Trakehners - breed stereotype

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I'm working with a full Trak mare, and it is the first time I have dealt with the full fat version as previously I have only dealt with horses with 50% or less Trak bloodlines.

I'm finding her very....... complex? She is ultra intelligent, but this also comes with a brain with an ultra quick processing time
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So she learns very quickly, but I also have to deal with alot of bad habits that she has picked up long the way. She is working wonders for my riding though!
I also find she is very Jekyll and Hyde... she will briefly give you tastes of her potential, then will whip it out from under your feet in the next split second and return to playing the petulant child.
She is very aloof too - humans are hardly deemed worthy of her attention. They should bring food, that is all they are good for!
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She just seems to be all the extremes in one horse, which makes for a rollercoaster of emotions!

Is this typical of the breed (I know that is probably a 'piece of string question'), or am I just dealing with an exception?
 
Nope, that sounds pretty typical to me! But I bet she is talented once you find out how she thinks and get her on your side? That's the best thing about Trakehners!

Of course you can't really sterotype a breed, but generally Trakehners (especially German ones) tend to be sharp, intelligent, brilliant and tricky.
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That's the other thing - she veers between being amazingly sharp, to a beach donkey!

She is certainly tricky - I feel like she is playing mindgames with me constantly
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She will be amazing if she can 'give' herself to me - at the moment she forgets to argue, is incredible, but then realises that she is co-operating, so shuts down on me again
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Hi
I have one, and yes, it is fairly typical, however, I found with my guy that once I had his trust he lost the whole aloof thing and is really soppy and loves nothing better than to have a cuddle...but normally only with select people
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I have to be extremely patient with him, if he does something wrong, I need to correct him quietly, almost ignore the tantrums (where possible) but be very very quick to praise him for the slightest improvement he shows.
He provides immediate and very precise feedback on how I am riding/what mood I am in, but this also works very much to my advantage when he understands that he has done something right,he then tries his heart out for you.
I find him very similar to TB's I have had (not surprising considering the amount of TB / Arab blood there is in the Trakehner breeding) Definately not your typical warmblood temperament, as is demonstrated by the % of germans I meet who say they would not touch a trakehner - they are not used to the temperament
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(that is why I picked mine up cheap here germany
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) I was a confirmed TB person but would definately get another Trakie, lots of work, but huge amount of satisfaction and feeling of partnership when it goes right.
Stick with it, she will pay back your patience a million times over
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Yep GJ, this is exactly what I have been doing. Just quietly correct her, ride through the objections (I find she would really like to scare me into taking my leg off) and then a 'good girl' and scratch on the withers immediately when she has done something well, or I feel she is trying. We usually have a stretch in walk then, for time to contemplate and to avoid brain overload!

I think my TBs have prepared me as best they could (I am a confirmed TB addict
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) but this lady is something else. She has spent the last 3/4 years terrorising her owner into not asking anything of her, so now I am being firm and asking for more, I am seeing the full range of her various negative aspects
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Having worked on a trakhener stud years ago I sort of know what youre talking about.

They are highly intelligent, some are quirky, most love humans and all are seriously athletic and very playful.

I looked after a mare who was going to the annual breed show. She was a clients horse sent to us to be produced throughout the summer.
She was seriously challenging, and just how you describe yours to be.

They all have big personalities (or from what Ive seen). I have a KWPN whos dam is full trakhener. Hes just one big personality on legs.
 
As a friend of mine says, "You've got to wonder about horses bred to run head first into bayonettes!"
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Seriously, I have a big soft spot for them since my first professional job was starting horses for a big Trakehner breeder. I came from eventing/tb's and felt right at home with them but I can see how, especially a few decades back, confirmed warmblood people found them not to their taste. (Although many have been taken into other books for "breed improvement.")

It's a bit "how long is a piece of string" though, as I've found the individual lines and horses as different as they are similar. We had one family that consistently produced beach donkeys and another family line that had produced an Olympic sj medal winnner, 3 FEI event horses and 2 GP showjumpers . . . and a whole bunch of not so talented, VERY non-amateur-friendly individuals. That said, I think many breeders are aware of the rep and consciously trying to breed more tractable ones now, particularly for the American market, where many have excelled as show ring hunters and event horses.

As a group though, yes, I'd say they're sharp and tough. Their "base" and they way they've been developed is quite different from the other warmblood books so the pool is relatively small and cohesive. I would agree though, if you can get them onside they're fantastic.
 
