Ostfriesen and Alt-Oldenburger - The Karossier

The Karossier

The heyday of the elegant heavy carriage horse was the years between 1880 and 1920. Reporting from a local horse market in 1864, an observer writes that each year the sale has more horses to offer, all well-bred and beautiful, and that their buyers came from far and wide. "Trading is brisk, especially for the luxury horses, for which high prices are paid". Producing Ostfriesen and Oldenburg horses had become quite lucrative. They were exported even to the southern reaches of the German-speaking region; Oldenburg stallions populated the freshly rebuilt Bavarian State Stud of Schwaiganger from 1870 on. Their success was such that in a very important decision, the stud commission of the Saxon State Stud of Moritzburg developed a heavy warmblood plan in 1873 which aimed to produce a horse "similar in type to that of the Oldenburger". From 1877 and 1920, two thirds of the state stallions were Oldenburgers. The first part of the 20th century saw the State Stud of Zweibrücken follow suit.

The population of horses in Ostfriesland alone exceeded 30,000, about 40% of which were 3 years old or younger. The new breeding direction, calling for a strong, attractive, heavy horse "for use as both an elegant, high-stepping carriage horse and a work horse" was fruitful. The Körkommission in particular looked for excellent trot mechanics in the stallion selection.

In Oldenburg, the progress towards the Karossier type hinged on the use of Anglo-Normans, Cleveland Bays, and halfbred Hanoverians, and had advanced so well that already a considerable number of Oldenburgs were being sent to Ostfriesland. Soon all the Ostfriesen stallion lines were headed in the same, new direction. 1910 was the height of Ostfriesen horse breeding. The type was described as possessing a distinct outline, strong foundation and a friendly, expressive head, not to mention the "certain elegance about the whole appearance." In 1911 a spectator at the Körung in Aurich noted that three types reappeared year after year:

A) A horse similar to the Oldenburg, a type of noble, heavy Karossier with a swinging gait and great nerve, though slightly drier than most Oldenburgs;
B) A horse with reference to the Oldenburg type, though they are not always very distinctly outlined, and are without much nobility and usually quite common, but they are massive, robust, compact and strong. These stallions are excellent sires for agricultural horses,
C) An elegant, easy-mannered horse, which is influencing the Hanoverian and which the Hanoverian is more or less approaching. This type is most often an elegant chestnut, and is relatively rare.

These are the horses that made Oldenburg famous for elegant carriage horses.