What is a warmblood horse?

What is a warmblood horse?

Learn all about the warmblood horse and why it excels at dressage and show jumping

Published: June 10, 2024 at 1:48 pm

Technically the description warmblood implies a warmblood horse is a cross between cold-blooded breeds (native ponies, Irish draught etc) and a hot-blooded horse - the thoroughbred and Arab.

The Irish Sport Horse, which is a cross between an Irish draught and a thoroughbred, is a well-known example.

However it's not as simple as that - although today's warmbloods are more than likely to have a bit of blood from both hot-blooded horses and cold-blooded horse in them. Warmbloods are a type of horse that originated on the continent, which were were bred and developed for performance and movement - particularly dressage and show jumping.

Warmbloods are usually described as middleweight - thoroughbreds and Arabs are lightweight, while draught horses are heavyweight.

Warmbloods are meant to have the inherited the best characteristics from both hot and cold-blooded horses and are known for their big jump, extravagant paces and calm temperament.

There are a number of warmblood breeds including Hanoverian, Dutch warmblood, Trakehner, Holsteiner and Belgium warmblood.

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Main image: Olympic gold medalist, Nick Skelton riding the Dutch warmblood stallion Big Star during Rio 2016. Getty Images

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