Bluewood Stud

The first Trakehners were imported into Great Britain in 1960 by the Muschamp Stud and since that time they have steadily gained in popularity and have won the hearts of many enthusiasts.

Today the Trakehner Breeders Fraternity (TBF) are the controlling body in the UK, licensed by the Trakehner Verband GmbH in Germany to register, grade and brand horses with the distinctive double Elk horn brand with the inverted ‘V’ beneath to denote “British Bred”.

Today there are in excess of 150 registered or approved pure-bred Trakehners, with almost double that for the Part-Bred register. There are 21 graded stallions and approximately 100 graded mares. The TBF register approximately 50 pure bred and 70 part bred foals each year. As from 1998 there is also an optional part bred brand for foals registered with the TBF Part Bred Studbook.

The Trakehner Stallion is one of the most valuable sires used to improve and upgrade stock from mares whose owners want to breed a competition horse (or just a wonderfully reliable friend) from their mare. Whether the mare is of Thoroughbred origin or from a native breed, all have proved to cross extremely well with the Trakehner, bringing better movement, beauty and a good temperament to the offspring. The record of Trakehners in competition is impressive. The Trakehners won every medal for the German Olympic team in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. In recent years horses such as Abdullah who carried Conrad Homfeld to win a team Gold and individual silver medal for USA at the 1984 Olympics and Goldkorn by Istanbul winner of the Danish Show Jumping Derby in 1989 under Hugo Simon.

The famous dressage rider, the late Dr. Reiner Klimke has ridden many Trakehners to Grand Prix level including the famous Fabian and more recently Biotop. Peron achieved 4th place at the Atlanta Olympics, and Waitaki, partnered by Holger Hetzel is presently competing on the World Cup ind International Circuit. And there are numerous successful Partbred horses with Trakehner blood including the famous show jumper Milton. And also this years World Cup Winner Tinka’s Boy ridden by Marcus Fuchs, even though by the Dutch Stallion Amor, is going back in his ancestry to the Trakehners Heristal and Hyperion.

Trakehners today have won Olympic medals for all disciplines Dressage, Eventing and Showjumping as well as winning Long Distance Riding and Driving events. Trakehners show more stamina than other warmbloods and have done well in the Eventing world (particularly when crossed with the Thoroughbred). The British Trakehner Stallion Fleetwater Opposition by Muschamp Danube (Standing in the UK) was Junior European Three-Day-Event Champion before retiring to stud. Utopian Opposition is competing Grade A showjumping and Summersong is an Olympic Eventer. The Individual Gold medal for Eventing at the Barcelona Olympics was won by a Trakehner. Karen Bassett is the World’s leading lady team driver with her team of Trakehner horses. The famous mare Corna by Illuster (who until his death in 2000 was standing in the UK) was the Champion Riding Horse of all breeds in West Germany in 1985. Recent Olympic Dressage stars include TCN Partout ridden by Anky van Grunsven and Merlin TSF under Caroline Hatlapa. The Trakehner representatives in top class competition flying the British Flag for us are Amber du Montois (by Abdullah and British bred by Denise Stamp) and ridden by Peter Charles. Traxdata Mulligan and Step’s Helsinki (bred in Lituania) also jumping internationally with Peter Charles and John Whittaker.

There are mentions of winning Trakehners in Horse & Hound nearly every week now, as they become more widely established in Britain. At the end of 2000 there were in excess of 150 Trakehner Horses registered with the BHD and actively competing on the National Circuit. Approx. 90 in Dressage. 40 in Show Jumping and 20 or so in Eventing.