What we know today as Rhineland-Palatinate Saar (RPS) was originally called a Zweibrücker. In 1775 Duke Christ-
ian IV of Zweibrücken founded the State Stud, and despite its repeated destruction in several wars, it still functions as the backbone of the breed.
State Stud in Zweibrücken. Some of the German registries, such as the
Mecklenburg, Brandenburg or Saxony-Thuringia, were behind the iron curtain until 1989. Although it was quite difficult under the communist government in former East Germany, these breed registries managed to continue their operation and are now a valuable addition to the German breeds.
The Brandenburg Principle and State Stud in Neustadt (Dosse). Photo by Gabriele Boiselle
The only traditional breed registry without its
own territory is the Trakehner. Before World War II they were at home in East Prussia, which fell under Soviet occupation. The breeders desperately tried to get their horses out of the Soviet zone, and in the coldest winter on record they fled to the West, but lost most of their horses to the bitter cold and famine. The few horses that made it to the American, British, Canadian and French zones became the foundation of the modern Trakehner horse, and since their original royal stud Trakehnen is now in Polish territory, this breed registry has been operating nationwide since the end of World War II.
I
n the early days the individual registries developed their own philosophies and breeding guidelines, and the stallions at the state studs were only made available to the local
breeders in the principality. Yet the goals were the same for all the German registries, and during the course of history all registries first concentrated on cavalry and farm horses. After World War II they shifted their focus to the development of an athletic sport horse. Today, most of the registries use the same bloodlines, and it is very common for a stallion to be approved by several registries. The larger registries in the North of Germany still have their
own stallion licensing events, mare performance tests and sport horse auctions, but the smaller registries in the South and East of Germany joined forces and organize these events under the patronage of the Southern German Breeders Association (see “Together They Stand,” Warmbloods Today, May/June 2011). But the ministry of agriculture of each individual federal state of Germany is still the governing body for all breeding affairs and manages the records of all stallion and mare approval events. The state studs have to report to the ministry of agriculture as well, and so horse breeding follows very stringent guidelines in Germany, which, on all accounts, has been a recipe for success. Will all the German registries ever unite into one “German
Warmblood” like its neighboring European countries? There is a relatively new nationwide German horse registry known as the ZfdP (Zuchtverband fuer deutsche Pferde), however it’s a very open registry accepting nearly all breeds of horses that are bred in Germany. Although one German Warmblood is a concept that might make sense to an outsider, given the deep historical roots of tradition at the individual state studs, it’s highly unlikely this will happen in our lifetime.
Trakehnen stud, summer 1944. It was abandoned a few months later.
About the author: Susanne Lauda is a native German who resides in Georgia and is the American representative for the Baden- Württemberg breed association. Here she is with her Württemberg gelding Forrest Gump (French Kiss x Weltmeyer).
Warmbloods Today 87
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