The Knabstrupper or Knabstrup is a Danish

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

warmblood Warmbloods are a group of middle-weight horse types and breeds primarily originating in Europe and registered with organizations that are characterized by open studbook policy, studbook selection, and the aim of breeding for equestrian sport. ...

horse. It is principally a

riding horse A riding horse or a saddle horse is a horse used by mounted horse riders for recreation or transportation. It is unclear exactly when horses were first ridden because early domestication did not create noticeable physical changes in the hors ...

, but is also used as a

harness horse Driving, when applied to horses, ponies, mules, or donkeys, is a broad term for hitching equines to a wagon, carriage, cart, sleigh, or other horse-drawn vehicle by means of a harness and working them in this way. It encompasses a wide range of ...

and as a circus animal. It is broadly similar to the

Frederiksborger The Frederiksborger is Denmark's oldest horse breed. They were tremendously popular throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods and were considered luxury items. Today, the breed is rare, but has a loyal following. Stallions and mares undergo ...

, but often has a spotted coat. Injudicious

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

for this characteristic alone compromised its constitution and conformation; in the years after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the

mechanisation of agriculture Mechanised agriculture or agricultural mechanization is the use of machinery and equipment, ranging from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated, motorized equipment and machinery, to perform agricultural operations. In modern times, po ...

led to a sharp fall in numbers, and by the 1960s no more than 100 examples remained. In the twenty-first century it is an

endangered breed In modern agriculture, a rare breed is a breed of poultry or livestock that has a very small breeding population, usually from a few hundred to a few thousand. Because of their small numbers, rare breeds may have a threatened conservation status ...

, with a world-wide population estimated at little over .

History

The Knabstrupper descends from single mare, believed to have originated in Spain, who showed qualities of endurance and speed and was of a most unusual colouration: she was a deep red (german: Zobelfuchs) with a white tail and mane, and white flecks or "snowflakes" over her whole body and brown spots on her back. She was called Flaebehoppen, 'Flaebe's horse', because she was reportedly bought by a butcher named Flaebe from an officer of the Spanish army. He sold her to , who took her to his estate at Knabstrup Hovedgård in the ''kommune'' of

Holbæk Holbæk () is a town in Denmark and the seat of Holbæk municipality with a population of 29,608 (1 January 2022).Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

. There, in 1808, after a month of testing of her working capabilities, he put her to a

stallion. The stallion Mikkel, a grandson of this pair foaled in 1818, was a noted harness-racer and a foundation stallion of the Knabstrupper breed. This breed was once very popular, but later was

crossbred A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

with other horses, and whether any

purebred Purebreds are "cultivated varieties" of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be "pedigreed". Purebreds breed true-to-type which means the p ...

s from this breed remain is not certain. They do well in

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

and

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrianism, equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, Show hunter, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including th ...

, and are used in general riding, as

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

and as

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

horses. In 1971, three Appaloosa stallions were imported to Denmark to add new blood to the Knabstrupper breed. Knabstruppers today are bred in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Netherland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and most recently, the Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

Characteristics

The breed is usually around , but also pony-sized ones (under are found. Coat patterns range from solid to a full leopard-spotted coat, with many variants in between. The spotted coat is caused by a genetic mechanism called the

leopard complex The leopard complex is a group of genetically related coat patterns in horses. These patterns range from progressive increases in interspersed white hair similar to graying or roan to distinctive, Dalmatian-like leopard spots on a white coat. ...

. The spotted color patterns common in the Knabstrupper are seen in other breeds, such as the

Appaloosa The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's colo ...

horse, though the two breeds developed independently of one another. The breed generally has either

Baroque horse The term baroque horse describes a group of horse breeds, usually descended from and retaining the distinctive characteristics of a particular type of horse that rose to prominence in Europe during the Baroque era, after significant development th ...

conformation. Some Knabstruppers are born with solid colors, such as

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

.Horse-breeds-list.com. Knabstrup horse breed information. Retrieved 2.8.09 from http://horsebreedslist.com/horse-breeds/53/knabstrup

References

{{reflist, 45em, refs= Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007)
List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources
annex t
''The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture''
Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. {{isbn, 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016)
''Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding''
(sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. {{isbn, 9781780647944. Breed data sheet: Knabstrupper / Denmark (Horse)
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2022. Breed data sheet: Knabstrupper / Germany (Horse)
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2022. Transboundary breed: Knabstrupper
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2022. Elwyn Hartley Edwards (1994). ''The Encyclopedia of the Horse''. London; New York; Stuttgart; Moscow: Dorling Kindersley. {{isbn, 0751301159. Elwyn Hartley Edwards (2016). ''The Horse Encyclopedia''. New York, New York: DK Publishing. {{isbn, 9781465451439. Élise Rousseau, Yann Le Bris, Teresa Lavender Fagan (2017)
''Horses of the World''
Princeton: Princeton University Press. {{isbn, 9780691167206. Irina Wenk (2020)
The ideal horse: politics and practices of Knabstrupper breeding
In: Kristen Guest, Monica Mattfeld (editors) (2020). ''Horse Breeds and Human Society: Purity, Identity and the Making of the Modern Horse''. Abingdon; New York: Routledge. {{isbn, 9781032084428. Horse breeds Horse breeds originating in Denmark Animal breeds on the GEH Red List