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Swedish Warm Blood
Sweden has been known for horse breeding since the twelfth century, when
Archbishop Absalon raised remounts for his cavalry in the Scane province,
which was formerly under Danish rule. The Swedish Warm blood has been
Selectively bred for over 300 years at the Royal Stud in Flyinge, as a
quality riding horse. Initially based on many different breeds from Europe,
Russia and Turkey, the breed has since then been updated by infusions of
Thoroughbred, Hanoverian, Trakehner and Arab blood. In the more recent years
of the twentieth century, other top jumping horses have been imported from
France, Germany and Holland plus carefully selected thoroughbreds to improve
the all round performance and ability of the breed. The product is a fine,
handsome strong horse with exceptional paces and good conformation that has
made a big impact on today's equestrian competitive sports, in particular
dressage.
The Swedish cavalry have enjoyed phenomenal success at the Olympics in all
three equestrian disciplines - dressage, show jumping and three-day
eventing, both before and after World War I. The Swiss army have also
purchased many Swedish horses since 1946 and the best have found fame in
dressage. Well known Swedish Warmblood dressage horses at international
level include San Fernando, Junke, Piaff, Wald, Woermann, Wohler and Gauguin
de Lully, there is no doubt the breed is exceptionally talented and
successful.
The Swedish Warm Blood stands at 15 to 17h.h.and may be any solid colour.
The conformation is variable, but good. The head is handsome with quality, a
broad forehead and kind intelligent eyes; the neck is long and well shaped;
the body is well proportioned with a good deep girth, powerful hindquarters
and strong well-proportioned clean limbs. It has excellent paces with
athletic free and easy movement and is well known for its kind and pleasant
nature.
The breed standard is maintained by rigorous selection trials and the
stallions must be graded and tested for performance, veterinary examination,
and assessment of type, conformation and action. There is also a system of
progeny testing; the results of these are made available to mare owners
seeking a stallion for breeding purposes.
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