Breed: Westphalian

History: The state flag of Westphalia bears witness to the age of the history of horsebreeding in Westphalia even today. It inter alia shows a white horse on a red background just like the coat of arms of Lower Saxony a depiction of the holy horse of the ancient Celtic and Germanic peoples. The eventful history of the Westphalian horse reached its nadir during the 19th century, when it consisted merely of an indefinable mixture of breeds. Around the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries, planned horse-breeding developed once again and in 1905, the Westphalian studbook was founded. From that date onwards, performance tests were carried out for mares and stallions under the name of "Warendorfer Tage", which became exemplary for other breeding regions too. Today the Westphalian Breeding Association is represented in nigh to all the significant breeding regions of Germany by its mares and stallions.

Stallion lines and sires: The most important stallion bloodlines include:

the F - line: Frühling via Frühlingstraum I and II and Frühlingsball

the D- line: Duellant via Ducker, in recent times also via Damokles (by Davos)

the G- line: Gründer I via Grünspecht

the P- line: Papayer xx via Paradox I and II

Pluchino xx via Perseus and Plutos

the R- line: Ramzes x via Radetzky and his great-grandson Romadour II

The most important sires of the past 20 years include Pilot, born in 1974 (Perseus line), Polydor, born 1972 (Perseus line), Rosenkavalier, born 1980 (Radetzky line) and his son Rubinstein I, born 1986.

Breeding: In 1999 the breeding stock comprised 9.103 registered broodmares and 227 sires. Since 1977, Münster-Handorf has been the location of the Westphalian Horse Centre, where the Pferdestammbuch e.V. is also situated. The stallion, performance tests take place at the state stud of Warendorf which was founded in 1826, as well as in Münster-Handorf.

Characteristics/Application: The Westphalian is a many-sided riding horse for competition sport and leisure time activities. It often displays overwhelming jumping ability, coupled with excellent motions.

Horses in top performance sport: During the 1980ies and 1990ies the horses Ahlerich (Reiner Klimke), Ganimedes (Monica Theodorescu), Goldstern (Klaus Balkenhohl), Rembrandt (Nicole Uphoff-Becker) and Rubinstein (Nicole Uphoff-Becker) were among the best dressage performers in the world. In the 1990ies world class showjumpers included the four Pilot progeny Pirol, Piramos, Show Time and Two Step, as well as Pamina by Polydor.

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