The Frederiksborg Horse

The Frederiksborg horse gets its name from the stud founded by King Frederick II during the 1560s. This stud was a famous provider of good horses for the courts of Europe. The foundation stock for the stud came from Spain. Often, these first horses were crossed with the close relative of the Spanish horses, the Neapolitan.

The horses produced by all these crossings were both elegant and frisky, well suited to the requirements of a horse those days: as a mount for civilians and a charger for the cavalry. The breed continued to develop with the introductions of eastern and British half-breed stallions. For several centuries the Frederiksborg was one of the most popular horses in Europe.

Eventually, the exports of the Frederiksborg from Denmark that the stock became badly depleted. The amount of horses at the stud was so badly depleted in fact that during the first half of the nineteenth century, it turned to breeding Thoroughbreds. This venture, however, was not successful and, in 1871, the stud was shut down.

Fortunately, the Frederiksborgs did not completely disappear. Private breeders kept on breeding them as light harness horses. Today, Frederiksborgs are still bred in Denmark, although the recent demands for a sport horse led to a development of the Danish Warm Blood.

Frederiksborg horse blood does appear in the Danish Warm Blood, mainly through the female line. These horses stand from about 15.3 hands to 16 hands and come only in a single colour – chestnut.