History and Origin of the Breed
The Trakehner, known for its friendly
temperament, intelligence and athletic ability, is one of Germany's oldest warmblood
breeds. King Frederick Wilhelm I of Prussia wanting his soldiers to have reliable
transportation that was faster, sounder and more enduring than that of his contemporaries
established the breed in 1732. For that purpose he opened a royal stud farm at Trakehnen
in East Prussia. He used small native mares, called Schwaike, and crossed them with
Thoroughbreds from England and with purebred Arabians. Throughout the years, the king's
stud directors tried various other breeds but soon limited themselves to the Thoroughbred
and the Arabian. The results of these crossings were exactly what the king wanted. Strict
selection permitted only the best to breed while the "average" product was sold
as riding horses, soon producing a distinctive new breed.
Originally, any horse born at Trakehnen was called a "Trakehner" to
distinguish it from the "East Prussians" produced by private breeders who bought
mares from Trakehnen and bred them to Trakehner stallions. Since the end of World War II,
when East Prussia and the Trakehnen stud ceased to exist, all horses with Trakehnen or
East Prussian bloodlines have been called "Trakehners."
In 1945, some of the horses from East Prussia endured extreme hardships, pulling their
owner's wagons with all the belongings they were able to take when the advancing Soviet
army forced them to flee toward the West. The only escape route available led over the
frozen "Kurische Haff," a bay of the Baltic Sea between East Prussia and the
West. Many did not make it, breaking through the weakening ice under the weight of their
wagons. Less than ten percent of the horses in East Prussia reached the safety of West
Germany. Others were taken as war booty by the Soviets and by the Polish government and
became a significant influence on their native warmblood breeds.
In West Germany, at a time when things were still very chaotic and
basic necessities were scarce, Dr. Fritz Schilke, the executive director of the East
Prussian Stud Book Society, took it upon himself to locate all of the East Prussian horses
that had made it to the West. In 1947, only two years after the end of World War II, Dr.
Schilke succeeded in establishing the West German "Trakehner Verband" (breed
association) and a Trakehner Stud Book that continued to document the breed. In those
early days, many horses could be identified from Trakehnen only by the single moose antler
brand on their right hip or as East Prussians by the double moose antlers on their left
hip. Their papers then bore the notation " papers lost due to the events of war -
identified as Trakehner by its brand."

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After several West German generations of Trakehners, Dr. Schilke noted that the
distinctive Trakehner type had remained unchanged even though the horses had been
displaced from their native habitat and subjected to very different living conditions.
This is still true today. The Trakehner is now being bred all over the world and wherever
this is done in a controlled situation, with documented pedigrees and selective breeding,
the same type - with some modifications for the changing marketplace - still exists
everywhere.
In the years after World War II, many of the other German warmblood breeds
used Trakehner stallions to refine their horses. Examples are the Trakehner stallion
Abglanz used in the Hanoverian breed, or the stallion Julmond in Baden-W ürttemberg. The Trakehner studbook,
however, is closed to all outside blood except the Thoroughbred and the Arabian (including
Anglo and Shagya Arabs).
In North America, the first documented importation of Trakehner breeding stock occurred
in the fifties when Gerda Friedrichs of Keswick, Ontario, Canada, imported three stallions
and a dozen or so mares. Soon after, stallions and mares were imported into Virginia,
California and the Midwest. A busy trade developed in these horses and their progeny. In
1974, the American Trakehner Association was founded to keep track of the breed in North
America. In 1978, the ATA, as it is usually called, signed an agreement of cooperation
with the German Trakehner Verband, promising to breed Trakehners in North America
according to the same selective breeding
and performance testing principles that are practiced in Germany. As a result, the ATA was
granted the use of the double moose antler brand, supplemented by an additional arc
underneath, signifying that the horse so branded is an American Trakehner.
Breed Characteristics
In the ATA's Corporate Regulations, the breed is defined as follows:
The Trakehner is a large horse, standing generally between 16 and 17 hands. The breed
is characterized by great substance and bone, yet displays surprising refinement, perhaps
more so than any other European warmblood breed. It is a superb performance horse, with
natural elegance and balance. It excels in dressage because of its elegant way of moving -
the light, springy, "floating" trot, and soft balanced canter, made possible by
a deep, sloping shoulder, a correct, moderately long back and pasterns of medium length
and slope. With its characteristic powerful hindquarters and strong joints and muscles,
the breed also produces excellent jumpers. However, perhaps the most outstanding
characteristic of the Trakehner is its temperament. Trakehners are keen, alert and
intelligent, yet very stable and accepting, anxious to please.
Famous Horses
Horses of Trakehner blood have been participating in almost all modem Olympic Games
since 1920, in all Olympic disciplines and for many countries of the world. The first
Trakehner to compete in the Olympics for the United States was the gelding BILL BIDDLE (by Airolo xx, out of Apfelblüte by Poseidon) who,
under U.S. Army Major R. J. Borg, placed eleventh in dressage in the 1952 Helsinki Games.
The most famous Trakehner of modem times is undoubtedly the gray stallion ABDULLAH (by Donauwind, out of Abiza by Maharadscha). Bred in
Germany, foaled in Canada, owned by Terry and Sue Williams of Middleport, NY, he
represented the United States in the 1984 Olympic Games at Los Angeles and, with his rider
Conrad Homfeld, brought home the Team Gold and Individual Silver Medals. In addition,
ABDULLAH won the Volvo Jumper World Cup in 1985 and was the World Champion Jumper in 1996.
In that competition, the final round requires the four top riders to ride first their own
horse and then the horses of the three other competitors. The faults of the four rides are
added together and the rider with the fewest faults is declared the World Champion Rider,
while the horse with the lowest number of penalties, in this case ABDULLAH, is the World
Champion Horse.
Other famous Trakehners of recent times are the following which, among others, were
competitors in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics:
PERON (by Mahagoni, out of Peru II by Coktail), member of
the Bronze Medal winning U.S. Dressage team, placing fifth individually. (pictured
at top of page)

WHITE GIRL (by Bajar - Marengo), member of the German Three-Day-Event team.
Unfortunately, she was injured during the competition and could not complete all three
phases. (pictured above)
Breed
Organization
For More Information,
Contact:
American Trakehner Association
1520 West Church Street
Newark, OH 43055
Tel: (614) 344-1111
Fax: (614) 344-3225
E-mail: ATAHORSES@aol.com
Web Site: http://www.horsecountry.com/trakehner
Trakehner Verband
P. O. Box 2729
D-24517 Neumunster, GERMANY
Tel: 01149-4321-90270#
Fax: 01149-4321-902719#
Information
supplied by American Trakehner Association
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