They’re amongst the most eye-catching horses in the world, bred for their beauty, elegance and spirited nature.
The American saddlebred, dubbed “the horse that America made,” is one of the world’s best-loved steeds.
They have an important place in the country’s national history – popular as Officers’ Mounts in the American Civil War due to their gentle temperament – and are regularly seen in the show ring today.
Kalarama Farm in Springfield, Kentucky, are world leaders in the breeding and training of saddlebreds since being established in 1901. Almost 120 years later, their horses continue to be shipped all over the world.
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“We breed for beauty, we breed for animation, perfect movement, for a good brain because the horse needs to go in show ring with a six-year-old kid on its back with a lot of excitement and things that happen around it,” Mark Haupt, a trainer at Kalarama farms, tells CNN Winning Post.
“[We want] perfect confirmation, intelligence, high learning ability, big animation and a lot of beauty.
“They could be fast, but we’re not interested in fast. We’re interested in a safe horse that looks beautiful, that’s highly enjoyable and that gives the rider a lot of adrenaline rush riding a big-trotting and big-going horse.”
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Kalarama Farm refers to itself as “the four-year-old factory” because they prefer to give the horses more time to mature ahead of their intense training.
With the horses out six days a week, the training could include activities such as jogging with a cart, or long line training to encourage the horses to be docile and collected.
See more in the video at the top of the page.
