Trakehners Australia Tour 2014 - Open to Trakehner, Warmblood, Thoroughbred & Arabian Horses Australia Wide

After the highly successful National Tour of Australia in 2013, with visiting Internationally acclaimed Trakehner Verband Classifier ‘Matthias Werner’, Trakehners Australia are now holding another National Tour for 2014, open to all Warmblood breeders and owners, as well as Thoroughbred and Arabian breeders Australia wide. 

The 2014 Trakehners Australia Inc Australian Wide 2014 Tour will take place from 19 February to 13 March.

Matthias Werner (pictured), has been booked, to again come to Australia to be involved in the Trakehners Australia Warmblood Tour 2014. Matthias, who’s family bred the World renowned Champion Dressage Grand Prix Stallion “Gribaldi” – Sire of International Dressage Star “Moorlands Totilas”, (and of many other International Dressage Stars), has been so impressed by the Australian Warmblood Breeding Industry, he has once again offered to Tour Australia with Trakehners Australia representatives, to assess Australian Warmblood horses for breeders, and also to assess and classify purebred and partbred Trakehners. Matthias has been classifying under Lars Gehrman, Trakehner Verband Breeding Director and CEO. Matthias is on the district mare committee for ‘Hessen’ and is an official FN-Judge for Germany. In this role Matthias also judges other Warmblood breeds such as Holsteiners, Oldenbergs, Hanoverian's etc.

Over the last 10 years, Trakehners Australia has built up a close liaison with International networks of committed Trakehner Breeders, not least of which is the governing body of World Wide Trakehner Breeding, the Trakehner Verband in Germany. Many other International Trakehner Societies are now in the Trakehners Australia network of friends, ie; Trakehners UK, USA, NZ to name a few.

Trakehners Australia’s mission for the Tour, is to put Australian Trakehner Warmblood Breeding on the International stage and map, and to highlight our other Warmblood Breeds and Breeders in Australia, and their wonderful Warmblood horses.

During the Tour 2013 – Australian Warmblood Breeders and owners won over Matthias Werner, with the ‘outstanding quality of Australian horses’.

To this end, the TA has worked incredibly hard to professionally liaise with the Trakehner Verband Germany, and Warmblood Breeders in Australia, to show off to Matthias Werner of the Internationally recognized Trakehner Verband, the many Hanovarian, Holsteiner, Oldenburg, Westfalian etc., Warmblood horses bred in Australia – as well as our Trakehner horses and their Trakehner breeders of pure and partbred Trakehners.

Also of extreme interest is the Thoroughbred and Arab breeding Societies of Australia. This is due to the “pure Trakehner Warmblood being a closed studbook”, with only injection of TB and Arab bloodlines allowed into the Studbook, other than Trakehner.

During the Tour 2013, the many presented Warmbloods of varying breed, highly impressed Matthias. The quality of these horses, and enthusiasm of owners and breeders was inspirational to Matthias, especially when one considers Australia is a young country in regard to such breeding. Matthias is a World renowned Classifier, in Europe and especially Germany.

The history of the Trakehner Warmblood breed, is one of true inspiration, in light of the breeds’ near extinction.

Trakehner History (PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY, 28 MAY 2013 04:56 ATA)

Trakehner (pronounced Tra-KAY-ner) horses are the oldest of all warmblood breeds in the world.

During a history reaching back more than 400 years, this breed has been systematically "engineered" for performance-first as work horses in East Prussia, and then later, as the refined sport horses that have gained the Trakehner breed its international acclaim.

The breed started centuries ago from a base of small East Prussian horses, the "Schwaike," which had great endurance and versatility. It was originally crossed with larger horses to provide mounts for warfare, general transportation, and agricultural work.

The Main Stud at Trakehnen, East Prussia Photo courtesy of the Trakehner Verband Archives, provided by the American Trakehner Association

But in the early 18th century, the father of Fredrick the Great, who was the King of Prussia, began to see the need for a new type of cavalry mount for his army. War tactics had changed and required a lighter horse more comfortable to ride over long distances, with more endurance and speed than the heavy horses previously needed to carry armor and haul military equipment. So he chose the best horses from seven of his royal breeding farms, and in 1732 moved them all to the new royal stud at Trakehnen, East Prussia.

