{"id":4275,"date":"2016-09-27T14:31:34","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T20:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/?p=4275"},"modified":"2016-10-23T10:34:20","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T16:34:20","slug":"trakenai-a-breed-of-horses-heralds-its-birthplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/trakenai-a-breed-of-horses-heralds-its-birthplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Trak\u0117nai \u2013 A Breed of Horses Heralds its Birthplace"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Egidijus Bacevi\u010dius.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Greater Trak\u0117nai (Hauptgest\u00fct Trakehnen) is famous as a birthplace of riding horses.\u00a0The origin of the Trak\u0117nai breed and the attempts to preserve it are a part of equestrian history that involves Germany and Lithuania Minor, and recently, Russia as well. \u201cTrak\u0117nai\u201d is an old Baltic word meaning a clearing in the forest, a glade if you will. In the neighboring parish of Tolminkiemis, Kristijonas Donelaitis wrote his classic poem \u201cMetai\u201d (The Seasons), so this region is linked to several important aspects of Lithuanian history. However, no longer can one find the location \u201cTrak\u0117nai\u201d (Trakehnen) on a map of present-day Europe; it\u2019s now part of the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation, and it\u2019s new Russian name is \u201cYasnaya Polyana,\u201d meaning \u201cbright glade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Map
Map showing the location of Trak\u0117nai (now Yasnaya Polyana) in Kaliningrad Oblast, located 50 km. east of Vilkavi\u0161kis, and 30 km east of the border town of Kybartai. (Google maps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

East Prussian center for breeding \u201cwarmblood\u201d horses\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The origin of Trak\u0117nai is closely connected to the growth of the cultural and political power of Prussia. In 1713, Friedrich Wilhelm I, the king of Prussia, who was known as the \u201cSoldier King\u201d (Soldatenk\u00f6nig), wanted to improve the military prowess of the army and to provide for its material well-being, and so he issued \u201cAn Edict on the Improvement of Prussian Horse Breeding,\u201d ordering that all horse breeding farms be consolidated. In 1731, the king gathered together all of Prussia\u2019s horses and began to organize a cavalry. In this way a national breed of horses was created.<\/p>\n

\"Friedrich
Friedrich Wilhelm I, the Soldier King of Prussia. (Anonymous artist, circa 1700)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1732, a horse breeding farm was created in Trak\u0117nai, between Stalup\u0117nai (now Nesterov) and Gumbyn\u0117 (now Gusev), situated in a royal hunting forest near wetlands. It was called K\u00f6niglich Preuflische Stuttamt Trakehnen. The farm covered about 4,000 hectares and held 1,100 horses, of which half were mares. Horse handlers from 15 neighboring manors helped with the breeding and care of these cavalry horses. In 1739, the King gave the farm to his son, Frederick II (Frederick the Great, also known as \u201cOld Frederick\u201d or \u201cOld Fritz,\u201d 1712\u20131786). After he received this gift, the Crown Prince wrote in a letter to his wife Elisabeth Christine: \u201cThe King was especially generous and gracious to me by giving me the Trak\u0117nai horse breeding farm. This is the most beautiful gift I have received. It embodies my greatest worldly desires.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 1848 onwards, the state supervised activities associated with horse breeding there. In the 19th century, the Trak\u0117nai horse breeding farm (K\u00f6niglich Preuflisches Hauptgest\u00fct Trakehnen) extended over 140 square kilometers and included neighboring forests and fields. Next to the main manor house were stables and even a hotel (named \u201cElk\u201d) for guests and workers. The staff included a supervisor, two veterinarians and eight inspectors, assisted by more than 3,400 attendants and groundkeepers.<\/p>\n

\"The
The main building of the restored Trak\u0117nai horse breeding farm. A monument to Tempelh\u00fcter is visible in front, ca 1938. (R. Hallensleben)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trak\u0117nai horses were used for riding in hunting expeditions. From 1839 there were auctions held twice a year at the racecourse of the Isrut\u0117 barracks. The \u201cGoltz Race\u201d (Querfeldein Grofles Trakehner Jagdrennen) typically engendered great excitement. Prussian horses were very popular in the equestrian show jumping events and endurance tests. The administrative building of the horse breeding farm housed an entire picture gallery devoted to horses with paintings by Stefek, Koch, Krauz and other artists who were specialists in the depiction of horses. The exhibition halls also displayed collections of medals and trophies.<\/p>\n

The origins of the Trak\u0117nai breed<\/strong><\/p>\n

The predecessor to the Trak\u0117nai breed was a local strain of horses called \u201cSchweiken,\u201d which had been bred in the region from the times of the Teutonic Knights. These were descendants of wild European forest horses known as tarpans. They were 145-150 cm. in height, of stocky build, and were similar in appearance to the \u201c\u017eemaitukai\u201d horses of Lithuania. The origin of the word \u201cSchweiken\u201d is the Lithuanian word \u201csveikas\u201d which means healthy, strong, lively, or spry. These predecessors of the Trak\u0117nai horses came to be known as tough riding horses. During the years 1764 to 1780 they broke a speed record, making the trip from K\u00f6nigsberg to Berlin in 24 hours!<\/p>\n

