Oldenburg Horses

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Olympic gold, World Championship gold, legendary stallions – what more can you ask for? Oldenburg horses have got it all.

Graf Anton Günther von Oldenburg was a great horseman and he has been famous for his traditional dressage riding. He rides on his Oldenburg stallion named Kranich. But before he became popular in the 17th century, let’s take a step back to the 16th century. His predecessor, Graf Johann XVI von Oldenburg, established many small breeding farms within the Oldenburg region so he could produce war horses. In 1612, Graf Anton Günther von Oldenburg also continued the work of Graf Johann by transforming an old monastery into a Royal Stud. Both of them contributed different horses in order to bring about the best breed.

They used Turkish, Neopolitan, Andalusian and Danish stallions to improve his Friesian horses as well as the stallions from Naples, Spain, Poland, England, Tartary, and Barbary (North Africa). With all these, the Oldenburgs were in great demand through Europe.

In 1820, the State gave its first stallion approval. In 1861, a register of origins was introduced and the next year, two horse breeding societies were founded through the Horse Breeding Act. Today, these societies have joined forces and they are now called, "Verband der Züchter des Oldenburger Pferdes". Indeed, they were popular but their popularity declined when the farm mechanization was practiced in the 1940s-50s. Yet, the Oldenburg breeders decided to move their direction and they sought to breed for recreational purposes instead. Various breeds have been added and they even used technology to change and modernize the Oldenburg. AS breeders, they were always successful. That is why, the Oldenburg has already become today’s largest studbook in terms of breeding area.

Oldenburgs are best described as warm bloods. They usually come in black, brown and gray colors. Their legs are compact and short and have short cannons and powerful hindquarters. They strong, long necks and deep chests. They have expressive kind eyes.

They are used for show jumping and dressage. However, they are too slow for eventing if it is not directly sired with a Thoroughbred. All over the globe, competitors fear that they may lose in the competitions because of jumpers and Oldenburg dressage horses such as Responsible, Salieri, Escapado, Don Schufro, Augustin, Silberaster, Deveroux, Don Angelo, Dolomit, and Ringo Starr. Athletes like the mare an epitome of what an Oldenburg really is.