Having said all of this - my friend has a pure Russian trakehner and he's the most laid back, easy, sweet, friendly, trainable horse ever - and is now working at PSG, trained all the way by an amateur!

Well, actually, he's been know to be naughty as shows, but at home he's a wonderhorse. I've heard this about the non-German traks, that they tend to be bigger boned and more sensible. Still bred to run head first into bayonnetts LOL!!!!
 
Stan's an Italian one. I'm very much beneath him in the pecking order -well at least that's how it feels when I ride him.

I put him into one of 2 categories, stunning or handbrake on. In stunning mode he's ultra confident & really awesome. In the other mode he's behind your leg, resisting, and it really feels like his handbrake is pulled on.

I think that with a Trakehner (as with some men) you need to give them the impression that they came up with the idea first, then you can get them doing anything. Good luck, you will be a convert soon.
 
I only have expeirnec ewith 1 line of trakhners but I've known several purebreds from that line and they have been extremely strong willed and intelligent creatures
 
I had a Trakehner for a few months she was a Holme Grove mare. Very nice, movement to die for. We had a fantastic time together but she took some getting used to and a very one person horse. If I ever have regretted giving one horse back to its owners it was her. They had her a general hacking/allrounder type but I could invisage GP dressage (when we had her good days!).

Lovely horses x x
 
Ours are very people orientated. Get them on side and they will do anything for you. Agree totally that they are on the whole very intelligent, but also remember they have been bred as riding horses for centuries. So I've always found them fabulous under saddle.
The other warmblood studbooks use Trakehner blood to improve their own stock, so there are countless examples of KWPN, Hanoverians etc that are 1/4 or 1/2 Trakehner.

There are the odd bloodlines in the UK that are known to be a bit quirkier, and a pros ride.

Trakehners are often described as the ferraris of the sporthorse world. Being lucky enough to go and watch the stallion licensing in Germany every October, I can say that those colts - prepped up for their grading - still take everything in their stride, and then come out under saddle as 3yos when most British youngsters are still in the field. This is a fabulous website for information on the hisotry of the breed and their influence on other stud books www.trakehners-international.com
 
Some how I have ended up with 3 trakehners! 2 german and one polish. They are all incredibly sensitive, intelligent but quirky, especially the 2 mares. I do have a soft spot for trakehners but some days I wander why I dont have a nice sensible level headed irish horse!
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Both mares can be quite neurotic about things too, but when on a good day they are amazing and very talented, just not constitent at present.
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They also very keen to work, but like you say learn good and bad things equally as quickly.
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But I still love the breed, they are just more of a challenge.
 
The only one I had the privilege to ride was going back many years, when her owner was having massive problems with her and had lost her confidence. I somehow got the ride and she was the best horse you could imagine, but she would just switch modes instantly. She was terribly sharp to ride (which I enjoyed), but always seemed one step ahead of me on the ground. I can't remember her name, how awful is that?!

I think Trakehner is top of my breed wishlist but I just don't think my riding skills are up to it full-time. If I got a really really quirky one I'd be out of my depth
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They do have a reputation for being extremely intelligent and quirky.
 
Oooh I love this thread! My boy is a full German-bred trakehner with a very big personality. He is both very bold and totally neurotic at the same time and has really tested my ability! One day if I get on holding a dressage whip he will 'act' all scared and flightly - then another day I can get on fine and tap him with absolutely no response from him. He thinks far too much for his own good and so ultimately decides how he is going to behave when he wants to! But he doesn't have a nasty bone in his body and is very cheeky and playful - there is never a boring day with him around. Not sure I would get another but after spending so much time with him I think i would find a normal warmblood or irish type far too straight forward and ultimately boring!
 
This thread has made really interesting reading - thanks!
I have to say I knew I was in danger of becoming addicted as I have always been drawn to the 'quirky' ones.

I had my first taste of partnership with her today....... I can't wait for tomorrow!
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I have a German bred Trakehner.
He is the most beautiful, intelligent, talented and laid-back horse I have ever met.
He must have come from the line that bred beach donkeys!! But when he gets going (usually during my lessons) he really gets going and shows me just what he is made of and capable of - he is so intelligent, he learns dressage tests quicker than I do and yet he is a big softy and LOVES a cuddle. He is so sound in traffic I could ride him up the M6, I have never had trouble hacking him out on his own.
And I love him to bits!
 
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