\"The
The famous stallion Dampfross at the height of his powers. (Photograph by Trakehner Gesellschaft)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From 1821, horses raised on the Trak\u0117nai horse breeding farm supplied the entire Prussian army. In the middle of the 19th century, in an effort to improve the outward appearance of the breed, Trak\u0117nai horses selected, tested and trained at the Insterburg and Gusev racecourses were interbred with English and Arabian thoroughbreds brought from Poland. The principal characteristics of the so-called East Prussian warmbloods, where \u201cwarmbloods\u201d means horses of a calm temperament (Ostpreuflisches Warmblut), were created by selective breeding during the second half of the 19th century. By 1913, over 50% of Trak\u0117nai horses were thoroughbreds. During the war years of 1914\u20131915, most of the Trak\u0117nai horses were herded to Silesia, in this way avoiding annihilation. They were returned after the war.<\/p>\n

Legendary horses\u2014the pioneers\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The stallion Morgenstrahl was born in Trak\u0117nai in 1896. The precursors of his ancestral line had been brought to East Prussia from England in 1874. From 1900, Morgenstrahl was the principle stallion-inseminator of the herd. The stallion Tempelh\u00fcter, the pioneer sire of the modern line of the Trak\u0117nai breed, was born in 1904 in Braunsberg and was the son of the stallion \u201cPerfectionist,\u201d the winner of the Derby and St. Leger stakes in England in 1896. Tempelh\u00fcter was the main stallion in the Trak\u0117nai horse breeding farm from 1906 to 1931. For a time, all horses fathered by him at Tak\u0117nai were given names starting with the letter \u201cT\u201d \u2013 for example, Teichrose, Tarsine, etc.<\/p>\n

\"Color
Color plate drawing of a Trakehner (Trak\u0117nai) horse named \u201cMongolin,\u201d born in 1886. (Thomas von Nathusius)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dashing stallion \u201cDampfross\u201d was also noteworthy. He was born in 1916 in Stoni\u0161kiai (\u0160ilgaliai). He was raised in Sendvaris by Jansas Gubas (in the Klaip\u0117da region). This horse had a beautiful appearance; his grey coat shone in a special way. He also evidenced an irreproachable temperament, good perceptivity and a light and graceful gait.<\/p>\n

The descendants of the \u201cDampfross\u201d \u2013 \u201cPerfectionist\u201d line had an especially harmonious appearance and were astute and easily trained. Equally important for the survival of the breed was the stallion \u201cJulmond\u201d who was born in Trak\u0117nai in 1938. After the Second World War he was brought to Germany, and from 1956 to 1965 he was the main inseminator at the national horse breeding farm in Marbach, Germany. The post-war Trak\u0117nai line began with him. The last stallion of the Trak\u0117nai breed born in the Trak\u0117nai stables was named \u201cKeith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monuments to special horses\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A weather vane named \u201cFaetonas\u201d stands atop the tower of the building which houses the main supervisor of the Trak\u0117nas horse breeding farm. This weather vane was designed by sculptor Reinhold K\u00fcbart (1879\u20131937). The same sculptor also cast a realistic sculpture of \u201cMorgenstrahl,\u201d the precursor of the Trak\u0117nai horse line. In 1930 a sculpture of the mare \u201cConstanze\u201d was erected near the Insterburg racecourse.<\/p>\n

\"In
In 1932, on the 200th anniversary of the founding of the horse breeding farm, the sculptor Reinhold K\u00fcbart cast a sculpture of Tempelh\u00fcter. (\u201cKaimynas,\u201d 1932, Nr. 35)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1932, for the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Trak\u0117nai horse breeding farm, Reinhold K\u00fcbart cast a bronze sculpture of the stallion \u201cTempelh\u00fcter,\u201d which was placed on a pedestal in the courtyard in front of the main entrance. As the sculpture was unveiled, the subject of the sculpture, still alive, was led in. The impressive sculpture adorned the main entrance to the horse breeding farm for many years and became its symbol.<\/p>\n

In 1936, a documentary film entitled \u201cThe Horse Paradise\u201d (Das Paradies der Pferde ) was made. A travel guide for the horse breeding farm and its surroundings was published along with an album containing numerous illustrations. Fritz Alshuth, a music teacher, composed the \u201cTrak\u0117nai March\u201d in honor of the horse breeding farm and its horses. This march was sung on special occasions. In 1967, a monument to the stallion \u201cJulmond\u201d was erected in the Marbach horse breeding farm in Germany.<\/p>\n

\"The
The brand of the Trak\u0117nai breed of horses \u2013 an elk with seven-pronged antlers. (Trakehner Gesellschaft)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An elk with seven-pronged antlers\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since 1787, horses of the Trak\u0117nai breed have been branded with a glyph depicting the seven-pronged antlers of an elk. After 1815, double antlers began to be used to mark thoroughbred Trak\u0117nai horses and continue to mark horses of the Trak\u0117nai breed today. There is good reason for the head of an elk to be on this marker. The elk is a noble creature found in the forests of East Prussia. Its antlers are depicted on souvenirs and on the coats of arms\u00a0of many East Prussian cities.<\/p>\n

