The Warmblood horses are a group of sport horse breeds that contain 5 generations of bloodlines and have been inspected by and registered with world-recognized breeding associations.

Many people are easily confused by the terms cold blood, hot blood, and warmblood, when it comes to horses. This is not a reference to an actual fact (as reptiles are cold blooded, meaning they need to be warm to be active), it is simply a way of classifying some breeds, or types, according to behavior tendencies. For example draft horses are called cold bloods, most riding horses, such as Arabians, are called hot bloods.

These are large, well muscled, and powerful horses. Warmbloods have fairly upright necks and well sloped shoulders. Their heads may be large with some roman noses, especially those that come from draft crosses. These horses are often over 17 hands high at the withers (each hand being 4 inches). They are bold horses willing to tackle formidable objects, but also have the grace to be able to “dance” to music in dressage.http://equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/english/dressage/

In color, warmbloods are often bay, gray, chestnut, brown, or black, however some breeders push for more extreme colors such as buckskin.http://www.warmblood-color.com/ White markings on the face and lower legs are not uncommon. Each breed may have standards that may or may not allow white on the body.http://factoidz.com/facts-about-warmblood-horses-and-why-they-are-so-expensive/

Being strong animals of good stature these horses have been used for light draft work and as riding mounts. Horses of this type were riden by knights and used in warfare.

In modern times these are the horses seen in dressage competitions, three-day-eventing, and in combined driving events. They make good hunters, both in the arena and on the hunt. The most competitive horses are often used as world class jumpers. http://sportales.com/equestrian/the-differences-between-hunters-and-jumpers/

Warmbloods are often among the worlds most expensive horses. One reason for this is that, when trained correctly, they are not even ridden until age four or five. To compare this to other horses, some Thoroughbreds (when destined for the race track) are ridden as older yearling's, and most other breeds of horses and ponies are fully under saddle by the end of their third year.

It costs a lot of money to feed, and care for, a horse until it can be ridden. There are veterinarian bills, farrier expenses, and so forth. Additionally some people keep warmbloods more isolated than other breeds. Each one may have their own turnout pen. This also happens in some other breeds, but more so with this type of horse, as the owners are worried about injury during play resulting in the loss of a more valuable animal. Some people go so far as to keep their horses stabled for most of the day to prevent injury when at play in the pasture.

Once training begins is is a slow process, with a lot of ground work. Horses do not start off jumping five foot fences, or performing Grand Prix dressage moves. They are first trained for lunging, then ground driven, and finally a rider is added. It takes years for a horse of this caliber to enter its prime.

It is not unusual for a well trained, proven, warmblood horse to sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even unproven ones sell for high amounts when the blood line is well recognized and the potential is imagined.

The first thing the horses are trained to learn is halter training, this usually starts before the foals are weaned and continues more after weaning.http://www.helium.com/items/1360410-how-to-train-a-foal As the foal grows it is handled occasionally for regular farrier work. They may learn to lunge at two or three years of age. They may have a saddle on their back and learn ground driving at three or four years of age. Most warmbloods do not feel a rider until four years of age at the earliest.

1. Irish Sports Horse
2. Hanoverian Horse
3. Holsteiner Horse
4. Trakehner Horse
5. Westphalian Horse
6. Oldenburger Horse
7. Selle Français Horse
8. Dutch Warmblood Horse
9. Polish Warmblood Horse
10. Danish Warmblood Horse
11. Swedish Warmblood Horse