IN THE SERVICE OF ARISTOCRACY

Horses were especially popular among the nobility. Their economy, travel and hunting would not have been possible without horses.

The nobility had to be able to ride a horse in the open countryside with ease. The way they hunted was also a major cause that changed the spatial structure of game reserves and landscapes over the centuries. The main method of hunting game during the establishment of the first game reserves was the mounted hunt (later called parfors hunts), which was popular with European monarchs and nobility. It was also an important social event, and women took part in it. During parfors hunts, according to French rules, a noble company on horseback, with the help of dogs, pursued a tracked or pre-captured animal (e.g. a deer), the aim being to completely exhaust the hunted animal and kill it unable to escape.

In the Czech lands, French-style parfors hunts took place in the 17th and 18th centuries, mainly on the estates of Count František Antonín Špork and his successors. Later on, parfors hunt according to English rules were more popular, where it was mainly about horsemanship and sporting performance. At the end of such a hunt, the animal was not killed, but surrounded by dogs and returned to the preserve. The hunts of Count Octavian Kinský of Chlumec were the beginning of this tradition in our territory. He was the first to bring a pack of parfors hounds and thoroughbred horses to Bohemia from England in the 1830s. Pardubice was an important Austro-Hungarian centre where these hunts were organised until the First World War.

It was the horse's beauty and nobility that secured its continued function in the royal courts. They became ceremonial animals. They graced ceremonial processions or important social events. In the past, horses from Spain or Italy were particularly popular for this purpose. The living legacy of these ancient horses has been preserved to this day in the form of the Old Cladrucian horses, which are still among the magnificent galacrossières, or the Lipizzaners, which are famous for their demanding training under saddle at the Spanish Court Riding School in Vienna.

As the horse was used for different types of activities, different breeds became popular. According to their origin, horses can be divided into steppe, eastern, western and northern horses, and according to their exterior, temperament and other characteristics, most often into warm-blooded and cold-blooded. Cold-blooded horses are breeds derived from the Western horse, with a heavy, powerful body and a calm temperament. They are mainly used for draft work (e.g. the Norwegian or Belgian horse). In contrast, warm-blooded horses have a more lively temperament and a smaller body frame. They are derived from the eastern horse. They are used more for work under saddle, but also in other areas. This group includes most breeds of horses associated with sporting disciplines or leisure activities (e.g. Czech Warmblood, Old Cladruby, Arabian, Hucul and others). Within the warm-blooded breeds, some breeds are referred to as thoroughbred (e.g. English or Arabian Thoroughbred).