The word warmblood refers to a category of horse bred for
"Sport Horse" characteristics. The breed originates from Northern Europe.
If your wondering - no a warmblood isn't like water where
you just mix hot with cold to get warm. A warmblood is not the immediate outcome when you
breed a hot blood ("purebred", "fullblood") to a coldblood. A
Thoroughbred or Arabian is a hotblood. A coldblood is a draft horse. A warmblood also is
not a gaited horse such as a Fox Trotter, Paso Fino, Tennessee Walker, Saddlebred or a
Standardbred. It is not a stock horse, like Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa.
Still not sure what a warmblood is?? Ok here it is simple.
It is the kind of horses you see in the Olympics. The fancy movers and the jumpers.
A warmblood was developed in the 1400's in northern Europe
from hotbloods and mixed breeds. The result was a horse that was graceful, powerful,
large frame, smart, and correct in structure. These horses were used in wars because of
their size and agility. These horses were royal horses. The military and the rulers had
Now in modern days the warmblood sometimes gets new blood
into the line by using Thoroughbred or Anglo-Arabs. Thoroughbreds are used mostly.
Warmbloods are also crossed with every other type of breed of horse. But then can not be
registered in a warmblood association. Only Thoroughbred and Anglo-Arab blood in the
warmblood cross can be registered with a warmblood association.
Warmbloods are used for dressage, jumping, eventing,
combined training, harness driving and as English riding show horses.
OWNED GAIL HILDRETH OF
Sunset Ridge Farms
Home of CONQUISTADOR
F.E.I. Holsteiner/Oldenburg Stallion.
#1 leading sire of dressage horses in the United States
(Sporthorse Owners and Breeders Association).
First American bred stallion to break into the top 20 and went right to #1.
Holsteiner/Oldenburg/ISR stallion by Conquistador.
Purebred Holsteiner stallion in the Oldenburg/ISR by Conquistador.
The Warmblood Breeds
There are three distinct types of breeds they are the
Hanoverian, Holsteiner (not said like the black and white milk cow. Say it like "hole
st eye ner"), and the Selle Francais. Other breeds are a combination of the three
There are seven breeds in Germany(Deutschland). The
Holsteiner comes from the northern panhandle in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The
Hanoverian comes from the north in the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachen). The Oldenburg
also comes from the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachen), but from the town of Oldenburg.
The Westphalin (Westfalen) comes from the west central next to the Netherlands in the
state of North Rhine-Wesatphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen). The Rhinelander comes from the
west central next to Luxemburg in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz). The
Bavarian is from the state Bavaria (Bayern) in the south. The Trakehner originated in 1732
in the town of Trakehnen in East Prussia. once this breed was established it would not let
other warmblood breeds be accepted. This is the only "closed" studbook of the
warmblood breeds. Only Thoroughbreds and Arabians are allowed to enhance new Trakehner
Other breeds are the Selle Francais from France, Danish from
the Denmark, Dutch -KWPN from the Netherlands, Belgian Warmblood from Belgian, and the
Swedish from Sweden.
The Friesian is from the Netherlands. They date back pre
16th century. The hair color is all black. Their blood includes some Arabian through the
Andalusians of Spain. There is no Thoroughbred in the bloodlines. They have been bred pure
for two centuries. They are considered warmblood because of their temperament
To get a horse approved into one or more registries the
horse will first need proof of ancestry by blood type. Then comes the hard part. The horse
will need to go to a place where the judge is doing the approvals and then go in front of
the judge in hand or sometimes under saddle. The judges look at (to name a few) height,
type, correctness of body (separated into different sections), correctness of gaits, and
swing and elasticity. Stallions have a different process to go though. Either the 100 day
test or by a points system in the show ring. If the horse is approved the horse will be
branded. Depending on associations some mares get branded some don't. So it is not as easy
as the stock horses to get registered.