Oldenburg Horses

The Oldenburg horses name is derived from the horse’s origins; Oldenburg is a city within lower Saxony, Germany. Modern day Oldenburg horses are controlled by the “Association of breeders of the Oldenburg horse”.

Summary

Oldenburg horses are bred for performance and quality; they excel in dressage and showjumping. On the flat the Oldenburg has incredible animated rhythmical gaits, with a great deal of suspension, Oldenburg horses are also extremely  accurate over fences; they are bold and have a powerful jump with plenty of scope.

Characteristics

As a result of the Oldenburg’s open studbook, the substance and height of the individual horse will vary depending on the horse’s ancestry. Oldenburg’s are usually bay, brown, chestnut, grey, or black.

History and development

The Oldenburg warmblood registry came about in 1923.The Oldenburg’s history lies with the native horse of Oldenburg, the Alt-Oldenburg, meaning old Oldenburg. The Alt-Oldenburg was a general type of horse, a heavier warmblood horse used for agricultural purposes and carriage work. In the 1940s and 1950s horses we replaced by tractors and cars, so the horse became a luxury rather than a requirement so there became a need for a lighter type of riding horse.

The Alt-Oldenburg was refined by infusing Thoroughbred and Anglo-Norman blood. The infusion of the French blood lines proved to be the most successful.

Modern breeding practises such as artificial insemination have allowed stallions from much further afield to be included in the Oldenburg’s meticulous breeding programme to improve the breed; the infusion of various illustrious sport horse bloodlines has made the Oldenburg one of the words leading sport horses.