Post-war Era
By 1964, in the face of the superiority of tractors, the breeding of the heavy warmblood had completely collapsed. Stallions covered 10% of the mares that they had 20 years before. This scene played out in the 1950s and 60's throughout German horse breeding. During this time, though, increasing leisure time meant that horses soon found their modern cultural niche: recreational riding. The breeders of Ostfriesland aimed to develop their horses along this path, producing a lighter riding horse with all the economical traits that had made them popular before. Fearing that the Thoroughbred would detract from the amenable nature of their horses, the Ostfriesen breeders chose to use Arabian blood instead. Beginning in 1948, such stallions were made available to the breeders, who scarcely used them, being hard-put to change their beloved horses so drastically. However, the evidence was convincing, as the Freisen-Arabs were horses of excellent character, great capacity and riding quality. Unfortunately, they had missed the mark: the market demanded a light, elegant, but tall riding horses, and the Freisen-Arabs were smaller than their warmblood mothers. Limited in their competitiveness in dressage and jumping, the Freisen-Arabs did not sell, and the Ostfriesen horses seemed doomed to extinction. Meanwhile, the Oldenburg horses were being systematically redirected by the use of Anglo-Norman stallions like Condor, Thoroughbreds like Adonis xx, and Anglo-Arabs like Inschallah AA. Though the blood remained in their pedigrees, the Alt-Oldenburg mares could not produce stallion sons. Purebred Ostfriesisch-Oldenburg stallions were replaced in the studrows by Hanoverians, Trakehners, Thoroughbreds and Arabs. In 1967, 71% of the original mares had riding horse mates. The Ostfriesen mares were permitted into the Hanoverian forebook after producing a noble warmblood foal, but could not become stallion mothers. The last körung at Aurich took place in 1973, and in 1975 the Ostfriesische studbook became a district association of the Hanoverian Verband. The products of this new breeding direction became the modern Oldenburg (horse).
Read more about this topic: Ostfriesen And Alt-Oldenburger
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