Wonderful Warmbloods Have Taken the Equestrian World By Storm


by Ron Petracek - Date: 2007-01-28 - Word Count: 553 Share This!

Warmbloods have gained enormous popularity in the past few years. More and more of these horses are being seen in competition, especially in Grand Prix and Olympic quality competition. This type of horse is often referred to under the broad term of "warmblood," but there are actually several breeds of Warmbloods and each offer their own bit of edge in competition

The Hanoverian is one of the most prominent riding horses in the world. The breed was originally the inspiration of King George II of England, whom was also the ruler of Hanover at this time. He directed the Celle Stud of Lower Saxony in 1735 to produce a coach horse that could also be used for agriculture. And thus, the Hanoverian was born. In the 19th century, the breed was transformed into a military mount as well and was used extensively in World War I. After World War II, the breed was crossed with Thoroughbreds to give it an edge in sport horse competitions. The results of these crosses were powerful, strong, and featured light and springy movements. Today, the breed is commonly used in dressage, show jumping, cross-country and eventing.

The Selle Francais is a breed with a lot of trotting bloodlines, but is able to outperform most of the competition in Grand Prix and Olympic level show jumping. This horse was developed after World War II in Normandy from the Trotter-Thoroughbred crosses and several light French breeds. The breed was officially recognized in 1958 and resembles that of a big-bone Thoroughbred. The breed has excelled at international level competitions and has become a star in a number of other disciplines as well. The breed has been defined as "the epitome of what a sport horse should be." The breed is strong and bold. They excel at all equestrian sports and disciplines with exceptional talent in show jumping.

The Trakehner has two histories associated with the breed. The breed began in 1732 when the finest horses at the stud of Frederich Wilhelm I of Prussia were gathered to produce a new breed of cavalry horses. Arabians, Prussian horses and Thoroughbreds were bred and by 1940 there were approximately 80,000 Trakehners in existence. The breed has a string of Olympic gold medals from all over the world associated with it and the breed is one of the premier breeds for three-day eventing and dressage.

The second part of the breed's history involved the Red Army in 1945. East Prussia was invaded and many of the horses died. By the end of the war there were some 800 animals of the foundation stock left. The handlers of the breed went to western Germany on foot. Only 100 of the horses survived the trek across the frozen Baltic Sea. The breed was scattered throughout other parts of Europe and through several other evacuation attempts another 1000 horses were saved. Over the next ten years, the breed was slowly rebuilt. Today, the breed is one of the purest of all Warmbloods and stallions undergo rigorous testing and evaluations before being entered into the studbook. The breed is one of the toughest in the world and excels as dressage horses and show jumpers.

If you are looking for a horse that will outperform the rest then look towards the Warmbloods for the athletic animal that you need to beat the competition.


Related Tags: horse articles, equine articles, equine classifeds, horse forums

Equine Articles and Forums - Free Classifeds http://www.horsechitchat.com

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: