History and present day situation of the principal and state studs of Germany

More often than not, the German state studs developed from the courtly studs of the nobility that were chiefly established between the 16th and 18th centuries with the goal of guaranteeing the comprehensive need for horses at court. There were also a number of monastic studfarms however, particularly in the South of Germany that played quite a significant role. On the other hand, horse breeding by farmers was dependent on the good-will of the respective sovereign of the numerous German states that existed at the time. The establishment of private studfarms did not generally begin before the early 19th century.
Following the foundation of the state stud administration in France by the Minister of Economics, Colbert, upon the orders of Louis XIV in 1665, it did not take long for studfarms to be established in the entire German-speaking region as well, where stallions of different populations were utilised, including sires of Arabian, Spanish, and Neapolitan origin. This eventuated because it was felt that the progeny of such horses would be more promising through their lightness and agility, than the heavier horses of the of knighthood era which were essentially weighty war horses and meanwhile were relics of the past. In the long term, the increasing demand for horses for the military and for agriculture could no longer be adequately satisfied by the royal studs, so that the foundation of state studs was a more or less inevitable consequence.

Under the reign of Frederick William I (1713-1740), who was considered to be a frugal ruler, the hegemony of Prussia was manifested among other things, by the establishment of the Prussian stud administration in 1732, as well as the concurrent foundation of the royal Trakehnen stud, which initially did not have the function of improving state horse-breeding, but was intended rather exclusively for the supply of suitable horses for the court and the military.
His successor, Frederick William II commissioned Carl-Heinrich, count of Lindenau, the senior state equerry from 1786 to 1806, to reorganise the Prussian stud administration, which encompassed three principal studs (stallion keeping and herd of mares) and 15 state studs (only stallion keeping) when he assumed office.
Whilst there was a marked decline of horse breeding during the second half of the 19th century as a result of increasing technical developments, there was a marked increase in demand for heavy work horses during the first half of the 20th century. The principal and state studs were quick to adapt to the constantly changing requirements, by the stationing of suitable stallions and were thus ultimately also instrumental in the re-orientation of the breeding goal from that of a work horse to a versatile riding horse, to cater for the new requirements of the developing riding sport that set in during the 20th century.
As a result of the outcome of the Second World War, numerous studfarms were lost, including the principal studs of Trakehnen, Neustadt a.d. Dosse and Graditz.
At the beginning of the 1960ies, horse breeding reached its absolute nadir due to the increasing mechanisation of agriculture. Numerous studs were dissolved, resulting in the former West German state merely retaining six state studfarms whose existence and long term survival were by no means assured in the face of the ever increasing private studfarms and private covering stations.

The number of state studfarms increased to eleven over the years as a consequence of German reunification in 1990. These have generally been placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture. As in the past, the primary task of the state studs is to enable farmers wishing to breed quality horses, access to selected and performance tested stallions for a moderate covering fee.
At the same time, the state studs are also training enterprises for would be certificated stable hands, with the focus on horse breeding and horse keeping and/or horse riding.
The training standard of riders and stallions is high. This is demonstrated i.a. by the successes at federal championships and competition sport in general. The driving sport which is partly carried out at a very high level, deserves special mention here.
The stud facilities with their historical buildings of different styles and epochs are excellently looked after and are without exception classified as historical monuments under national trust protection, attracting thousands of visitors annually, not only on the occasion of the stallion parades.