Breed: Trakehner

History: The breed was developed at the Trakehnen stud in East Prussia, which was founded by king Friederich Wilhelm I in 1732. The main reason for its founding was to supply the royal stables with fresh up and coming young horses. Different breeds were used for its creation, above all however, East Prussian Landschlag horses. Today's Trakehner type was developed by means of systematic upgrading orientated breeding with Arab and English thoroughbreds. Prior to the Second World War, East Prussia was the largest closed breeding region of Germany with approximately 40.000 horses. At the end of the Second World War, about 1.000 horses were able to be rescued to West Germany in a legendary and dramatic flight, which enabled the survival and further breeding of the Trakehner breed. It is the only riding horse breed in Germany where breeding is carried out with pure-breds.

Stallion bloodlines and sires: Of the 25 existing stallion bloodlines, four have had an especially strong influence. These are:

- The Dampfroß line (via Ablanz and Pregel by Termit; Neumond; Komet, Gabriel and Totilas by Pythagoras)

- The Fetysz ox line (via Flaneur)

- The Perfectionist xx line (via Patron, Humboldt and Tempelhüter)

- The Pasteur xx line (via Mahagoni)

The most significant sires of the past few years include inter alia, Arogno, born in 1976 (Flaneur line), his son Partout, born in 1987, his grandson Caprimond, born in 1985, Consul, born 1980 (Swazi xx line) as well as his son Rockefeller, born in 1984.

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Breeding: The Trakehner breed encompassed a stock number of 4.529 registered broodmares and 194 sires in 1999. It is striking that all the horses, both mares and stallions bear names beginning with the initial letter of the mother's name. By this means, the importance of the maternal origins is honoured.

For this reason not only the names of famous stallions are provided here, but also the mare lineages, that are the basis of the Trakehner breed. Here the family of the mare Kasette which has produced the most offspring ranks at the very forefront. This family is followed by those of Kordel, Polarfahrt, Herbstzeit, Tapete, Donna, Paraea, Corrida, Pelargonie and many more which had a very big influence on today's breeding during the post-war period.

Characteristics/Application: Trakehners are blood imprinted strong performance horses, with a great deal of stamina and a sensitive character, who require riders with empathy. They are represented in all fields of the riding and driving sport, frequently also in top performance sport, but in particular, in three-day eventing.

Horses in top performance sport: During the 1970ies and 1980ies, the dressage horses Ultimo (Gabriela Grillo), Fabian (Dr. Reiner Klimke) and Kleopatra (George Theodorescu) belonged to the top performers. At the same time, the Habicht son Livius and Abdullah (by Donauwind) were successful international showjumpers. Significant sports horses of the past few years include the dressage horses Biotop, born in 1985 (by Blesk), Caprimond, born in 1985 (by Karon) and Partout, born 1984 (by Arogno), and furthermore Peron TSF (by Mahogoni) as well as Merlin TSF (by Mahagoni).

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