The new born foal totters on shakey, impossible legs. His mother encourages him to feed gently nudging and pushing him.
Instinctively he suckles; tail twitching ecstatically.
Over one hundred years of
breeding has produced this colt. His ancessors fought and survived two World Wars. He has relatives from Peru to Bhutan. His forebearers have consorted with princes, toiled in the fields, encouraged handicapped children to smile and carried 200 kilos of provisions on their backs.
In the shadow of the majestic Kufstein mountains, herds of these wild horses forage high on the Alm – this young
stallion is a Haflinger.
Haflingers get their name from the rugged region of South Tyrol. Surprisingly, the first registered stallion was not born in Hafling, but Schlunders now Italy, where a statue commemurates his birth in 1874. Folie, the fine offspring of an Arabian stallion
El Badavi and a Landestute mare, soon caught the imagination of important breeders.
Over the years Count Moritz von Leon owner of the imposing Fragsburg Castle near Meran used his considerable wealth and influence with the Imperial Austrian authorities to further promote the breed.
However, it took a military man and equine expert to realise their full potential.
Major Count Huyn was born in 1852 to an aristocractic Viennese family. At the age of 45 he became the director of the National Stallion Depot Stadl-Paura. After touring the region he initiated a selective breeding programme and Haflinger an exceptional and important colt was born in 1897.
In 1914 the onset of WW1 dramatically changed the Haflingers rural exisitence. All were drafted into the Army and served their human masters with courage and loyalty.
Nor the six years of bitter conflict which later tore at the heart of Europe could undermine their usefulness. Serving on the Russian Front at Murmansk with temperatures reching minus 40 degress F and exisiting on starvation rations they bravely soldiered on.
But sadly the Haflingers had been betrayed. By the end of the war human design
and military ordnance had turned these once noble creatures into lowly pack animals. With the end of hostilities and collapse of the armed forces there was no requirement for such a horse – the future looked bleak.
After the fall of the Third Reich, Austria was under allied occupation. In 1945 one hundred stallions remained at Zams – all destined for the dinner table. However a small determined group of enthusiasts, lead by Otto Schweisgut eveutally persuaded the Americans that horses were necessary for breeding. Impressed with the passion this handful of men felt for these animals the authorities transfered 30 of the best to the mountains of the Vorarlberg which was under French occupation. The rest 70 or so were slaughtered – meat for the hospitals.
A mystery still surround the fate of the ‘French’ stallions. One evening the local in charge of the horses was found bound and gagged in his mountain hut. A search ensued and protests were made but no avail, the trail eventually petered out.
They had disappeared into thin air. Rumour has it they were railroaded out of Austria under cover of darkness but we will never know.
What we do know however, is that by the early 1960s sucessful breeding programs had made the Haflingers famous – Internationally regarded as the Great All-Rounder, versatile and smart. 1,000 horses were sent to the Netherlands, many imported into Great Britain, further were shipped to America, for the great industrialist Temple Smith of Ilinois. The remote Kingdom of Bhutan imported prime stallions and fine brood mare to improve the local Tibetan ponies.
The Haflinger still is in great demand. So what makes it special?
Apart from it’s beautiful appearance, chestnut body and flaxen mane and tail, graceful movements combined with immense strength the main attribute of this small horse is temperament: Highly intelligent, gentle and trustworthy with a wonderful willingness please.
Haflinger – a Horse which captures the Heart of the people ……