Fetching water from the river in Polvijärvi (North Karelia region, Finland) in 1965. The winter of 1965-1966 was one of the coldest in recent Finnish history. Finnish Lapland had its longest cold spell ever recorded, with 146 days (almost five months) of mean temperatures under zero degrees centigrade. My colorization of Matti Poutvaara´s photo in the archive of the Finnish Heritage Agency.
The horse in the picture is a Finnhorse, a breed known for its strength and endurance even in extreme winter circumstances.
"The Finnhorse or Finnish Horse (Finnish: suomenhevonen, literally "horse of Finland"; nickname: suokki, or 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, the breed was declared the official national horse breed of Finland."
(Wikipedia)
