The Swedish Warmblood
By
LaNet Hester, Spindletop Farm, Castroville, Texas
 |
The National
Stud Farm in Flyinge, Sweden |
The History of the Swedish Horse:
The Swedish Warmblood, one of the oldest breeds on record, dates back to the
12th century. In 1661, King Carl X Gustaf developed the National Stud Farm
in Flyinge, Sweden for the purpose breeding quality cavalry horses for mounted
troops. In the 1970s when the military ceased using horses in the cavalry,
the stud farm was turned over to the Swedish Warmblood Association (SWA).
Four centuries later, the National Stud Farm continues to produce some of
the top stallions and riding horses in the world and offers premier breeding,
riding and research facilities.
Breeding Program:
The Flyinge breeding program’s goals are to produce superior conformation,
temperament, movement and versatility. They carefully chose stallions and
crosses to obtain the desired genetic effect and achieve their goals. Over
many years, the National Stud Farm has succeeded in producing many Olympic
athletes. Swedish horses took home three individual medals in dressage at
the first modern Olympic competition in 1912. Swedish continued to earn medals
in throughout the 20th Century. Six sons of the Swedish stallion Drabant participated
in the 1960 Olympiad held in Rome, Italy.
At the 1988 Seoul, Korea, Games, 13 Swedish Warmbloods participated in dressage
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Photo: Jan Gyllensten Jan Brinks on Bjorselle Briar |
competitions and garnered 6 medals. With the exception of the Moscow Olympics, Swedish horses have been in the medals at every Olympic game. A tradition of excellence continues today thanks to the strict inspection and approval process keeping the caliber of Swedish horses constant.
Inspection Process:
Swedish Warmblood of North America was developed in the United States to help
better breeding programs in the nation. Every year, Swedish Inspectors travel
to several inspection sites to inspect stock in one of five divisions: Dressage
Talent for three-to-four year-olds, Jumping Talent for three-to-four year-olds,
Broodmares and Pre-breed Evaluations, Foals and Yearlings, and finally the
Stallion Inspection. Inspectors critique stock using a ten-point scale (ten
being the highest score). In 2003, inspectors mulled over more than 150 horses
and foals North American horses, and only one stallion passed all requirements
in British Columbia.
Stallion Testing:
Swedish Warmblood stallions undergo intense scrutiny before being approved
to produce register able foals. Each stallion’s pedigree is researched
in addition to competing in physical inspection of: performance, exterior
judging (conformation), and veterinary inspections. Offspring are also tested
to verify the lineage and to evaluate the potential to produce the consistent
quality the breed is known for worldwide. The stallion’s dam’s
sire line for a pending approved stallion must consist of four generations
of evaluated breeding stallions. In the event a stallion does not fulfill
the requirements, but descends from an unusually interesting bloodline and
has remarkable proven competition performance, and/or offspring with unusual
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The Famous
Drabant |
proven performance, the Licensing Committee can exercise the right to approve such a stallion for breeding in the SWB breed. The Veterinarian approval indicates that the stallion has passed an inspection by a veterinarian approved by the Committee. The stallion must have an obligatory x-ray examination according to specific instructions and be found not to have osteochondrosis in the hocks or stifles. The stallion owner also must produce good fertility records for the stallion in question to insure good breeding results in the future. At this time there are 33 approved stallions that stand in North America and over 200 approved stallions standing in European Countries.
Quality Control:
The inspection process serves as a control factor to keep the breed of best
quality by crossing only the best genetics possible. Controlled breeding has
been the key to the Swedish Warmblood success and why the Swedish Warmblood
still ranks as one of the highest competition horses in dressage, show jumping,
three-day eventing, and team driving today.
The stallion Bjorselle Briar 899 caused quite a stir with Olympic rider Jan
Brink by recently winning the European Championships in England. Jan and Briar
showed their value on the Swedish Equestrian Team by winning the Swedish Championship
with a Grand Prix score of 73 percent and with an 81 percent freestyle score
at the European Championships.
National rankings from different parts of North America consist of the Swedish
Warmblood breed. At the all-important and most recognized breed show in North
America, Dressage at Devon, the SWBs held top placing with L.A Baltic Black
Pearl scoring a wonderful 80 percent in hand. In the open class for six-year-old
FEI -Young Horses, the Swedish horses again were in the top three placing
with Silver Label, L.A Baltic Kharma and Zhivago. In the United States Dressage
Federation (USDF) End of Year awards, Swedish Warmbloods showed talent from
Training Level to Grand Prix in every noted region. In show jumping, the SWB
is ranked ninth, with the mare Butterfly Flip. The gelding, Karuso placed
SWB in fifth position nationally.
 |
Vermouth of Trailwinds
Farms, Collinsville, Texas |
Swedish Warmbloods in Texas:
Of the 33 approved stallions in North America, three SWB stallions reside
in the Lone Star State, Texas. Electus 902 stands in the Houston area with
owner Tammie Haynes at Spring Stable (Spring, Texas). L.A Baltic Moon stands
with owners Jim and Syrisse Longbottom at Stellar Farm (Magnolia, Texas).
The stallion Vermouth 858, recently purchased by Molly and Joe Gengenbach
(Collinville, Texas) stands at Tailwinds Farms. The Gengenbah’s also
broker frozen semen for the Olypmic stallion Bjorselle Briar. Spindle Top
Farms owned by The Hester Family (La Coste, Texas) offers foals from the famous
stallions: Vivaldi 753, Pablo 973 and Rubignon 961. Spindle Top Farms also
offers foals from two of North America’s Diploma rated (top rated/scored)
originally imported to Spindle Top Farms for quality breeding.
To read and learn more about Swedish Warmbloods, visit www.swedishwarmbloods.com
or www.swbzone.com