Swedish Warmblood Horse Breed

Swedish Warmblood
This is a handsome looking horse with good overall conformation and an excellent temperament, making it a very good all round riding, driving and competition horse.

Height
Height is between 15 and 17 HH.

Colour
Swedish Warmblood horses can be bay, grey, chestnut and black.

Originates
The breed originates from Sweden.

Conformation

Head is good looking and refined with a big kind eye and generous sized nostrils and ears. The overall appearance is that of intelligence.
Neck has a good length to it and an elegant curved top line.
Withers are well defined.
Back is short and strong and reasonably wide.
Hindquarters are strong and well rounded.
Tail is well set on.
Shoulders have a generous slope to them.
Girth is deep.
Chest is nice and wide.
Temperament intelligent, kind and hard working.

Uses
Swedish Warmbloods are often used as a competition horse and all purpose riding and driving horse.

History
It was king of Sweden who founded the Royal Stud at Flyinge in 1658, in order to supply the stud and his army with suitable mounts. Breeds such as Thoroughbred, Hanoverian's, Holsteins and Arabs were among those used to enhance the Swedish Warm blood. The mixture of different breeds has led the Swedish Warmblood to be a successful competition horse in disciplines such as show jumping, dressage, eventing and driving.

Swedish horses are subjected to inspections throughout there early lives to help ascertain whether they will be used for breeding, brood mares, stallions or competition horses.

There are foal inspections which look at early conformation, health and way of going.
Then there are the 3 year old test which looks at conformation, the horses free canter and free jumping and the horse ridden under saddle. Those that pass are awarded with a diploma.
At 4 years old there are the 4 year old quality test which is used to assess the horses future potential with judges looking at conformation, health, temperament and ride ability. Veterinary and further training advice is also given. It is at the 4 year old quality test that horses can qualify for the Championships.
For stallions there are the 3,4, and 5 year old stallion performance tests where only the very best will pass.

Swedish Warmblood Association Of North America
The association offers information on auctions, stallions and inspection tours.