Freiberger (horse)
| Freiberger | |
|---|---|
![The eleven-year-old Freiberg stallion Népal (50% foreign blood content), photo from 2003 [1]](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Nepal,_franches-montagnes.jpg)
The eleven-year-old Freiberg stallion Népal (50% foreign blood content), photo from 2003 |
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| Important data | |
| Origin: | Franches-Montagnes (Jura), 15th century |
| Main breeding area: | Switzerland |
| Distribution: | mainly in Switzerland |
| Stick measure : | 150-160 cm |
| Colors : | often brown and foxes, rarely black horses and gray horses, spiky hair (roan) |
| Main application area: | Driving and riding horse, preferred horse of the Swiss Army |
The Freiberger is the last original Swiss horse breed and is known today as light cold blood or heavy warm blood . The cradle of the breed is located on the high plateau Freiberge ( Franches-Montagnes ) in the Jura . Hence the abbreviation “FM” for the horse breed. The term "Freiberger" for the Jura horse first appeared in literature in 1898 in a book by Josef Marek .
Today Freiberger are bred in the categories Freiberger, Basisfreiberger and Urfreiberger. The differences lie primarily in the proportion of foreign bloodlines ( Arabs , warm-blooded animals ) and in the breeding goal, i.e. in the desired appearance and the possible uses as a sport, leisure or work horse. In order to ensure clarity, it is now common practice to indicate the proportion of foreign blood (FB%) for every Freiberg breeding horse.
Background information on horse evaluation and breeding can be found under: Exterior , interior and horse breeding .
Exterior
Freiberger are compact, square horses. The back is short and strong. An expressive, noble head sits on the strong neck. The weight is between 450 and 600 kg, the height is approx. 150 to 160 cm.
interior
Originally bred as a workhorse, the Freiberger is characterized by a good-natured, willing to work character. The Freiberg is one of the few horse breeds in which this good-natured strength of character is checked and assessed as an important criterion in the breeding selection by the so-called field test. In the different breeding directions, the whole range of its versatile application possibilities can be seen both as heavy draft horse, as well as family and leisure horse, up to the modern sport horse.
Breeding history
The beginning of the systematic Freiberg horse breeding in the 19th century
The original Freiberg goes back to the historical Jura horse, a very old landrace from the area of the diocese of Basel. The breeding of Freibergers can be traced back to around the 15th century. A strong, stocky horse was bred on the basis of oriental and Comtois stallions, which for centuries was used in armies and in agriculture and was highly valued. The Jura horse was first mentioned in writing in a report on a breeding horse show on March 17, 1817 in Tavannes in the Jura. The number of mares at that time was estimated at 4,000.
At the time of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, all useful horses, including those in Switzerland, were requisitioned by the French army. From 1840 to 1850 the main buyer France used more and more military horses from its own breeding, so that the breeding of the Freiberger almost came to a standstill. By 1860 the Freiberg breeding had declined so much that the Swiss federal government decided to intervene to ensure the supply of suitable horses for its own military. The Freiberg breed has now been influenced and documented by government regulations.
However, the state's ideas about the horse to be bred were very much oriented towards the needs of the military and less towards those of the farmers. At the instigation of the authorities, crossbreeding of lighter horse breeds was often enforced in order to get riding, mail and carriage horses. The horses bred in this way were, however, more and more unsuitable for farm work. These efforts resulted in the most important stallion Vaillant , who was born on April 5, 1891 in Saignelégier. Around 70% of all Freibergers can still be traced back to Vaillant today. Another stallion from this period that had a lasting impact on the Freiberg breed was the Anglo-Norman stallion Imprevue , who was born in France on May 9, 1886 and came to Switzerland in 1889. About 25% of the Freibergers descend from him.
Against the officially funded horse breeding, attempts were made in some regions on the initiative of the farmers to set up a breeding of heavier work horses. The horse breeds crossed in this context are known from 1851. They were genealogical horse breeds, i.e. horse breeds genetically related to the Jura horse, such as Ardennes , Percherons and deeply built Anglo-Normans . Also Comtois -Hengste and mares were included in the breeding and over again.
On the occasion of the national horse show in Aarau in 1865 it was found that the Jura horse has good qualities and should now be bred systematically. The problem of the opposing ideas about the breeding goal of farmers and the military persisted.
