Speed and strength were the goals of the creators of Trakehner horses, and this breed displays both. At full gallop, the lithe, strong horse looks beautiful in any setting. Its rich history created a breed every bit as adept at dressage as it is at racing.
History
The Trakehner story begins in East Prussia, once part of Germany. The king, Friedrich Wilhelm, realized early in the 18th century that gunpowder had drastically changed warfare. The huge draft horses so prized in medieval times for their ability to carry an armored knight thundering across the battlefield and slamming into enemy pikes were not relevant on modern battlefields with rifles and cannons. Since automated vehicles were well more than a century away, cavalry units were still essential, but they needed to be smaller, faster, lighter, yet still strong enough to carry a man for hours a day. King Wilhelm ordered small East Prussian horses to be bred with Arabians and English thoroughbreds in Trakehnen. The result was an ideal cavalry mount for the 1700s: light and fast with excellent endurance and enough grace to be worthy of officers. The Trakehner fulfilled all these requirements, and a new breed was launched. The breed survived the harrowing battlefields of the Great War, but was almost wiped out by the even more difficult challenges of the eastern front during World War II. The breed’s survival today is the result of an incredible effort by those who lived with and loved Trakehner horses through the darkest days of invasion and occupation during World War II.