The Swedish Warmblood or Swedish Half-bred is a Swedish breed of warmblood horse. It was originally bred as a cavalry horse at the Strömsholm and Flyinge studs. In the twentieth century it became a general-purpose riding and

sport horse A sport horse or sporthorse is a type of horse, rather than any particular breed. The term is usually applied to horses bred for the traditional Olympic equestrian sporting events of dressage, eventing, show jumping, and combined driving, but ...

. It performs well in dressage,

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

and

three-day eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

, and also 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 ran ...

History

The origins of the Swedish Warmblood lie in the seventeenth century, when foreign horses were imported to Sweden from various countries, mostly in Europe, and were

cross-bred 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 mares of local stock to produce horses suitable for military use. Of these imports,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and Friesian animals were the most important; others came from Denmark, England, France, the German-speaking area, Hungary, the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and Russia. Breeding took place at the

stud-farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, documentation ...

of Strömsholm in

Västmanland Västmanland ( or ), is a historical Swedish province, or ''landskap'', in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland. Västmanland means "(The) Land of the Western Men", where the "western men" (''väst ...

, which was established in 1621, and at the at Flyinge in Skåne, which dates from 1658. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there were further imports, of sport horses of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

, Hanoverian and particularly of

Trakehner Trakehner is a light warmblood breed of horse, originally developed at the East Prussian state stud farm in the town of Trakehnen from which the breed takes its name. The state stud ( :de:Hauptgestüt Trakehnen) was established in 1731 a ...

stock. These were used to increase the size and power of the breed and to make it more consistent in type. It became a general-purpose riding and

. A stud-book was begun in 1874. In 1928 a

breed society Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members of ...

, the or Swedish Warmblood Association, was formed.

Characteristics

The Swedish Warmblood usually stands between at the

withers The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, it is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, cattle a ...

. The coat may be of any solid colour.

Use

It is a good general-purpose riding and

. It performs well in dressage,

and

, and also as a

References

{{reflist, 45em, refs= Cecilia Turesson (21 October 2014)
About SWB
Flyinge: Avelsförening för Svenska Varmblodiga Hästen. Archived 10 May 2015. 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: Svenskt halvblod / Sweden (Horse)
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2022. Transboundary breed: Swedish Warmblood
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 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. Horse breeds Horse breeds originating in Sweden Warmbloods