The Hessian Warmblood

Hessian Horse

Although less well known than the Hanoverian,  Holstein or  Trakehner, the Hessian belongs to the "first class" of German warmblood breeds.

In earlier times the heavier type was preferred, but today the Hessian warmblood has become lighter. Apart from Hanoverian stallions , Trakehner stallions are also used, which results in the common modern sport horse type of today..

The state of Hessen is, like Westphalia and Hanover, a "horse country" and has a very large number of broodmares. In appearance , the exterior of the Hessian is like  the Hanoverian , a warmblood breed which can carry all kinds of riders, from lightweight to heavyweight. An elegant horse with a very good temperament, the Hessian is used for "big sport" as well as for the pleasure rider. A Hessian horse was the1974 winner of the difficult jumping derby at Klein-Flottbek, the horse being "Kosmos" ridden by Hartwig Steenken.

Reliable sources for local breeds in Hessen do not exist. There was no state breeding as it was all based on the local farmers in the former centuries. The princely stables bred with imported breeds according to the period's fashion and for their own use only, creating no unique breed type. The only exception was the Beberbeck stud which existed until 1929 and had a good name for noble half-breeds.

After being included in the Prussian stud agency in 1866 the Hessian breeders could not compete with the more important breeds of the other Prussian provinces. Therefore the rural breeders concentrated upon the breeding of draft horses , as those were in large demand. The still existing warmblood breeding which was based on Oldenburg bloodlines was hardly noticed at the time.

Around 1960 , the breeding of the modern riding horse started and was based upon Hanoverian and Westphalian horses, Thoroughbred, Trakehner and Arabian stallions were all used for refinement.

Today Hessen is the 4th ranking warmblood breeding region with 4000 broodmares and 60 state stallions, based in the Hessian state stud at Dillenburg