The Oldenburg

The war with Denmark and the difficult times during the French Revolution made it difficult for Graf Anton Gunther to continue his efforts at refinement of the Oldenburg horse. Government sponsored breeding entered a brief hiatus, which ended in 1820. From 1820 to 1897, three important events took place which began the movement of Oldenburg breeding to its present state of scientific management. Any one of these events would have been significant in itself. Combined, they represented a watershed in the development of the breed. During the year 1820, a law was enacted which forbade the use of any but government-approved stallions in a breeding program. The first of the stallion testings was held on June 30th of that year.