HOW DID WE GET TO THE MODERN-DAY WARMBLOOD

Text | Christie Wolhuter

A few facts to impress your friends…

First and foremost, did you know that a ‘warmblood’ is not a breed of horse but rather a type of horse? There are numerous different types of warmbloods, mainly classified according to the regions they come from. Some countries, like South Africa, consider all horses bred in South Africa and registered with the South African Warmblood society to be South African Warmbloods. Countries like Germany, on the other hand, have registries of warmbloods that originated in the region in which the breed was created. For example, the Hanoverian from the Hanover region in Germany and the Westphalian from Westphalia in Germany. The Selle Français is the modern sport horse from France, and the KWPN, or Dutch Warmblood, originates from the Netherlands.

Historically, horses have been used for agriculture, transport and warfare; however, the ever-increasing popularity of equestrian sport stimulated breeders to refine the working horse to morph into more of an athlete. This led to the birth of the warmblood. Today, modern warmbloods are usually used for the three primary equestrian Olympic disciplines - dressage, showjumping and eventing.

The term “Warmblood” has been adapted from the German word “Warmblut.” Many people over-simplify how the modern Warmblood was created, simply stating that crossing ‘coldblooded’ horses with ‘hot-blooded’ horses created a warmblood. ‘Cold-blooded’ refers to horses of the draft type, for example, the Clydesdale. ‘Hot-blooded’ refers to lighter horses such as the Arab and Thoroughbred. All modern warmbloods are the result of historic crosses of cold-blooded horses to hot-blooded horses, but the modern warmblood is no longer just a simple cross of a heavy draft type horse to a lighter type of horse.

In South Africa, for example, it has been common practice to cross an imported warmblood stallion such as a Hanoverian to a great quality Thoroughbred mare that has been inspected and approved. Studs like Callaho Warmblood Stud are even using imported stallions that are largely Thoroughbred and Anglo-Arab to their warmblood mares, which has created some exciting potential athletes. These stallions have been approved by their relevant studbooks in their home countries and add great qualities to the foals they produce.

What is a studbook?

A studbook is an official record of the pedigree of purebred animals, like horses. Usually, only the finest examples of the breed in question are permitted to enter into the studbook. This helps to maintain the breed standard.

Each studbook has its own ideas about the ‘ideal’ warmblood, and this is why each type of warmblood is slightly different in breed characteristics. Some studbooks, like the Hanoverian Verband, are older and much larger than others. The studbook for the Hanoverian Verband, for example, was founded in 1888, but horse-breeding in the area has taken place for over 400 years. Hanoverian breeders have over 400 stallions to choose from, making this one of the largest studbooks in the world.

To keep the high standard of the large warmblood studbooks, licensing, inspections and even performance testing are routinely carried out to ensure only the highest quality horses are bred further to produce the warmbloods we will ride in the future.