Through careful use of only English Thoroughbred and "oriental" blood, a horse of nobility, elegant movements and great endurance was developed. Trakehners carried their riders into battle against Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 and were sought after by the military of many European countries.

One of the greatest influences on the breed was the Thoroughbred stallion Perfectionist, son of Persimmon, who won the English Derby and the St. Leger in 1896. The best of his sons, Tempelhüter, was the main sire at Trakehnen in the 1920s and provided a powerful line that is recognized as the foundation for the modern Trakehner.

During the 1920s and 1930s the breed was seen for the true performance horse it was. The Gold and Silver medals in dressage in the 1924 Olympics went to Trakehners. In the 1928 Olympics, a Trakehner won the Bronze medal in the three-day event.

In 1936, known as the "Year of the Trakehner," a Trakehner named Kronos won the individual and team Gold medals in dressage, while another, Absinth, took the individual Silver and shared the team Gold medal. A Trakehner named Nurmi won Gold in three-day eventing. Also that year, the German jumping team came to the United States to compete at Madison Square Garden and a Trakehner, Dedo, was on their Prix des Nations winning team.

Shortly after that period of time, however, came the darkest days in the history of the breed. The breed population was reduced by half in the First World War. Without enough time between the World wars to recover their losses, the Second World War would bring the breed to the edge of extinction.

Several attempts were made to move the horses to safety, but few made it. As the war neared its end in late 1944-early 1945, the Trakehnen Stud and local residents were finally given official permission by Nazi administrators to evacuate, just ahead of the advancing Russian front. The journey away from the fighting has become known as "The Trek" because it was an evacuation so long and so tragic, it has no comparison. East Prussian refugees and their Trakehner horses began a 600-mile journey to safety without proper rations or shelter. Hitching their precious breeding stock to carts loaded with their possessions, the populace-almost entirely women, children, and elderly people-fled. It is not unusual to hear Trek survivors or their descendants telling the story of losing their horses and family members during the trip. Many of the mares, heavy with foals, had to be left to forage for themselves or to be captured by the Russians.

Almost 600,000 East Prussian citizens died. As for their horses, from a Trakehner breeding population of 25,000 broodmares and 1200 approved stallions, only 1500 arrived in Germany. From the main stud of Trakehnen, only 27 broodmares could be saved. The once proud and beautiful horses surviving limped into Germany, suffering from open wounds from shrapnel, and with burlap bags frozen to their feet in place of shoes. What horses the Russian army did not consume for food either perished or starved. The most important stallions were lost during The Trek. Some were known to have been shot by the Russians.

Others were captured and taken to Kirov, where they established a stud responsible for producing one of today's most powerful sport horses, the Russian Trakehner. Almost 60 young colts were evacuated to the German state stud at Celle earlier in the war, but some were gelded and others were confiscated by the English, French and American armies at war's end. The surviving horses were accounted for and on October 23, 1947 the East Prussian Studbook Society from 1890 was dissolved and the Association of Breeders and Friends of Trakehner Warmblood – now known as the Trakehner Verband, Germany, was formed.

Today the Trakehner Verband oversees 10 affiliated organizations around the world. All 10 Trakehner breed societies-Lithuania, France, Poland, Denmark, New Zealand, Croatia, Switzerland, Russia and the United Kingdom, North America, share the devotion to the breed which has brought it back from near extinction. They adhere to the strict requirements needed to maintain the purity of the breed, and display their approved logo brand based on the historical moose antler symbol for the Trakehner.

The Trakehner is the only warmblood breed to maintain a "closed" stud book. That is, although select Thoroughbred, Arabian and Shagya blood is judiciously added, no other warmblood is ever allowed into the Studbook. On the other hand, Trakehners have for many years been routinely used as a "refiner" of other Warmblood breeds, and thus in the pedigree of many Hanovarian, Holsteiner, Oldenburg, Westfalian etc Warmblood, you will find a Trakehner!