Finally, the peasant breeders joined forces with the establishment of the first horse breeding cooperative in 1894 in Burgdorf, Switzerland, with the aim of breeding a heavy draft horse with mass and gait. The resulting legendary Burgdorferschlag was a mating between Jurassic mares and genealogically related Ardennes stallions. In the 1960s, this cold-blooded branch of the Freiberg region unfortunately died out.
The state (Switzerland) sponsored breeding of Freiberger in the 20th century
It was not until 1904 that the different breeding goals of farmers and the military were taken into account when the Swiss Federal Horse Breeding Commission divided horse breeding into two equal categories. The following should now be bred:
- The cavalry and artillery horse or
- The draft horse with mass and gait
The breeders were asked to decide on a horse type and to organize themselves among themselves. The best stallions were put up in the newly established stallion and foal depot in Avenches , today's Swiss National Stud . In 1912 the term "cheval du Jura, type des Franches-Montagnes (FM)" (Jura horse, breed Freiberger) was mentioned for the first time in the reports of the Cantonal Bernese Horse Breeding Commission.
In 1921 the stud book for the draft horse, the original stud book of the Freiberg family, was opened. From 1921 to 1950, four cold-blooded stallions and eight half-blooded stallions were used with around 650,000 studs.
By 1950, the Freiberg breed had proven itself as an army horse and spread throughout Switzerland thanks to its versatility in agriculture and trade. The Freiberg breed became an important economic and cultural factor in Switzerland.
Freiberg breeding after the Second World War
After the Second World War , breeding tended briefly to heavier horses in order to counter the increasing motorization in agriculture. After around ten years, however, it was clear that even a heavier horse could not compete with the tractor.
There was hardly any use left for the pure draft horse. The management of the Swiss National Stud under Dr. During this time, Baumann planned to re-breed the breed, similar to many warmblood horse breeds in those years. The aim was to found a new line of sport stallions. Among other things, one began to breed the thoroughbred Arabian stallion Doktryner ox Freiberg mares in order to increase the Freiberger's market chances with a sporty, lighter horse. In implementing these plans, 4 Arabian stallions and 27 high-blooded warm-blooded horses were bred from a total population of almost 3000 broodmares. From the 1960s, Swedish warm-blooded animals were primarily used. The offspring of these crossbreeds can hardly be distinguished from a warmblood horse today and thus fulfill the goal of breeding as a leisure horse with aptitude for riding and driving.
As a result of the re-breeding, the cold-blooded original Freibergerschlag was pushed to the brink of extinction in less than 20 years.
Breeding today
The national stud in Avenches is both a stallion station and a training and competence center for the Freiberg breed. More than a third of all Freiberg stallions are in the stud. The stud provides its services throughout Switzerland. The Swiss Horse Breeding Association has housed its premises in the stud farm buildings.
Category Stud-Book of the Swiss Freiberger Association (SFV)
In 1997, today's Swiss Freiberger Association (SFZV, today SFV) was founded. The SFV sees itself as an association of all Freiberg breeding directions and keeps a herd book (stud book) with the corresponding categories of the breed. The association continues to pursue the goal of breeding a family and leisure horse that can also demonstrate (partially) aptitude for various areas of riding and driving. Therefore, most of the Freiberg mares are still occupied by stallions with so-called foreign blood content. The stud book was closed in 1999, so it can only be bred with Freiberg horses, the crossbreeding of other stallions of other breeds is no longer permitted (horses that come from crossings with other breeds are entered in the herdbook in the crossbreeds section).
Basic Freiberger / Interest Group of the Original Freiberger Horse (IG-OFM)
Also in 1997 the interest group of the Original Freiberg Horse (IG-OFM) was founded. At that time, 2,000 mares and 30 stallions of the original Freiberger were still listed. In 2012 about 138 mares and about 5 stallions were registered as breeding at the SFV.
