Horses - Mecklenburger - horses at Equiworld

This page has been sourced from REC.EQUESTRIAN, the body of the text has been unaltered as far as possible. The information is for use at own risk. Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 15:05:57 CET From: Dr. Lutz Massonne Newsgroups: rec.equestrian

Mecklenburger

(The following text is taken from an information leaflet of the Mecklenburg state stud at Redefin - LM) History of the Redefin State Stud ("Landgestuet") Redefin is linked to the Mecklenburg horse breeding since the start of the 18th century. Already in 1710 a ruler's stud existed at Redefin, which supplied noble horses to the Dukes of Schwerin's stables. From 1795 until 1810 this stud was leased out, from then on it was run as a state stud until 1847. The founding of the Redefin State Stud was in 1812 by Duke Friedrich Franz I. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin to improve the horse breeding in the country. Already in 1817 20 stallions served the breeding stations at Luebz, Schwerin, Rehna Doberan, Grevesmuehlen and Redefin. In the year 1840 the Redefin stud ran 26 breeding stations, staffed by 134 stallions.

The usage of English Thoroughbred in connection with the local broodmare stock resulted in horses, which were renown throughout Europe, but this bloodline was exaggerated. In 1847 only 17% of the state stallions had less than 25% Thoroughbred blood. This, in connection with sloppy breeding, resulted in horses less usable for commercial purposes. To correct for this, the fraction of Thoroughbred and noble half-bred stallions among the state stallions was reduced. However, at the same time the mistake was made to increase the use of draft horse stallions for cross-breeding. The use of draft horse stallions, which peaked in 1867 with 39 stallions (30% of the stallion stock), resulted in a severe blow to the country's breeding. With the acquisition of Hanoverian stallions and a reduction of the draft horse stallion fraction from 1873 on the country's horse breeding concentrated on a new, stable goal. In 1915 the state stud had 142 stallions, in use on 39 breeding stations.

While the first world war saw an increase in the number of stallions and their use (1920: 176 stallions and 10,084 breedings), the decreasing need for horses by the military, the mechanisation of agriculture and the economic crisis of the 1920's resulted in a severe reduction of breeding with a low in 1929 with 2196 bred mares and 74 stallions on 27 stations. The unification of the states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1934 resulted in the transfer of the stallions and staff of the state stud Neustrelitz, founded in 1825 and now abandoned, to Redefin. After the National Socialists took over, the number of stallions and breeding stations was increased to a maximum of 151 stallions on 44 stations. While the increased horse demand up to 1945 was due to the German army needs, after the war the demand for farming work horses had to be satisfied.

In 1949 221 stallions were on duty on 51 breeding stations, including 39 draft horse stallions. Since 1951 the Redefin state stud is the centre of state stallion keeping not only for the Mecklenburg region, but also for Vorpommern which had been supplied with stallions from the state stud Labes in the Hinterpommern region (now part of Poland) up to 1945. With the mechanisation and decrease in private farming due to the collectivisation at the start of the sixties a noticeable decrease of horse keeping and breeding started. In those years the marketing of riding horses at Redefin started, in 1970 a tourist department was established and the breeding agencies at Rostock and Schwerin were founded. In 1970 the number of stallions had decreased to 86, while in 1987 already 100 stallions were bred to 3221 broodmares on 16 main and 23 secondary breeding stations. After the dismantling of the old (socialist) structures in the course of the politic and economic changes in 1990 the state stud Redefin was taken over in 1992 by the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as part of the department of Agriculture and Forests at Schwerin. The present stallion list includes 61 active state stallions, including one Arabian, 8 English Thoroughbred, 4 Trakehner, 33 Warmblood stallions, 5 Draft horse, 8 Haflinger and 2 Pony stallions, on duty at 12 main and 18 secondary breeding stations.