World War II<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Second World War was fateful for the Trak\u0117nai horses. As the front approached at the end of the war, an effort was made to save 30,000 horses by herding them to West Germany. They traveled across the ice of the Vistula Lagoon (known as \u201cAistmar\u0117s\u201d in Lithuanian). In places the ice broke, and the horses waded in the water up to their stomachs until they were soaked. Many froze to death. Only 1,000 horses reached safety, of whom 800 were stallions.<\/p>\n

After 1945, only 27 purebred mares remained in Germany. After the war, in 1947, the \u201cSociety of Breeders and Riders of Warmblood Trak\u0117nai Horses\u201d (Verband der Zuchter und Freunde des Warmblut Pferdes Trakehner Abstamung) was founded in Hamburg. The Rostock-Dummerstorf Livestock Institute (Institut f\u00fcr Tierzuchtforschung), located in the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany, and the horse breeding farms of Graditz and Ganschow became the principal breeding grounds for Trak\u0117nai horses.<\/p>\n

During the havoc-ridden war years, a few echelons of railroad cars containing Trak\u0117nai horses ended up in the heart of Russia by the Don River river the city of Kaluga. These horses represented the best part of the herd and arrived with complete records and pedigree documentation. They were kept at Russia\u2019s Equestrian Institute and subsequently bred at the National Kirov Horse Breeding Factory, located in the Rostov region of Russia. These \u201cRussian Trak\u0117nai\u201d horses differ somewhat from their predecessors in Western Europe. Since World War II, Trak\u0117nai horses also have been bred in Scandinavia, the Benelux countries and Canada.<\/p>\n

Recreating a lost tradition<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1945, the \u201cNemunas Horse Breeding Farm\u201d (Nemuno \u017eirgynas) was founded in the village of Trepiai, in the \u0160ilut\u0117 region. Thoroughbred Trak\u0117nai horses were returned to this region of Lithuania in 1961; and raising and breeding resumed in the 1960s and 70s. In 1993, the Society of Supporters of Lithuania\u2019s Trak\u0117nai Horses (Lietuvos trak\u0117n\u0173 \u017eirg\u0173 m\u0117g\u0117j\u0173 draugija) was founded, and in 2000, the Association of Breeders of Lithuania\u2019s Trak\u0117nai Horses (Lietuvos trak\u0117n\u0173 veisl\u0117s \u017eirg\u0173 augintoj\u0173 asociacija) was formed.<\/p>\n

\"A
A Trak\u0117nai horse. (Nemunas Horse Breeding Farm)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The headquarters of the association is in the village of \u0160ilgaliai, in a manor house built in 1669 (Stoni\u0161kiai parish). At present there are about 877 horses of the Trak\u0117nai breed being raised in Lithuania (by comparison, from 1934 to 1939 there were between 700 and 800). Lithuanian Trak\u0117nai horses are marked with a brand that depicts the usual seven-pronged antlers but also with the Lithuanian symbol of the Towers of Gediminas underneath.<\/p>\n

In Germany, the Schleswig-Holstein region has become the second home of the Trak\u0117nai breed and the guardian of Prussia\u2019s equestrian legacy. Registries of breeding horses dating back to the 17th century are preserved there. Genealogical charts of horse lines are being constructed. The biographies of the main custodians of horse breeding farms as well as their memoirs, photographs and other records of the past left behind are being catalogued. The ethnological museum in the city of L\u00fcneburg has a permanent exhibit in its East Prussian section devoted to Trak\u0117nai horses, focusing on the origin of this legendary breed and on the efforts taken to save it.<\/p>\n

In Russia in the Kaliningrad region, there is a growing interest in preserving the legacy of the Trak\u0117nai horses. Sites associated with the original horse breeding operation are being restored. Documentary books are being published and documentary films are being produced. Much is being done with the help of German foundations. In 2001, the main gate to the historic Trak\u0117nai horse breeding farm at Yasnaya Polyana was saved from destruction and renovated. An image of the main building now can be found on tourist postcards and books. Since 2006, dressage competitions for Russian Trak\u0117nai horses have been held in the nearby village of Majovka (formerly Georgenburg).<\/p>\n

A new history of Trak\u0117nai horses is being written, and the fond memory of their predecessors is being preserved.<\/p>\n

Translated by Rimas \u010cernius.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Egidijus Bacevi\u010dius. Greater Trak\u0117nai (Hauptgest\u00fct Trakehnen) is famous as a birthplace of riding horses.\u00a0The origin of the Trak\u0117nai breed and the attempts to preserve it are a part of equestrian history that involves Germany and Lithuania Minor, and recently, Russia as well. \u201cTrak\u0117nai\u201d is an old Baltic word meaning a clearing in the forest, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,70,71,83],"tags":[205],"class_list":["post-4275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-geography-regions","category-history-1900","category-history-before-1900","category-nature-travel","tag-bacevicius-e"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4310,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions\/4310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}