Trakehner Horse

Trakehner Horse is a warmblood horse breed that takes its name from the East Prussian stud at Trakehnen, founded in 1732 by the Prussian king to breed cavalry and carriage horses by crossing local stock with Arabian and Thoroughbred bloodlines. Trakehner is generally regarded as the oldest of the modern warmblood breeds and one of the most refined, closer in build to a Thoroughbred than most other warmbloods, and its studbook has historically maintained the strictest inspection and grading standards among warmblood registries, admitting only qualifying Arabian, Thoroughbred and Trakehner blood. The breed's population and records were largely scattered and depleted by the mass evacuation of horses and people from East Prussia at the end of the Second World War, and it survived partly through breeding programs relocated to the West. Trakehner remains prized today for dressage, show jumping and eventing, and has been influential in refining other European warmblood breeds through crossbreeding.