Haflinger Horse

The Haflinger is a breed which originates from South Tyrol in Italy during the time that the area belonged to the double monarchy of Austria and Hungary. It is said that the horse breed of the Haflinger originated in Austria.

The breed takes its name from the village of Hafling, and the Haflinger is characterized by specific color traits. As it is always flaxen in colour or a light to dark golden brown body with straw to almost white coloured hair.

The Haflinger is popular as an all round horse and suitable for both riding and driving.

The Haflinger’s history begins many centuries ago, being domesticated in South Tyrol around the village Hafling in Jenesien in Italy which gave the breed its name. The area belonged to the double monarchy of Austria-Hungary until after World War when the area was lost to Italy. South Tyrol for several centuries was known for its small energetic mountain horses with oriental roots.

The Haflinger breed development was poorly documented up to 1868, but the consensus was the Haflinger probably has the old mountain ponies crossed with both oriental, noble thoroughbred horses, and coarser Heavy Draft horses.

In 1868 Bojade, documented the breed in more detail when he crossed a colt which is now considered the modern Haflinger breed ancestor, El Bedavi XXII.
El Badavie was imported from Arabia by an Austrian Commissioner where he stood as the stud stallion in Tyrol. This Arabian ancestry is one of the five blood lines prevealent in the development of the Haflinger horse.

The development continued with these Arabian blood lines through El Bedavis, and mainly through one of his sons Follie 249, born in 1874, who was the offspring of El Bedavi and a mare of the small mountain ponies.

The Blood line nomenclature begins with the first letter of the horses name from Anselmo A, B, for Bolzano, N and H after Nibbio, S after the Stelvio, SR for Student and finally W after Willi, all of whom were descendants of Follie and El Badavie.

Follie was regarded as the breed first stallion that met all the breed standards of today’s Haflinger must hold. To maintain the breed out breeding has occurred with part Haflinger with other European pony breeds such as the Konik, Hucul pony and Bosnian ponies.

The Stud also bred with the heavier and more powerful Heavy Draft horse the Noriker horse that gave strength and a more rugged conformation. The distinctive colour could be inherited from the Norikerhastarna as the stud became more obsessed with developing the Haflinger which in 1898 the Haflinger was approved as an official breed. The golden brown hair with light mane and tail are Haflinger chief characteristics.

On the 10 September 1910 South Tyrol fell to Italy at Saint Germain and this created enormous problems for the stud, which was then moved to Northern Tyrol which was still within the Austrian borders.

After this split it turned out that the stallions stood in Austria while the mares were in Italy and the studbook updates had been shelved during the war years. Since the breeding season was officially over, there were only 4 stallions remaining at the state stud in Austria and the only colt that was representative of the S-line after Stelvio who was still in Italy.

However, in 1921 a new breeders’ association was formed by North Tyrol and the first stud book for these horses was established 1926, the new studbook recorded 100 of the Haflingerston strain and after much persuasion they managed to buy 100 mares from Italy and the breeding stabilized somewhat.

After the Second World War Otto Schweisgut, became on of the breeding leaders in Northern Tyrol, Austria, and initiated a secondary breeding programme. His son Hannes Schweisgut led the breeding programme from North Tyrol and he was Chairman of the VHW Haflinger until 2000 actively promoting the breed through the members.

Otto Schweisgut also wrote a book called the Haflinger Pferde Haflinger, which is a very thorough history of the Haflinger horse, including their care and health advice.

Italy, South Tyrol, Germany and France formed the European Haflingeravelsforbundet, and in Sweden, the registered Haflinger of Swedish Haflingerförenigensom became connected to the other Haflinger associations.
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Today there are approximately 250 000 registered Haflinger Horses everywhere including 1150 of them registered in Sweden.

Attributes
The Haflinger is an excellent all-around horse that is popular for its color and its stable temperament. The Haflinger is always a chestnut with flaxen mane and tail, the so called “flaxfux” is its strongest trait. The Blaze a white face marking is common in most Haflinger, while other white markings are undesirable but occur.

Originally the Haflinger was a saddle and pack horse in South Tyrol, but breeding is directed at producing an all-round pleasure horse used for all types of riding and driving. The Haflingerponnyer is a typical tough mountain horses that are sure-footed and sturdy.
The head is strong but attractive and not too rough. The eyes are big and friendly, the ears must be small and mobile. The legs are often slightly short and the back is broad, with a muscular buttocks. The shoulder is strong and the chest has a good depth.

The shoulder height can vary between 135cm and 145 cm but is usually around 140 cm. Despite the low height the Haflinger it is a very strong pony that can carry large or heavy riders with ease.

The Mane and tail is strong and thick and often grows very long. The Haflinger ponies can also have feathers on their legs.

Stallions are almost always named with names that begin with the same letter as their father’s name, while in many countries the mares name letter is carried forward, this is not a law but to qualify as a Haflinger the horse had to registered with at least a three quarter foreign blood line.

Haflinger is mostly calm and sociable. It is simultaneously energetic, is a work ready animal, and this trait makes it an excellent family horse that fits within most of the riding wear and also for pleasure riding and driving.

Avelignese Italy
In Italy as part of the Haflinger stud was at Avelignese when Avelegno is the Italian name for the city Hafling, and while breeding was concentrated in Italy, they also called the breed the Avelignese.

It was considered a separate breed though so the Avelignesen in Italy as a separate breed,and was bred around Tuscany and the Veneto. There were traditional Haflinger horses bred with Italian Heavy Draft horses to get a bigger and stronger animal.

The ordinary Haflinger is sometimes still refrred to as the Avelignese in northern Italy. The Haflinger bred in Austria is sometimes branded with a seal, a edelweissblomma with an H in the middle. The Avelignesen whether it is a Haflinger or a cross breed the brand is not branded ever.

The Arab Haflinger cross
An Arab Haflinger is something nobler and more in type than the usual Haflinger,
Haflinger has always been popular in Germany and in particular there were several Haflingerstuterier in Bavaria. Today, these studs also focused on the crossings between the Haflinger horses and Arabian thoroughbreds.

The progeny crossed with Haflinger and out crossed again are then called the Arab Haflinger, or Arabo-Haflinger, and in Germany they are called “Edelblut-Haflinger which can be translated into blooded Haflinger and most is that you cross Arabian stallions with Haflingerston.
The Arabo Haflinger has been crossed since the 1960s, this crossing with Arabs as a breeding system is almost exclusively Bavarian, and these horses are very rare outside of Germany. The out crossing to the Arab, gives to the horse breed something nobler than pure Haflinger and an excellent all-around horse.

The new horse has a better quality and finer confirmation and the horses athletic ability is superior to just the pure Haflinger horse. The Arabo-Haflinger still retains many of the characteristic features of the Haflinger.

The Arabo-Haflinger can now be registered in a special department in the German Haflingerstambockerna, to be registered as an Arabo-Haflinger horse the horse must have a minimum of three quarter Haflinger and a quarter Arab blood.

If the Arab blood within the horse is outcrossed to great grandparents and falls below the minimum requirements the horse is still registered as a Haflinger and if the horse has more than one parent Arab the horse is not registered at all.

No other breeds are not permitted in the outcross.