Holsteiner, Elegance Personified In A Horse

Horses are intelligent animals, affectionate and, above all, elegant and majestic.  Holsteiner brings together all these qualities and many others. Today, we want you to talk about him for his beauty, elegance and history. Would you like to get to know him better? So stay with us.

This breed of horses has a long history in exhibitions, taming, jumping and competitions. So she deserves to get to know her more deeply.

Everything you need to know about Holsteiner

Source

This horse breed has its origins in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany.  It is one of the oldest breeds ever known, dating back to 1225. The monastery of Uetersen was given the right to breed horses and so began the history of the Holsteiner.

However, it was only in 1460 that it was first recognized as a race.

Source: Alexander Kastler

They were used for harnessing and agricultural work, as breeders mixed them with other breeds as they pleased, thinking that this way they could get the horse they needed at any given time, depending on the job.

For example,  horses with Spanish and Neapolitan blood were mixed with the Holsteiner,  thus creating a strong, war-ready animal. Later, they wanted to lighten their composition and weight, as there was great demand for them for agricultural use, and they did this by crossing them with purebred English horses. Nowadays, these mixtures have ceased.

Breed Characteristics

Following the rules of the Federation of Holsteiner Horse Breeders, he must have an athletic appearance, talent for the sport, elegance and qualities for taming and showing.

He must behave well and present himself in a balanced way, being always active and prepared for work.

Its measures are between 1.63 and 1.73 m in height. Your neck should be arched and always straight and raised, with a small head, large, expressive eyes. It will be easily recognized by the branding of a capital “h” inside a shield and under a crown.

Its accepted colors are black, brown and dark brown.  They may have some marks, but these must not exceed 15% of the body, otherwise they are refused as pureblood.

Special skills

The Holsteiner is a horse used for equestrian sports as well as taming and exhibitions.

jumps

The Holsteiner of antiquity was not fast, as it was created for agricultural use, being heavy and slow, not very good aptitudes for the sport. This problem ended with the changes they made to the breed in the 1960s, which reduced its weight.

The aptitude for jumping is something innate in this horse.

gallop

For both cantering and taming, the Holsteiner’s elegance stands out.  It is light when walking, elegant, dynamic, yet balanced at the same time, a unique elegance in an imposing and majestic animal.

Source: dregsplod

Behavior

The behavior of horses is known to everyone. In the case of the Holsteiner, they stand out for their balance, calm, reliability and value. However, there are those who claim that the hard training they were subjected to, to make them great jumpers, made the breed skittish and difficult to mount.

Whether this is true or not, we don’t know. However,  the sporting results obtained by the race let us see that the effort and training were worth it.

We love to have helped you get to know this wonderful breed more closely, we believe it deserves recognition as the most beautiful breed of horses in equestrian history.

Source of images: Biso, Alexander Kastler and dregsplod