The Trakehner...

The Trakehner is generally of a lighter type than most other warmbloods. The name derives from Trakehnen, the site of the Main Stud (de:Gestüt Trakehnen) in Prussia (since 1945, Yasnaya Polyana, Kaliningrad Oblast).

The Trakehner typically stands between 15.2 and 17 hands high (1.57 to 1.73 m). Trakehners can be any color, with bay, gray, chestnut and black being the most common, though the breed also includes few roan and tobiano pinto horses. It is considered to be the lightest and most refined of the warmbloods, due to its closed stud book which allows entry of only Trakehner, as well as few selected Thoroughbred, Anglo-Arabian, Shagya and Arabian bloodlines.

Breed Characteristics
Owing to its Thoroughbred ancestry, the Trakehner is of rectangular build, with a long sloping shoulder, good hindquarters, short cannons, and a medium-long, crested and well-set neck. The head is often finely chiseled, narrow at the muzzle, with a broad forehead. It is known for its "floating trot" - full of impulsion and suspension. The Trakehner possesses a strong, medium-length back and powerful hindquarters.

Trakehners are athletic and trainable, with good endurance, while some are more spirited than horses of other warmblood breeds. Trakehners breed true to type, due to the purity of the bloodlines, making it valuable for upgrading other warmbloods.

During their crusade of the Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th Century, the Teutonic Knights discovered the native Schwaikenpferd, a small primitive horse. The Knights used it to breed their military horses, and descendants of the Schwaike were used by German Ostsiedlung farmers for light utility work.

In 1732 King Frederick William I of Prussia established the Main Stud Trakehnen at the East Prussian town Trakehnen (now Yasnaya Polyana, Russia). Soldiers cleared the forest at the River Pissa between Stallupönen and Gumbinnen. In 1739 the king gave it to crown prince Frederick II of Prussia, who often sold stallions to make money. After his death in 1786 it became state property, named Königlich Preußisches Hauptgestüt Trakehnen.

Between 1817 and 1837 the stud added Arabian, Thoroughbred, and Turkish blood to their horses. One especially influential Thoroughbred was Perfectionist, by Persimmon, who won the Epsom Derby and the St Leger in 1896. He was to be the sire of the great Trakehner stallion Tempelhüter, and most modern Trakehners can be traced to these two stallions. The Arabian blood was added to offset possible flaws of the Thoroughbred.

East Prussian farmers were encouraged to bring their mares, by then known for their hardness and quality, to Trakehnen's stallions. This enabled the rapid transformation of the breed into much sought-after army remounts: sure-footed, intelligent and athletic. By 1918 60,000 mares were bred to East Prussian stallions each year.

In 1919 the Treaty of Versailles limited Germany's army to 100,000 troops and so the breed's focus was again turned to producing horses suitable to farm duties. For this purpose, heavier reinforcement sires were used, the most successful being Ararad, Dampfross, Hyperion, Pythagoras and Tempelhüter. These stallions, while refined, possessed much substance and bone. Their influence is still seen on the modern Trakehner.

It was during the 1920s and 1930s that the breed was seen for the true performance horse it was. Trakehners won gold and silver medals in two Olympics, and won Czechoslovakia's notoriously challenging Velká pardubická steeplechase nine times. In the 1930s there were more than 10,000 breeders and 18,000 registered mares.

In the 1930s and early 1940s Hauptvorwerk Trakehnen and its 15 Vorwerke covered 6,033 hectares (14,910 acres), of which 3,845 hectares (9,500 acres) were fields, 2,427 hectares (6,000 acres) meadows, 175 hectares (430 acres) forest, 73 hectares (180 acres) garden and 351 hectares (870 acres) other. Horses such as the Trakehner were used in World War II which, at the end, nearly destroyed the breed as Soviet troops advanced from the East, causing flight and expulsion of Germans during and after WWII. The main Stud and local residents were given permission to evacuate on 17 October 1944. Their journey West, known as Der Treck ("The Flight"), sent the horses on a dangerous journey in frigid conditions across the frozen Vistula lagoon without proper rations or shelter. It is considered one of the toughest tests to which an entire breed of horses has been submitted.

Many refugees were bombed while on the ice, so only a small number of horses made it to safety. The horses left behind in East Prussia became important in the breeding of Russian breeds (Kirov) as well as the Polish Mazury (also known as the Masuren) and Pozan (or Poznan), which developed into the Wielkopolski. After the war the breed which once numbered tens of thousands was reduced to approximately 600 broodmares and 50 stallions.

700 surviving horses were accounted for. The last original Trakehner was Keith, born there in 1944, who died in November 1976 in Gilten shortly before his 35th anniversary. On 23 October 1947 the East Prussian Studbook Society was dissolved and the Association of Breeders and Friends of the Warmblood Horse of Trakehner Origin, known today as the Trakehner Verband, was created. Among the greatest obstacles the organization faced was that unlike other German breeds, the Trakehner had no mother state and could not depend on government funding. The re-establishment of the breed originally depended on the determination of its members and the largesse of others.

True pure-bred Trakehner show the Ostpreußische Elchschaufel (East-Prussian moose horn) branding.