Breed Information

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History

The Swedish Warmblood horse is one of the oldest warmblood breeds in the world. Flyinge in the province of Skåne in southern Sweden is one of the world's oldest national stud farms still in use. Already in the 12th century the Danish archbishops held a heavily fortified stronghold with a mounted troop there. Following the peace treaty at Roskilde in 1658, the Swedish king Carl X Gustaf ordered a royal stud farm to be established at Flyinge, which has been a stallion depot and breeding farm since 1661.

The Swedish warmblood began as a cross from imported Spanish and Friesian horses together with the small and rough local mares. In the beginning the Swedish warmblood was a very diverse breed of horse that wasn't very well established or distinct. Then in the 19th and 20th centuries thoroughbreds, arabians, hanoverians and trakehners were introduced, and a larger and more powerful horse was created.

While most warmbloods were initially bred primarily for agriculture and as carriage horses, Swedish warmbloods were bred specifically for riding.  The military selected stallions which could produce comfortable and rideable horses for the army, carefully choosing thoroughbred and other warmblood stallions to introduce desirable characteristics.  Farmers owned the mares, breeding offspring suitable for purchase by the army.  A complete register of broodmares and their foals has thus been kept since 1894. This was the classic model for modern warmblood breeding.

The Swedish Warmblood Association was formed in 1928 with the encouragement of the Army.  Their main purpose was the development of high and uniform quality mares.  When the Army ceased using horses in the 1970s, the breeding program was transferred into the hands of the Swedish Warmblood Association. AVSH or Avelsföreningen för Svenskt Halvblod is the official Swedish warmblood registry in real life.

Breed Conformation and Characteristics

Colors, "no-no colors" and patterns

Common colors: chestnut, brown, seal bay, bay, black, grey
Dilute colors: Yes, the breed has the cream dilute gene so buckskins, palomino, smokey black etc is uncommon but possible (look for Pegasus 424 or Bernstein 761 for real examples of palomino and buckskin). The double dilutes (perlino and cremello) are very rare; to my knowledge there aren't any registered nor in the studbooks, but it's still possible that they may exist and they are registrable in SWBA There is at least one, a 2019 cremello sired by the gorgeous SWB stallion Zafferano!
Rare colors: Silver and roan are very rare, but may exist; those will most likely come from horses that have lines from some of the German warmblood breeds or the Dutch warmblood.
Colors not present "naturally" in the SWB: Colors which do not exist in the Swedish warmblood or in the typically approved outcross studbooks will not be accepted in the group. These include dun, champagne, and pearl.

White patterns: Sabino is present; Briar 899 is a good and typical example on how one can look. Swedish warmbloods that are tobiano usually have the stallion Samber in the pedigree, though there are others unrelated to him as well (one mare I found, Pentagram 11431 has a tobiano colored damline that ends in the "unknown"). This should be considered rare, however. Frame overo, splash, and dominant white pattern are either nonexistent or extremely rare in the Swedish warmblood breed, but could theoretically be bred in from thoroughbreds or other breeds approved by the SWB association that carry them (note, however, that these colors are exceedingly rare in their own breeds as well). Therefore they may be registered in this group; however, since frame overo carries the risk of Lethal White Syndrome (LWS), a deadly genetic defect, breeding for this color is discouraged.

Spotted patterns: In the 1950's there was a spotted stallion, Tigrillo 355, but he died with just one (nonspotted chestnut mare) offspring in the studbooks. Thanks to Nileiris I got the pedigree AND picture of a spotted SWB mare named "Poppan" that looks to have been a bay "frosted roan" appy. A descendant of hers, "Boleroz" (her grandson, Helwan x Eberion - Dragon) has leopard complex traits, but they are mostly hidden by grey, and - he is a gelding. The spotted lines appear to have died out, as no breeding descendants carry spots today, and no other accepted outcross studbooks are known to carry spots. The only possibility is if there is an unknown descendant still sneaking the spots around; therefore, the color may be registered in SWBA on a case by case basis. However this should still be considered extremely rare! (you need a good story behind this and your horse should somehow be lined to either Tigrillo or Poppan).

Please NOTE the group if you have questions about colors. I'm not impossible to deal with, I just want to keep this group as realistic as I can. With the 2013 change in the real SWB society, registration is based more on competitive merits than membership in approved studbooks than it was before, which makes things a bit more flexible with regards to horses from other breeds being inducted in the SWB studbook. However - don't go overboard with the unusual colors please; be prepared that it may need to have a good show record and well-thought out background story for it to be approved and registered.