Warmbloods

Overview

"Warmblood" isn't one breed. It is a family of sport horses bred in separate national studbooks, each with its own name: the Hanoverian, the Dutch KWPN, the Trakehner, the Danish and Belgian warmbloods and others. What they have in common is how they are bred. Stallions and mares are inspected and graded, and only those that pass are used for breeding, with the aim of producing horses for the Olympic disciplines of show jumping, dressage and eventing.

This profile describes warmbloods as a group. A particular horse's papers will show which studbook it belongs to. There are separate profiles of the Hanoverian, the Dutch KWPN and the Irish Sport Horse.

How warmbloods are bred

The international federation. The World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) is the international umbrella organisation for sport horse studbooks, and works closely with the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI). It has 87 member studbooks around the world, among them the Hannoveraner Verband, the KWPN, the Trakehner Verband, the Danish and Belgian warmblood studbooks, the Warmblood Studbook of Ireland and the Warmblood Breeders Studbook – UK. Under its statutes, a member studbook's major objectives must include breeding horses for at least one of the Olympic disciplines.

Grading. The Warmblood Breeders Studbook – UK (WBS-UK) shows how this works in practice:

• Stallions are graded each year by judges from continental Europe. They are assessed standing on level ground for correct limbs, in hand at walk and trot, loose at trot and canter, and loose over a jump. Graded stallions start at Group III and can rise to Group I only with a performance record and good, inspected offspring.
• Mares are graded too, and only graded mares enter the stud book. Its Select Stud Book takes fewer than 10% of mares, which need three generations of graded warmblood parents and a height of at least 15.3 hh. Main Stud Book warmblood mares must be over 15 hh.
• Papers: since 1983, only foals with two graded parents and three full recognised generations receive the society's top-level "pink papers". Other foals of graded stallions get white papers.
• Open to other studbooks: WBS-UK accepts horses from other WBFSH studbooks, giving British breeders access to German, Dutch, Danish, French, Swedish and other bloodlines.

Thoroughbred blood. Thoroughbreds have a recognised place in warmblood breeding. WBS-UK accepts General Stud Book Thoroughbred mares aged 3 or over and at least 15 hh into its Main Stud Book. Older British blood is in the mix too: the Cleveland Bay Horse Society notes that many European warmbloods, notably the Oldenburg, have Cleveland Bay ancestry.

History in Britain

WBS-UK was founded in 1977 as the British Warmblood Society. Mare grading began in 1982, and the society is a full member of the WBFSH. Its stated aim is to produce sound, athletic, modern warmblood competition horses with excellent movement, suitable for all disciplines, and to see British teams mounted on British-bred horses.

Type and uses

Studbooks select warmbloods for type, conformation and paces, plus athleticism and performance. The WBS-UK stallion grading, for example, looks at limbs, walk, trot, canter and loose jumping. Warmbloods are bred to compete in show jumping, dressage and eventing.

Health and management

Bransby Horses names warmbloods, with Thoroughbreds, as breeds with finer coats that are more likely to struggle in winter and benefit from suitable rugs. See the care guide for finer-coated horses for shelter, rugs and winter weight. The daily care guide covers the routine every horse needs.