09/08/2026
Haflinger History Tuesday--Did you know...? While there are many different mare lines in Haflinger breeding, there are only seven stallion lines, and all registered Haflinger stallions around the world descend from these seven lines-A, B, M, N, S, ST and W. (Note that there are two lines that begin with "S." However, the letter "S" followed by the letter "T"=ST line (for example, Stellar TVR) is a completely different stallion line than those starting with an "S" only. In North America and in most other countries (with Italy being the exception, unless things have changed), colts names start with the first letter of their sire's name (or first two letters in the case of the ST line), while fillies name starts with the first letter of the dam’s name. This makes it easier to determine what stallion/mare lines they descend from.
The information below is taken directly from the Fohlenhof Ebbs / Haflinger Pferdezuchtverband Tirol website, haflinger-tirol .com.
"...The seven Haflinger stallion lines come from Folie, five of which go back to the stallion liz. 42 Mandl, born in 1904, and through this, a Folie son from 54 Genter, born in 1897. Only the A-line goes back via Campi, born in 1896, directly to Folie and the W-line via Sarn, born in 1915, to 291 Jenner and licensed 252/233 Haflinger to 249 Folie. It was therefore particularly important to continue the A-line, as it has a completely different lineage to the stallion Folie. The black and white picture shows the founder of today's most important bloodline, Anselmo, from 1926. Today the A line, which almost died out 50 years ago, is the world's most important stallion line, including the world and European champion stallion in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008 and 2010, liz.200/T Abendstern.
The breeding books today show ancestry of up to 20 generations, which is a very large family tree for a young breed in pure breeding. In 2005, around 2,000 Haflinger stallions bred an estimated 45,000 registered mares worldwide. The world population of Haflingers was almost 250,000 in the same year.
These success figures show the development from a small local mountain horse to an important world horse breed that deserves to continue to be preserved in pure breeding and to be proudly bred and developed.
From work horse to leisure horse
The Haflinger was originally used as a light workhorse in the high mountains and was used there for work on mountain farms, i.e. on the one hand as a pack animal to supply remote farms with food from the valley and on the other hand as a draft horse for work in the mountain fields and in the steep forest.
Due to motorization after the Second World War, this use declined continuously, even though the Haflinger is still used today to supply remote alpine huts, to gently bring wood from steep or soft forest areas, or as a pack animal in various armies around the world. However, this area of application is very limited, so a new area of responsibility had to be sought for the Haflinger with its excellent inner qualities, its calm and serenity, and its child-friendliness.
These inner values, which have been consolidated over generations, are understandable when you know that on the remote mountain farms 100 years ago, it was particularly the young or older generation who did the work on the farm and the middle generation did work in the valley. These character traits made it possible to breed the Haflinger into a leisure horse, which can be found in publications and books by the Tyrolean breeding director Otto Schweisgut from the early 1950s. The path to becoming a versatile riding and carriage horse was a very long one, but today it has been achieved in a unique way by the pure-bred Haflinger..."
