Following on from our feature on the history of Marbach Stud Parades earlier this year, we now have a report from Birgitta Frosch and Betty Finke on the 100 year anniversary parade.
Lead image: traditional five-in-hand of Arabian mares in Hungarian harness in honour of General Tibor von Pettkö-Szandtner, Stud Director of Bábolna and El Zahraa
Marbach State Stud celebrated the 100th anniversary of its stud parades with a show to remember. All three dates were completely sold out, the grandstands packed to capacity with cheering spectators. The programme, a firework of displays, charted the triumphant transition through the past hundred years from a simple stallion presentation for local breeders to an equestrian festival for all the family.
Even the weather was almost at its best in this anniversary year. While the first two shows were blessed with blazing sunshine, the third was only marred by a few small showers. If you come to Marbach, you have to be prepared for all weathers.
Entering the main yard of the stud, visitors were welcomed by mounted town guards and marching bands. With their colourful uniforms and splendid harnesses, they provided the first highlight of the day.
The show itself opened with ministers and other high-ranking civil servants of Baden-Württemberg entering in horse-drawn carriages. One special guest of honour was Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg, a descendant of King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, who began breeding Arabian horses in 1817. This breeding programme was transferred to Marbach in 1932, becoming the foundation of Marbach’s famous Arabian herd.
The following four hours of show programme took the audience on a journey through time from the first beginnings of the stud up to the present day.
It began with the re-enactment of a royal Württemberg hunting party, including King Wilhelm I’s original Stanhope Phaeton which the king used to drive himself. This phaeton and other historic carriages shown throughout the parade had all been specially restored for a six-figure sum, and some were presented to the public for the very first time. This was made possible by numerous donations and the Marbach Friends Association.
Other original carriages and harnesses in the possession of the Royal House of Württemberg are on permanent loan to Marbach, where they are on display.
The very first stallion presentation in 1925 was re-enacted by the 2018 purebred gelding WM Mouad (Naoufil x Maaza), being driven from the saddle.
A look back to the past was also provided through the presentation of the mares with their foals. These included the family of Silberdistel (2016 Il Divo [TB] x Shafali), an Anglo Arab mare tracing back to Murana I, the desertbred foundation mare of King Wilhelm’s Weil Stud. She was shown with her two Trakehner daughters and their offspring, and her 2025 Trakehner filly at foot.
The next time jump took the audience to 1981, when the Hungarian Post first became a part of the programme. In this jubilee year, Black Forest Draft stallions raced around the arena, accompanied by thunderous applause.
When the new show arena was opened in 1978, the event was marked by the first appearance of a ten-in-hand. For the 2025 anniversary, no less than six ten-on-hands entered the arena, each carriage drawn by a different breed of horse: Warmbloods, Black Forest draft horses, Norikers, Haflingers, Freibergers, and Sports Ponies. What a grand display of driving skill – sixty horses in harness filling the arena, a sight never to be forgotten!
A great deal of preparation and time was needed to make this display possible. It took one and a half hours to put the horses in harness for each carriage, and each horse had its own groom. Each driver handled around 120m of reins while steering his carriage through the arena.
Horses can do many things: they can be sports partners or leisure time companions, and they can also be therapists. Patients from the Hippo- and Physiotherapy Centre Scharnhausen gave a display of therapeutic riding, demonstrating how well horses can adapt to handicapped riders. The horses included the 2013 Marbach-bred purebred gelding WM Saradan (Said x Shafali), who carried his rider safely through the quadrille. The speaker asked the audience for ‘silent applause’ for this display, which means waving instead of clapping, to ensure the safety of horses and riders.
Other displays were a lot louder, especially when four Roman quadrigas rocked the arena. As the chariot drawn by four Haflingers charged around the arena at full speed, no one remained in their seats and Mexican waves surged through the audience – the atmosphere was electrifying!
Marbach’s Arabian horses were, of course, another highlight. The 2010 straight Egyptian stallions Naoufil (Mahadin x Namije) and twenty-year-old Musab (NK Bolbol x Maaza) were presented in-hand. Together with nine-year-old WM Devdas (Dschehim out of Dahi), they have recently been awarded the Elite title by the German Arab Horse Society, VZAP.
The 2012 mare Mardschana Bint Mahra (Musab x Mahra) was shown in harness, and of course there was also the traditional five-in-hand of Arabian mares in Hungarian harness in honour of General Tibor von Pettkö-Szandtner, Stud Director of Bábolna and El Zahraa. The mares were WM Dahima (2016 Dschehim x Dafina), WM Sahaabah (2013 KP Maryoom x Saadawi), Dafina (2009 Amurath Muntahi x Dukna), Dajinah (2012 Nastaran x Dumjeh), and WM Shareedah Ummahat (2018 WM Safi x Shaykhah Bint Shahra).
Then it was time for the Sheikhs of the Alb in their Arab costumes. They rode the 2021 stallion WM Daraschad (Mosri Al Dahab x Dahi) and the 2018 gelding WM Mouad (Naoufil x Maaza), accompanied by a group of camels.
And finally, the highlight of every stud parade: twenty purebred Arabian mares, first presented in family groups and then turned loose to gallop gracefully around the arena. Marbach’s famous ‘silver herd’ is always a thrilling sight that never grows old.
The grand finale was provided by the stallion quadrille, as it has been ever since 1925. This year it consisted of twenty stallions, Marbach’s own warmblood stallions joined by Freibergers from the Swiss National Stud at Avenches.
All in all, some 220 horses took part in the show, as well as assorted geese, goats, dogs, cattle, and camels. Around 450 officials and helpers were needed to keep things running smoothly, and without them, the public could not have enjoyed these three remarkable parades.
As Stud Director Dr Astrid von Velsen-Zerweck pointed out, this year’s anniversary parades included descendants of horses that were shown at the very first parade in 1925. But the people at Marbach also come from a long tradition. Some of the staff at the stud today are descended from the people who worked there in 1925 and who were a part of that very first parade, too.
Klaus Niethammer, keeper of the mares at Marbach, started as the stud’s very first trainee fifty years ago and retires at the end of this year. In almost forty years of caring for the broodmares, he has witnessed some 1,500 foals being born. He will be succeeded by Florian Niederstrasser.
A stud as large as Marbach needs well-trained staff to function. In 2025, the stud had a total of forty-five trainees in the three branches – stud management and service, horse breeding, and classical equitation. It is the largest training school for equestrian professions in Germany.
A book on the 100 years of stud parades is currently in preparation and should be published in time for Christmas.
If you are curious about the stud parades, you will need a little patience as the next parade will be held in 2027. In 2026, Marbach will present its horses at the Agricultural Fair at Stuttgart-Bad Cannstadt, as it does every four years, and it is not possible to prepare a stud parade at the same time.
However, if friends of the Arabian horse who would like to visit Marbach, they should mark the following date in their calendars: from 31 July to 2 August 2026, Marbach will host an Arabian and Trakehner weekend. The provisional programme is as follows:
- July 31 – Fireside talk with the well-known Trakehner expert and author Erhard Schulte
- August 1 – Trakehner Day with foal championships and registration
- August 2 – Arabian Horse Day with a presentation of the broodmares and foals
See you at Marbach on the Swabian Alb! It is always worth a visit.
Additional information
Startseite – Infodienst – Haupt- und Landgestüt Marbach
www.hul.landwirtschaft-bw.de
Facebook – Marbach State Stud
Instagram – gestuetmarbach
YouTube
Report by Birgitta Frosch with additional reporting by Betty Finke.
