Trakehner

Trakehner is derived from the West Baltic Old Prussian language word trakis meaning field, wilderness or track.

Breeding stables for Trakehner horses had been established in Kadyny at the Baltic Sea as well.

Trakehner are generally large horses, 15-16 hands high, and were bred for dual use as warhorses and farmhorses. Today they are used for dressage competitions. The horse's bloodlines are a combination of local horses with Thoroughbred and Arabian horses.

When Prussia was occupied by the communist Soviet Union, the people were made to leave, sent to Siberia or be killed. Some owners managed to walk and ride some Trakehner horses on the thousands of kilometer long trek to the west starting in the winter of 1945. Some horses survived and the breeding of Trakehner horses continued in Westphalia in Germany.

• http://www.trakehner-verband.de/
• http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/TRAKEHNR/index.htm
• http://www.imh.org/imh/bw/trak

Other Horse Breeds