Height: 1.35m for mares; 1.42m for males. Color: Bay, dark bay, chestnut, gray. The Thessalian has a large head with a straight profile, large eyes, and long ears; a neck wide at the base; a straight back; muscular, sloping croup; rather thin but solid legs; and black hooves. The mane and tail are abundant. Distribution: Thessaly, Greece. These intelligent horses are generally very close to their riders. They are patient and calm. Possessing great endurance, they tolerate hot and humid climates. It is a good trekking horse and pack horse and isused for farm work and recreation in general. It is also used to produce mules. Long thought to be extinct, there are still a few of them left. Today the breed is on the brink of extinction. There were slightly more than 580 in 2011.

This very ancient breed, once quite renowned, was crossed after World War II with Arabian, Anglo-Arab, and Lipizzan stallions with the goal of making it bigger. Legend has it that Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander the Great, was a Thessalian. It was the horse of the Greek and Roman cavalries.

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