Kinsky Horse

The Kinsky is a breed of horse originating from the Czech Republic. The Kinsky has also been one of the most popular race horses in the world with major success on the track from the 1800s.

The Kinsky horse is characterized by their athletic abilities and a golden glow naturally found in horses’ coat for which the horses were given the nickname or often called the “golden horses”.

The breed almost disappeared in the mid-1900s, but the popularity has resulted in renewed interest in the breed and horses numbers are up to about a thousand animals, and they are protected from extinction by animal protection laws passed in the Czech Republic.

History

The Kinskys story beginnings has the makings of a fairy tale as legend has it that the horse story began in the Middle Ages. There was a prince from Bohemia who while out hunting was attacked by wolves. The hunting party broke apart under the attack but a man by the name of Kinsky stayed behind to protect the princess and the rest of the entourage.

He managed to kill three of the wolves into process of protecting the lives of the princess and her retinue. As a gesture of gratitude for his heroic deeds the man was knighted and his dubbed Sir Kinsky. Kinsky was further granted family crest which consisted of a shield depicting three wolf teeth.

The legend is very vague and there is not sufficient documentation to find out exactly what happened and why Kinsky was knighted. However the family were hard workers and worked tirelessly for the King of Bohemia and elevated their status in the social strata of the court.

Kinsky was known for his passion for breeding and rearing horses, and there is documentation from 1416 regarding his breeding efforts. There is also documentation regarding the manor in which he bred horses, by let his horses run free as a herd and brought them in once a year.

Similar methods are used today in Iceland in Icelandic horses. The stud, however, began its work during the 1520s, under the name of the Kebricin Kinsky. The main aim of the stud was to develop a good general all round horse that could be used for a variety of uses.

In 1628 the family was ennobled when they were selected by the courts to be awarded the title when they were the title of Count in the early 1700.

The 1700s also saw the Kinsky stud ordered to breed horses for the Austrian royal cavalry. The development of the English full blood horse in England led to an increased interest in horseracing and to use the thoroughbred horse to refine and improve horse breeds all over the world.

Many Thoroughbreds were imported to the Kinskystuteriet, which had focused on developing galloping horses for racing. The King of Austria helped to select horses for breeding and chose horses that had a “golden” glow in the coat with the hope he would breed golden horses that could pull his carriage.

The Kinskyfamiljen adopted the order and went on to produce horses with great stamina and courage. Their horses also had the attributes of being friendly and easy to handle and fit for both riding and driving, as well as a hunting horse and war horse.

During the late 1700s more horses were imported from England to further enhance the quality of Kinsky, which has become well known in the area as a flexible horse anyone could ride.

The horses got their biggest showing when in 1816 the Countess Kinsky arrived at an international congress in Vienna, riding on a golden horse.

The demand for the Kinsky horse was now so great that Count Kinsky Oktavian expanded the stud operations. In 1838 he managed to get the Kinskyna included in a large common herd of modern sport horses, and the breed was officially registered under the name Kinsky.

The official name Equus Kinsky was later changed to be only the Kinsky horse. The year of registration is considered the year of the breed’s birth despite the fact that the Kinsky had existed since the early 1400s.

Oktavian Kinsky, born in 1813, was the man associated the most with the demand for the breed and the successful marketing and development of the Kinsky horse.

In 1832 Oktavian began a new stud in Bohemia, which became known as the Golden Horse Stud or Gold Horse Stud. He managed to develop a horse that was reminiscent of the bold English Hunter Type horses in only four years at the stud.

Oktavian Kinsky was well respected as a horse entrepreneur and in 1846 he introduced Steeplechase for the first time in the Czech Republic. Inspired by the race he had seen during his travels to England, he held steeplechaselopp on his land in Bohemia.

In 1874 he started the largest Steeplechaseloppet in Europe outside of England, called Pardubice, where he often had his own horse’s competiting. The Pardubice, or European Grand National, is still held in Bohemia and is one of Europe’s most demanding horse races of its type.

In 1883 saw another man from the Kinskyfamiljen, Count Charles Kinsky, win the Grand National at Aintree in England, with his horse Kinskysto Zeodone. The next year however saw disaster strike when the horse Zeodone collapsed at the Grand National so the Count retired her to breeding instead.

Zeodone became the most sought after fillies in Europe that year and the Kinskyna horse became sought after as a race breed after the win.

In 1937 there was again increased interest in the breed, when the Kinskystoet horse won the European horse race. The gold Kinsky mare Norma trained and ridden by Countess Lata Brandisova, is so far the only time Europe’s most challenging race was won by a woman. Being the first time a woman had won a ravce the breed received even more publicity.

After communism spread in the Czech Republic causing many aristocrats and noble families to flee from the country, including the Kinskyfamiljen, the Russians then the seized the Kinsky stud farms and land.

The herd of Kinsky horses were either sold or killed. Count Kinsky Radislav remained until 1953 and returned to the country in 1989 and resumed title to his land to begin breeding the Kinsky again. He started a stud again and started efforts to bring the remaining horses together again.

The Club Equus Kinsky was begun with a breeding program started, the fall of the Berlin Wall of that year assisted as contact with Western Europe increased.

The Kinskyna has now been placed under the auspices of the Czech Government and is protected under the law against extinction. Many of Kinskyna horses are now crossed with the Czechoslovak warm blood, and today there are only about 1,000 animals of the Kinskyna breed left.

The Kinskyna is now bred mainly in Bohemia but also in England, North America and at several private stud farms in Europe. Farmers in Bohemia are working to re-birth the Kinsky who can compete in the Pardubice competition on the same level as the English full blood.

Attributes

The Kinsky is an athletic and strong horse with tremendous endurance and great courage.
What is most peculiar to the Kinsky breed is that over 40% of the foals are born with the flaxen or golden colour, or with a closely related variant, with a deep golden glow to their coats.

The majority of the remaining colours have a light brown tone. Various forms of ordinary chestnuts or Boron also occur. For a Kinsky horse to be described as genuine, all color variations must have a golden lustre in their coat.

The Kinsky is very similar to the English full blood, with a fine and well-cut head with a straight nose profile. The confirmation is both athletic and muscular with the harmonic structure and strong, well-developed bones and joints.

The Kinskynas has an easy nature and good temperament which makes them suitable for all types of equestrian sports and as the horses are easy to train they are even suited to the cavalry and police as mounts.