Dutch Warmblood

Most people look up Dutch Warmbloods when they’re weighing up a sport horse: something tall enough to cover ground, elastic enough for dressage, careful enough to jump, and steady enough to live with day to day. The details matter, because a “Dutch Warmblood” is not just a look—it’s a breeding program with clear goals, strict selection, and a long paper trail.

Below is a practical, plain-language profile of the Dutch Warmblood (KWPN): what it is, what it tends to be like under saddle, what the KWPN selection system actually does, and what to watch for in health, training, and everyday care.

Dutch Warmblood at a glance

• Origin: The Netherlands (registered through the KWPN—Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands)¹
• Typical height: Commonly around 15–17 hands; many sit near 16.2 hands²
• Typical weight: Often around 550–600 kg (about 1,210–1,320 lb), varying by type and build²
• Colours: Bay, chestnut, black, grey are common; white markings occur²
• Temperament (general): Bred for rideability—trainable, forward, and manageable for sport (individuals vary)²
• Common uses: Dressage and show jumping most often; also eventing, driving and other sport disciplines¹
• Typical lifespan: Often 25+ years with good care (not a promise, but a reasonable expectation)²

What “Dutch Warmblood” means (KWPN, not a single closed breed)

In everyday riding talk, “Dutch Warmblood” often means a modern European sport horse with an uphill frame, elastic movement, and scope over a fence. In practice, it usually means a horse registered (or eligible to be registered) with the KWPN—one of the world’s major sport-horse studbooks, focused on breeding jumpers, dressage horses, and related types under defined breeding goals.¹

This matters when you’re buying. Two horses can look similar, yet differ in:

• Breeding direction: dressage vs jumping lines (and what those lines tend to produce)
• Selection history: what veterinary screening, performance testing, and progeny assessment sits behind the pedigree
• Management needs: some are naturally robust and uncomplicated; others are finer-skinned, sharper, or more maintenance-prone

History and origin (the short version)

The modern Dutch sport horse developed as breeding goals shifted away from farm and carriage work and towards performance riding. Dutch mares were matched with selected stallions from other European lines to produce horses suited to the emerging international sport disciplines. Over time, the KWPN formalised this into a structured breeding program with clear selection steps and ongoing evaluation.²

Conformation, movement and “type”

A typical Dutch Warmblood presents as a tall, athletic horse with a longer outline, a neck that tends to come up from the shoulder, and hindquarters built to sit and push. Under saddle, many are known for a big, elastic trot and a canter with enough jump to package for collected work or open for covering ground. That said, type varies by breeding direction, training, and the individual horse’s build.

Common, practical expectations include:

• Dressage-leaning lines: more expression in trot, more “sit” potential, and a tendency towards sensitivity
• Jumping-leaning lines: quicker reflexes, carefulness, scope, and a canter that carries rhythm and power

KWPN breeding and selection: how the system keeps checking the horses

The KWPN selection process isn’t a single yes/no moment. It’s staged, and it keeps collecting information as a stallion’s career and offspring develop—conformation, movement, veterinary findings, performance, and later, how the offspring actually turn out.³

Veterinary screening and entry requirements

Before a stallion can progress, the KWPN requires specific veterinary examinations (including radiographic screening and other checks), along with additional requirements around soundness and suitability for breeding. The details vary with the program and year, but the intent is consistent: reduce the odds of breeding forward unsoundness and poor functionality.³

Performance testing (and recent changes)

KWPN stallion approval involves performance evaluation that looks at natural sport ability and temperament, using structured assessments and experienced riders’ input. The KWPN has also adjusted aspects of how young stallions move through testing in recent years, including changes scheduled from 2025 for certain spring tests for three-year-olds.⁴

Offspring inspections over time

A stallion’s early promise still has to hold up once foals are on the ground. The KWPN conducts offspring inspections at multiple stages (including foal age and later years), building a picture of what the stallion reliably produces—movement, conformation traits, and indicators of sport talent. Final decisions on a stallion’s long-term approval can come later, once there’s enough progeny data to judge fairly.⁵

Dutch Warmbloods in equestrian sport

Dutch Warmbloods are commonly seen at the top end of dressage and show jumping, partly because the KWPN breeding goal is aimed squarely at international sport. When you see a Dutch Warmblood performing at elite level, you’re often seeing several generations of selection for movement, technique, soundness and rideability converging in one animal.

