Editing Trakehner (section)

==History==
[[File:Trakehner 2.jpg|thumb|Landstallmeisterhaus in Trakehnen]]
[[File:Trakehner Brand 0001.jpg|right|thumb|''Ostpreußische Elchschaufel'' [[moose]] antlers, the Trakehner brand]]
[[File:Trakenerhengst &quot;Tempelhüter&quot; vor dem Deutschen Pferdemuseum in Verden (Aller).jpg|thumb|Statue of the stallion "Tempelhüter" in [[Verden/Aller]]]]

[[Old Prussians]] and other Baltic people such as the [[Lithuanians]] were noted for their hardy horses and cavalry during the early [[Middle Ages]]. During their conquest of Old Prussians in the 13th century [[Prussian crusade]], the conquering [[Teutonic Knights]] named the Old Prussian horse a ''Schwaikenpferd'', a small primitive horse. Beginning in the 14th century, [[knight]]s used it to breed their military horses, and descendants of the Schwaikenpferd were later used by [[Masovians|Masovian]] and [[Ostsiedlung]] farmers for light utility work. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the people of [[Ducal Prussia]], [[Brandenburg]], and [[Royal Prussia]] used a wide variety of horses from the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], [[Crimean Tatars]], [[Ottoman Turkey]], [[Wallachia]], [[Moldavia]] and [[Transylvania]], [[Holy Roman Empire]] for their cavalry and stud horses, crossed on local animals.<!--which is how ALL of the warmbloods got started, incidentally-->

In 1732 King [[Frederick William I of Prussia]] used these horses and other imports to establish the Trakehnen Stud at the East Prussian town Trakehnen (now [[Yasnaya Polyana (Kaliningrad)|Yasnaya Polyana]], [[Russia]]). Soldiers cleared the forest at the [[Pissa River|River Pissa]] between [[Nesterov|Stallupönen]] and [[Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast|Gumbinnen]]. In 1739 the king gave it to crown prince [[Frederick II of Prussia]], who often sold stallions to make money. After his death in 1786 it became state property, named ''Königlich Preußisches Hauptgestüt Trakehnen''.

Between 1817 and 1837 the stud added [[Arabian horse|Arabian]], [[Thoroughbred]], and [[Hanoverian horse]] blood to their stock. One especially influential [[Thoroughbred]] was Perfectionist, by Persimmon, who won [[Epsom Derby|The Derby]] and the [[St Leger]] in 1896. He was to be the sire of the great Trakehner stallion Tempelhüter, and most modern Trakehners can be traced to these two stallions. The Arabian blood was added to offset possible flaws of the Thoroughbred.

[[East Prussia]]n farmers were encouraged to bring their mares, by then known for their hardiness and quality, to Trakehnen's stallions. This enabled the rapid transformation of the breed into much sought-after army remounts: sure-footed, intelligent and athletic. By 1918 60,000 mares per year were bred to East Prussian stallions.

In 1919 the [[Treaty of Versailles]] limited Germany's army to 100,000 troops and so the breed's focus was again turned to producing horses suitable to farm duties. For this purpose, sires of heavier [[Equine conformation|conformation]] (build) were used, the most successful being Ararad, Dampfross, Hyperion, Pythagoras and Tempelhüter. These stallions, while refined, possessed much substance and bone. Their influence is still seen on the modern Trakehner.

It was during the 1920s and 1930s that the breed was recognized for its performance abilities in competitive disciplines. Trakehners won gold and silver medals in two Olympics, including six gold medals in [[Berlin]] in 1936, and won Czechoslovakia's notoriously challenging [[Velká pardubická]] steeplechase nine times. In the 1930s there were more than 10,000 breeders and 18,000 registered mares.

In the 1930s and early 1940s Hauptvorwerk Trakehnen and its 15 [[Folwark|Vorwerke]] covered {{convert|6033|ha|acre}}, of which {{convert|3845|ha|acre}} were fields, {{convert|2427|ha|acre}} meadows, {{convert|175|ha|acre}} forest, {{convert|73|ha|acre}} garden and {{convert|351|ha|acre}} other. Horses such as the Trakehner were used in [[World War II]] which, at the end, nearly destroyed the breed as Soviet troops advanced from the East, causing [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|flight and expulsion of Germans during and after WWII]]. The main Stud and local residents were forced to evacuate between 20 January 1945 and March 1945. Their journey West, known as ''Der Treck'' ("The Flight"), sent the horses on a dangerous journey in frigid conditions across the frozen [[Vistula lagoon]] without proper rations or shelter. It is considered one of the toughest tests to which an entire breed of horses has been submitted.

Refugee convoys were bombed while on the ice by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] airforce, so only a small number of horses made it to safety.  700 surviving horses were accounted for.  The horses left behind in East Prussia became important in the breeding of Russian breeds such as the Kirov as well as the Polish [[Mazury (horse)|Mazury]] (also known as the Masuren) and [[Pozan]] (or Poznan), which developed into the [[Wielkopolski]]. After the war, the breed, which once numbered tens of thousands was reduced to approximately 600 broodmares and 50 stallions in West Germany.  The last original Trakehner was Keith, born there in 1941, who died in November 1976 in [[Gilten, Germany|Gilten]] shortly before his 35th birthday. On 23 October 1947 the East Prussian Studbook Society was dissolved and the Association of Breeders and Friends of the Warmblood Horse of Trakehner Origin, known today as the ''Trakehner Verband'', was created. Among the greatest obstacles the organization faced was that unlike other German breeds, the Trakehner had no mother state and could not depend on government funding. The re-establishment of the breed originally depended on the determination of its members and the largesse of others.

True pure-bred Trakehner show the ''Ostpreußische Elchschaufel'' (East Prussian moose horn) branding (see Image above).