The interest group is not a breeding association to this day, but tries to promote pure breeding of Freiberg outside the association's policy. At the instigation of the IG-OFM, the category "Basis" (BAS) was created in 2001 within the SFV's herd book. The so-called Basic Freiberger is supposed to represent the pure Freiberger lines. For this purpose, it was stipulated that a basic freiberger may only carry a maximum of 2 percent foreign blood. "With the introduction of the Basis category, the new term" Basis Factor "was created. This includes all Freiberger with a FB share of between 2 and 4%. Because when a" Basis Factor "Freiberger is crossed with an original Freiberger without foreign blood, it belongs the foal back to the original Freibergers ". By definition, this gave rise to the possibility of eliminating the proportion of foreign blood with the 6th generation. A horse whose pedigree is in the sixth generation shows a stallion with a foreign blood content of 100% (i.e. a stallion of a different breed) and all other ancestors have no foreign blood, has a foreign blood content of 1.5% after 6 generations and is again registered as a basic freiberger . Due to the naming of the interest group, or the corresponding category at the SFV, the names "Basisfreiberger" and "Originalfreiberger" arose.
However, practice shows that the few remaining pure stallions without foreign blood are relatively rarely used for breeding. Instead, stallions with foreign blood will continue to be given preference. As a result, the proportion of foreign blood has only been falling very slowly for years. The target of a maximum of 2% foreign blood in the breeding of the IG-OFM is therefore not achievable in the near future.
Original Freiberger / Federal Association of the Purebred Freiberger Horse (RRFB)
In 2008 the federal association of the pure-bred Freiberg horse was founded. For the association, the standards of the IG-OFM did not go far enough. As a definition for pure-bred Freiberg horses it was established that after 1950 no foreign blood may have been crossed. Since the breeding attempts with the Arabian stallions Skipio and Shagia I had already started before 1950, these offspring were expressly excluded. The aim of the association is to save the original Freiberg horse. The horse to be bred , which is to be bred without foreign blood, is called the Urfreiberger .
The Urfreiberger is the last existing cold blood horse breed in Switzerland of the "economy type". He embodies the historical Juraschlag, the Freiberg draft horse in pure breeding since 1950. The aim of breeding the original Freiberger is to maintain the good characteristics of this breed (good character, good-naturedness, human orientation, health and robustness). With this maintenance breeding, the gene pool of the original Freibergers should be preserved. For this purpose, the matings are carried out after calculating the degree of relationship of the breeding animals at the suggestion of the breeding management. As a result of the selection, there are more easy and medium-sized, rideable Urfreiberger. Due to its calm temperament, its body shape, its physique and its weight, the original Freiberger is also suitable for the "heavy train". The Urfreiberger is an endangered horse breed.
Breeders from all over Switzerland are active in the RRFB; the association is financed on a private basis. The negotiations with the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) for recognition as a breeding organization have progressed so far that the FOAG has declared the RRFB to be "solely responsible for the original Freiberger". The RRFB keeps the herdbook of the original Freiberger, independently selects the breeding animals and the licensing of the breeding stallions. Original Freiberger registered by the RRFB cannot also be entered in the herdbook of the Swiss Freiberger Association (SFV).
See also
literature
- Doctoral thesis Hans Rittmeyer, The history of the Swiss draft horse with special consideration of the tribe structure of the Burgdorf loft. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, 1926 ( online )
Web links
- Swiss Freibergerzuchtverband
- German representation of the Jurassic Freibergerzuchtverband
- Information about the breed
- Agroscope : The Freiberg horse
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information sheet on the stallion Népal ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Dr. Josef Marek: The Helvetic Gallic Horse , Züricher & Furrer, Zurich 1898
- ↑ Internet site of the Swiss Freiberger Association SFV Field Test Regulations (FTR), March 14, 2013 p. 3–4
- ↑ Lecture by Dr. Johannes Erich Flade on the occasion of the 1st Freiberg day of the horse breeding cooperative in 1999, named as the source in the breed portrait on the RRFB website ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ cf. Hans Rittmeyer, 1926, pp. 86-94
- ↑ cf. Hans Rittmeyer, 1926, pp. 86-94.
- ↑ Herd book on the website of the Swiss Freiberger Association
- ↑ New crossings? , Report on the website of the interest group of the Original Freiberg Horse, February 2015
- ^ Category basic website of the interest group of the original Freiberg horse, March 2015
- ↑ New category Basis of the Herd Book Regulations , report on the website of the Interest Group of the Original Freiberg Horse, December 2001
- ^ Website of the Federal Association of Purebred Freiberg Horses
