Orlov Trotter - Development of The Breed

Development of The Breed

The land that became Orlov's Khrenovsky stud farm was given to him by Catherine II (Catherine the Great) as a reward for his participation in the coup d'etat which brought her to the throne. The buildings were constructed by Giovanni Giliardi. The original estate was very large; the modern Khrenovsky stud area is fifteen times smaller than it was prior to the Bolshevik revolution.

The ancestor of all Orlov Trotters was the purebred grey Arabian stallion Smetanka. Orlov bought him in Turkey for the enormous sum of 60,000 roubles. Although he died the next year, he lived to sire five offspring. Among others he was crossed with Isabelline, a Danish mare from the Frederiksborg royal stud-farm, who foaled a stallion that was named Polkan (1778–1793).

Polkan was crossed with a Dutch mare which, in 1784, produced the grey stallion Bars I (1784–1808), considered the first Orlov trotter. He was 162.5 cm high at the withers which made him taller than most contemporary trotters, possessed a fast trotting gait and featured the beauty and noble bearing which would later distinguish the newly created breed. For seventeen years Bars I was crossed with different mares and sired eleven stallions that carried his distinguishing characteristics. The emergence of the breed was the result of a thorough and elaborate selection process. About 3,000 horses kept at the stud were involved. Unlike many other Russian nobles who were fond of horse-raising, Orlov was a professional breeder who is also credited for creating some seventy different animal breeds including the Russian wolfhound.

Orlov was very protective of his bloodstock, and would sell only geldings (castrated stallions). Even when Tsar Alexander I asked Orlov to sell him several stallions, Orlov only agreed to sell geldings. This rule was maintained for twenty years after Orlov's death. Later, when the Khrenovsky stud farm belonged to the Russian Crown, Trotters were then openly sold to private stud-owners.