The Trakehner of today is considered to be the lightest and most refined of the warmbloods, with the head clearly showing the Thoroughbred and Arabian blood in the breed. Knowledgeable horse people can readily identify a Trakehner from other warmbloods. The Trakehner is a large horse, standing generally between 16 and 17 hands. It is characterized by great substance and bone, yet displays surprising refinement. 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 and a correct, moderately long back and pasterns. With its characteristic, powerful hindquarters and strong joints and muscles, the breed also produces outstanding jumpers.

However, perhaps the most outstanding attribute of the Trakehner, who long had an undeserved reputation as being "hot" or spooky, is it’s temperament. It is alert and intelligent, yet stable and anxious to please. For this reason, Trakehners are known to be not only a performance champion, but more importantly, an everyday friend that is easy to train and easy to love.

1984 US Olympic team Gold medal and individual Silver medalist Abdullah *Pg*E*. Abdullah was honored as one of the "Top 50 Horses of the Century" by the Chronicle of the Horse magazine, and won the 1985 World Cup in Berlin at the age of 15. At the 1986 World Championships in Aachen, Germany (above), he was awarded the Gold medal and named the "World Champion Horse." © Sue Williams, provided by the American Trakehner Association

One of the World’s highest scoring Dressage horses is the Trakehner Sporthorse “Moorlands Totilas”. His Sire “Gribaldi” was a super Champion Grand Prix International Dressage Star, and his son, took over the baton, and won the highest International Dressage Score ever given, 92.3%.

Moorland's Totilas (NED) Grand Prix 2010 World Equestrian Games Photograph: Franz Venhaus - Eurodressage.com, Friday, 15 October 2010

 

 

Trakehners Australia aspire to showoff to our International colleagues, the wonderful Warmblood Breeding Industry in Australia, our Breeders and their Studs, and especially the Trakehner Warmblood – both pure and partbred and our passionate Trakehner owners and breeders, who know they have bred a World Class equine athlete.

Trakehners Australia has made many friends in the Australian Warmblood Industry, including those of other Warmblood Societies, and we invite everyone who has an outstanding horse, to be a part of the TA Tour 2014.

The Tour is open to ALL Warmblood horses, and to owners of Thoroughbred and Arab horses, who may wish to have their mares assessed for Classification into the Trakehner Verband Studbook 1 Germany.

Here are some of the horses of the 2013 Tour...

‘Iris’ TB - mare. Winner of TV Led Class. Classified into the German TV Studbook 1-2013 Tour

CJP Special Donner (APH Speigel x Donnerheist) with Charmeur filly at foot

Excelcior Centrepiece

CJP Hot Topic (Hotline x CJP Floriana)

Celestial Park Solitaire

Celestial Park Estella

Aloha Tribal Rose (S Aloha Rostrum D Tribal Lisa xx)  Anglo Arabian mare -National Champion Arabian mare

AP Applause.  12 year old mare bred by Alexander Park Trakehner Horses

Alexander Park Schatzbury. 4 year old mare bred by Alexander Park Trakehner Horses

HerzAssW -winner under 2yr TV filly – (imported)

Noble Monarch – Australian Trakehner Stallion –winner WID classes  READ MORE ABOUT NOBLE MONARCH AT STALLIONZONE

Rebellion Santus – winner ridden Trakehner Sporthorse

 

Trakehners Australia are now an Internationally connected Society. The TA Tour promotes Australia to its' best, with one of the World’s most respected International Classifiers on our Tour, who considers Australia has an excellent Warmblood Breeding Industry, with top quality horses.

Trakehners Australia are Equestrian Australia affiliated and Trakehners Australia are now officially a branch of the Trakehner Verband “Hesse Community” German governing body.

Join the TA Tour by going to the Trakehners Australia Website Tour page:-

http://www.trakehnersaustralia.com.au/tour.html

http://www.trakehnersaustralia.com.au/home.html

or phone the TA Secretary:- Tanya Hosford   03 5857 2951