Being a small breeder in the USA is very difficult.  Most people in the US are not educated on bloodlines, registries or even what a warmblood (see below) really is.  Our goal has been to create beautiful, registered Hanoverian and Oldenburg horses that are competitive in dressage and jumping for the amateur rider. We have used the knowledge, selection criteria and expertise of the established warmblood registries to produce well bred foals. To that we have added good training from birth to backing.  

 

We are proud to present  “User Friendly” sport horses! 

Quiet Creek Ranch

Mary Meyer

331 Wegis Ave.

Bakersfield, CA 93314

Mary@quietcreek.com

 quietcreek@msn.com

661-589-4241

Last updated  8/23/07

So what is a warmblood?   The phrase “warm blood” implies a cross between the drafts (cold blood) and the arab/throughbred (hot bloods).  This denies the centuries of controlled breeding done to produce the modern sport horse!  The Europeans started breeding sporthorses using carriage, light draft, thoroughbred and arab bloodlines years ago.  But the basis for the breeding programs was to vigorously test the stallions to be certain they had the temperament and talent to advance the breeding goals of the registry.  And to approve the mares as suitable for breeding. Generally each region (Hannover, Oldenburg, etc.) maintained it’s own studbooks and established standards to match the needs of the local mare population.  So if the local mares were too heavy, the studbook requirement for the stallion might stress acceptance of lighter stallions. 

 

Now most of the registries maintain a goal of producing an excellent sporthorse, a horse who will excel at the Olympic sports of jumping, dressage and eventing.  Some of the US based registries are also beginning to recognize the need to breed for hunters. 

(This type of competition is not done in Europe and I do wonder why anyone would go to Europe to shop for a hunter!)

 

The wisdom of the European breeding programs is the requirement that mares and stallions be approved for breeding.  Just because you have Hanoverian papers on your horse (mare or stallion) does not mean you can breed that horse and produce a registered Hanoverian!  Both mare and stallion must be approved by the registry for the specific purpose of breeding in order to produce a registered offspring.  This adds to the price of the babies, but insures that the horse was bred to match the goals of the registry.  And that future generations will continue to satisfy the breeding goals.

 

A horse of any breed can satisfy the needs of the buyer, but if you are paying for a warm blood, you should be getting a horse registered with one of the well established warm blood registries.