Kladruber

Infobox Horse
name= Kladruber


image_caption= Kladruber
country= Czech Republic
features = coat color is black or gray only
altname= Oldkladruby horse
nickname= Kladrubák (Czech)
group1= Czech Kladruber studbook
std1= [http://www.nhkladruby.cz/plemeno.php] |

The Kladruber (Czech "Kladrubský kůň") is the oldest Czech horse breed, and today is considered very rare. The main breeding centre is in National stud farm Kladruby nad Labem in Czech republic where Kladrubers have been bred for more than 400 years, being now one of the world's oldest horse breeds. Kladrubers have always been bred to be a galakarosier - a heavy type of carriage horse used on court ceremonial occasions.

Breed History

= Timeline of Imperial stud farm Kladruby nad Labem [http://www.nhkladruby.cz/ "Historical events at Imperial stud Kladruby nad Labem."] Kladruby nad Labem stud official webpage, referenced March 23, 2007] =

* 1491 Pernstein familly has bought the Pardubice estate, later including Kladruby park

* 1560 Maxmilian II. (emperor since 1563) was given the Pardubice estate with Kladruby park as a gift from the Czech estates

* 1562 Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor has founded an old-Spanish horse stud farm in Kladruby

* 1579 Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor gave the stud farm an Imperial Court Stud Farm statute

* 1757 Stud farm (with studbook documents) has burned down

* 1770 Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor has rebuilt the stud farm

* 1764 born Pepoli, founding stallion of the gray variety of Kladrubers

* 1787 born Generale, gray stallion

* 1797 born Generalissimus, gray stallion

* 1800 born Sacramoso, black stallion

* 1844 new Empire (style) stables built

* 1918 the stud farm managed by the newly established Czechoslovakia

* 1922 Napoleone bloodline extinct

* 1995 Kladruber breed was designated a Czech Historic Landmark

* 2002 Kladruby stud farm and the basic herd of gray Kladrubers was designated a Czech National Historic Landmark

* 2005 Kladrubers serve on ceremonial occasions at Royal Court of Sweden and are used by mounted police of Sweden as well

History

Bred in Kladruby nad Labem national stud, the Kladruber breed is almost 400 years old, yet is remarkably rare (90 mares as of 1995). Kladruby stud was founded in 1579 by Rudolf II as an Imperial stud, at the Perlstein stables. The breed was based on imported Spanish (such as the Andalusian) and Italian horses, crossed with Neapolitan, Danish, Holstein, Irish, and Oldenburg blood, in addition to the heavy Czech breeds. The animal was first developed to be a galakarosier; a heavy type of carriage horse used to pull the imperial coach, usually in a four- or six-in-hand, at ceremonies and funerals. It originally came in a variety of colors, including palomino and appaloosa, although today the breed is strictly gray or black, due to a breeding program requiring 18 "white" (i.e. fully mature grays) and 18 black stallions for various ceremonies of the court.

The stud was evacuated during the Seven Years' War to Kopcany, Slovakia and Enyed, Hungary. Due to a fire in 1757, the earliest 200 years of breeding records were lost, and the stud was dissolved before the remaining breeding stock was brought back to the a new stud in Kladruby. The surviving records show a particular influence by several stallions on the herd of gray Kladrubers:

*Pepoli: a gray who sired the colt Generale in Kopcany in 1787. Generale is thought to be the progenitor of all gray Kladrubers today, and he produced the son Generalissimus (1797) who produced a separate lineage.
*Maestoso (1773) and Favory (1779): born in Kladruby, became two of the six founding Lipizzaner stallion lineages. Favory returned to Kladruby after WWII, to add new blood to the decimated herd.
*Barzoi and Legion: Orlov Trotters added new blood between WWI and WWII.
*Rudolfo: A Lusitano from Portugal, added new blood after WWII.

The herd of black Kladrubers had two particular influential stallions, Sacramoso (born 1799) and Napoleone (born 1845), and was regenerated in Slatinany. The black and white Kladrubers have several differences due to their breeding. The white is finer, more Thoroughbredish in type, and usually taller than the black. The black has more Neapolitan blood, and thus is heavier, has a shorter croup, a different head and neck, and a more "Nordic" look to it.

Pepoli's bloodlines are still bred at the Kladruby Stud, but the herd of black horses sired by Sacromoso and Nepoleone was destroyed in the 1930s, after many of the animals were sold for meat. Despite the decimated herd, a few horses were saved and efforts have been made by breeders to re-establish their bloodlines at a new stud in Slatinany, at The Research Institute for Horse Breeding.

Breed Characteristics

Today's horses are usually gray. The animals are large (16.2-17 hh), and primarily used as draft or combined driving horses, where their calm nature, endurance, and speed makes them successful at the international level. The Kladruber is also occasionally outcrossed with lighter breeds to produce a more suitable riding horse, usually for dressage.

Kladrubers should be built for strength, with wide, oval hindquarters, a long, muscular neck, and a wide, deep chest. The back is usually slightly long, and the shoulder should be a bit upright, to facilitate higher knee action. The horse is convex in profile, and the legs have strong joints, although they may possess slightly long pasterns. The mane and tail should be thick, and set on a swan-like neck. The horse should have cadenced and elastic movement with high action.

References

External links

* [http://www.nhkladruby.cz/ Czech web page of Czech national stud Kladruby nad Labem]
* [http://horses-online.cz/index.php?mmi=2&smi=125&bmi=S about Old Kladruby horse, in czech language]
* [http://www.uskha.com/ United States Kladruber Horse Association]