable to generations of pre-industrial farmers.