Famous Dutch Warmbloods include:

• Totilas (KWPN): a widely recognised Grand Prix dressage stallion from the Netherlands.⁶
• Valegro (Dutch Warmblood): a world champion dressage gelding ridden by Charlotte Dujardin; he died in December 2025.⁷

Note: Nino des Buissonnets is often mentioned in lists of top sport horses, but he is recorded as Selle Français in the FEI database, not a Dutch Warmblood.⁸

Training: what tends to work well

Dutch Warmbloods are bred to be athletes, and many respond best to training that is steady, specific and fair. The goal is not to “hold” the movement together, but to organise it—rhythm first, then balance, then power. When the basics settle, the flash tends to appear on its own.

• Short, clear sessions suit many young horses better than long drilling.
• Strength before difficulty: build the back and hindquarters gradually before asking for big collection or big fences.
• Variety matters: hacking, poles, hill work and turnout help keep bodies and minds steady.

Care and feeding: keep it ordinary, keep it consistent

Most Dutch Warmbloods do well on normal, high-quality horse management: plenty of forage, thoughtful conditioning, regular hoof care, dental checks, and vaccinations and worming appropriate to your region. They are often described as generally healthy as a population, reflecting long-term selection and management, but that never replaces individual veterinary oversight.²

Diet basics

• Forage first: good pasture and/or quality hay as the base of the ration.
• Concentrates as needed: add hard feed for workload, growth or body condition—then reassess regularly.
• Supplements: only where they solve a real problem (for example, a confirmed dietary gap).

Health realities: what to watch (without blaming the breed)

The original draft claimed Dutch Warmbloods have “no breed-specific health issues” and then listed multiple serious conditions. The more honest position is this: Dutch Warmbloods are often robust, but as large, athletic sport horses they can be vulnerable to the same problems seen across performance horses—especially where training load, footing, nutrition, shoeing and genetics intersect.²

Common, practical watch-points for many sport horses include:

• Orthopaedic wear and injury: joint and soft-tissue strains can accumulate with jumping and collected work.
• Colic risk: a concern for all horses; management, forage access, and routine changes matter.
• Hoof and laminitis risk: influenced by diet, weight, endocrine status and pasture management.

If you’re assessing a purchase, a thorough pre-purchase exam (including imaging where appropriate) is often more useful than leaning on breed reputation alone.

In Australia: registration and recognition

In Australia you’ll see imported KWPN horses, locally bred horses with KWPN bloodlines, and Australian Warmbloods registered through Australian organisations. The Australian Warmblood Horse Association (AWHA) is one long-standing national body and a full member of the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH), which supports pedigree recognition and connection to international sport-horse breeding systems.⁹

Final thoughts

A good Dutch Warmblood is usually easy to recognise in motion: ground-covering walk, a trot that swings through the body, and a canter that feels like it can lift the shoulders and wait. The breeding program stacks the odds in your favour, but the individual horse still tells the truth—through soundness, rideability, and what it does every day when the work is ordinary.

References

1. KWPN (Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands) – Official site
2. PetMD: Dutch Warmblood (updated 20 September 2024)
3. KWPN: Stallion selection (selection program overview and veterinary requirements)
4. KWPN: Stallion performance testing
5. KWPN: Offspring inspections
6. Totilas (Dutch Warmblood/KWPN) – overview
7. Valegro (Dutch Warmblood) – overview
8. FEI horse database: Nino Des Buissonnets (studbook listed as SF)
9. Australian Warmblood Horse Association (AWHA): About us (WBFSH membership and objectives)