CHAPTER XII 



THE GERMAN COACH 



The history of the German Coach horse is hardly clear to 

 American students. Nearly all the evidence we have regarding 

 it is found in live-stock and agricultural journals, which in the 

 main consists of contributions from partisans of the breed. In the 

 United States carriage or coach horses from Germany have been 

 advertised as Hanoverian, Oldenburg, and German Coach. 



The home of horse breeding in Germany has long been recog- 

 nized as especially located in the northwestern section, in the 

 rich lowlands drained by the rivers Elbe, Weser, and Ems, all of 

 which flow into the North Sea. Here was originally found the 

 great draft horse of northern Europe, and here to-day the coach 

 horse is bred, especially in the states of Hanover, Oldenburg, 

 and Schleswig-Holstein, and in the district of East Friesland. 



Early records of horse breeding in Germany go back nearly 

 five centuries. We are told that early in 1500 important annual 

 fairs were held in Friesland near the Holland boundary, where 

 buyers from Holland, Belgium, and Germany found superior 

 horses. From 1628 to 1648 the stables of Count Ulrich II con- 

 tained numerous stallions of high repute. A government stud 

 was established at Ilo, which contained 182 horses in 1648. In 

 1658 Count Enno Ludwig sent the Emperor Leopold a number 

 of beautiful and valuable horses. In 1 708 Prince George Albrecht 

 prepared a catalogue of his stud, which contained horses from 

 the prominent horse countries of the world, including Turkey, 

 Poland, Hungary, Transylvania, Denmark, England, and even 

 Iceland. This shows the mixed character of the early German 

 horse stock. At Harlingerland, in East Friesland, government 

 studs were in operation and reports refer to these as far back as 

 1 712, when 16 stallions were used here for service on 819 mares. 

 In 1889, in this same region, 1 5 stallions were used on 142 1 mares. 



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