Rare breed comes to Virginia- Meet the Danish Knabstrupper
Submitted by: Melyni Worth
Phone: 540-294-3003
Email Address: melyni(at)nutrelief.com
Date Added: 10/31/2006
ABOUT THE KNABSTRUPPER
In the early 1800’s a Danish army officer was serving in a war in Spain, there he purchased a chestnut blanket mare. The mare proved to have exceptional endurance and courage and agility. After the war ended he rode the mare back to Denmark. There she gained fame for her abilities, she was purchased by a Butcher named Flabe. The mare, who became known as FLAEBEHOPPEN (which literally means “Flaeb’s mare), was purchased by Major Villars Lunn who owned an estate called “Knabstrupgaard” in Holbaek, Nordsealand, Denmark. There ??Flaebehoppen was bred to a Fredricksborg stallion and produced a wildly colored son who was named Flaebehingsten. Between the two of them, Flaebehoppen and Flaebehingsten were bred to a large variety of good quality horses, The offspring inherited as well as the loud color the qualities of intelligence, endurance and courage that Flabehoppen had originally shown, establishing the Knabstrupper horses as some of the most sought after in Europe at that time.?
A BREED ALMOST LOST
By the 1870’s the breed’s continuation was severely threatened as the limited number of Knabstrupper horses lead to unavoidable problems of inbreeding. Then in 1891, a fire at the Lunn family stables destroyed 22 of its top breeding horses. By 1900, the breed’s numbers and quality had declined significantly. But supporters of the Knabstrupper horses continued to fight for the survival of the breed, and in 1947 the stud farm “Egemosegaard” attempted to reestablish the breed. In 1971, breeder Frede Nielsen brought three Appaloosa stallions to Denmark to infuse new blood into the breed. This was considered a logical step, as the American Appaloosa developed directly from the Spanish spotted horses that were brought to the New World from Europe by Cortez and Coronado in the early 1500’s.
KIND TEMPERAMENT
Knabstruppers are valued for their kind temperaments, high level of trainability, strength, stamina and good health as well as for their wonderful color. Over the past two centuries, there have come to be three rather distinct types of Knabstruppers: the Sport Horse type, the Baroque type and the Pony type. The Sport Horse type has been bred to excel in dressage, eventing and show jumping and has been developed by crossing the Knabstrupper with the warmblood sport horses of Europe, most notably the Danish Warmblood and the Trakehner. The Baroque type is a shorter, broader horse reminiscent of a carriage horse or war horse and was very popular as a circus horse. The Pony type is smaller still and is a favorite of children all over Europe.
Knabstruppers are great family horses, they have easy gaits but are athletic and are very trainable and biddable. They are intelligent and always have a lot of personality.
COLOR
The Knabstrupper horse exhibits the same color patterns as the American Appaloosa, as they share the same color genes. The most popular color pattern is the leopard with its solid white background covered with black, bay or chestnut spots. Other patterns include the blanket, the snowflake, the snowcap and the “few spot,” an almost solid white horse that, when bred, always produces a foal with a spotted pattern of some kind.
Sometimes horses are born with a wild metallic roan mix of colors, reputedly the original color of Flaebehoppen, these horses are said to possess “the Chamberlains Key” as the original color.
Still a rare breed with less than 1,000 individuals registered the Knabstrupper is becoming more recognized outside of it’s native Denmark and is beginning to be established in many other countries including here in the United States.
There are Knabstrupper registries in Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom and Italy as well as here.
Here in the USA the Knabstruppers are registered with the American Knabstrupper Association.
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