Knabstrupper

Knabstrupper
Conservation status
  • FAO (2007): not at risk:139
  • DAD-IS (2022): at risk/endangered
Other names
  • Knabstrup
  • Knabstrupperhesten
Country of originDenmark
Distribution
  • Germany
  • Denmark
  • Italy
  • Australia
Standard
Useriding, driving, circus
Traits
Weight
  • average 500 kg (1100 lb)
Height
  • 154–162 cm
Colourany but piebald or palomino; often spotted

The Knabstrupper or Knabstrup is a Danish breed of warmblood horse. It is principally a riding horse, but is also used as a harness horse and as a circus animal.:64 It is broadly similar to the Frederiksborger, but often has a spotted coat. In the past, injudicious breeding for this characteristic alone compromised its constitution and conformation. In the years after the Second World War the mechanisation of agriculture led to a sharp fall in numbers, and by the 1960s no more than 100 of the horses remained. In the twenty-first century it is an endangered breed, with a world-wide population estimated at little over 2000.