I’m vetting a horse tomorrow (fingers crossed) who is registered RPSI. On his sire’s side, he is mostly Selle Francais. On his dam’s side, he is mostly Holsteiner/Oldenburg.
I just have never understood all these warmblood registries. What does this all mean? What breed IS he?
Warmblood registries are not breeds. They inspect any horse that has an eligible sport-type pedigree and is the right age and approve it if it meets the registry standard for conformation /movement /temperament /jump/ overall type. So he’s a warmblood by breed and registered with RPSI.
Thanks @Highflyer1. So if I’m filling out insurance paperwork, and it asks for breed, I simply write “warmblood?”
Sorry, still confused. As a kid endlessly looking through horse books, Holsteiner, Hanoverian, Dutch Warmblood, etc were all listed as breeds. So a horse that is a mixture of these, but registered RSPI is no particular breed…but just a warmblood mix?
They still aren’t breeds, they’re registries. Stallions can be approved/licensed by multiple registries, making them able to breed to mares that are also approved by those registries to have foals that can be put into that registry. Then when the mare has the foal, that foal is inspected by the registry and that’s how they market the foal. So it could be a thoroughbred mare that was approved into the KWPN registry, bred to a KWPN stallion, and the foal is then marketed as a KWPN. (This wording may be off, in terms of approvals/licenses/registering, but this is the gist.)
This ends up with people talking about a horse who may be technically registered KWPN, but has a lot of C-line Holsteiner blood. Or, as I mentioned, is technically half TB but approved by a warmblood registry. So for ‘breed’ its fair to put Warmblood or whatever registry inspected them and put them in their books. But I imagine with the detail most people put into breeding, calling them mutts comes across super offensive.
I’ll edit my language. Thank you.
For identification purposes, I would put RPSI on his documents so that is consistent with his registration papers.
As far as calling them breeds, I think in the early 20th century there may have been more difference in type between the various national or regional registries. Also the book editors, especially if they were British or American, may not have fully understood the difference or may have thought the difference too arcane for a Horses and Ponies of the World coffee table book 
. I have always found minor errors about American stock breeds in the British books (but scrupulous exact details on native British pony breeds), some howlers about English riding in the American books (but encyclopedic accuracy on QH, applies, mustangs, and Chincoteague ponies), and no clear or systematic overview of German or European breeds in either British or American publications.
Perhaps the Horses of the World type books have been updated since my youth of course
@MsRidiculous did a FANTASTIC blog post about this very topic. I hope she doesn’t mind if I copy & paste it here:
registries vs breeds
In the warmblood/sporthorse breeding world, there really isn’t such a thing as true breeds (except maybe Trakehner, and I’ll explain why in a second). If someone asks your favorite breed and you say Dutch Warmblood or Hanoverian or something like that, it sounds a little bit silly. Why? Because almost all of those European registries have “open” books – meaning they will allow stallions and mares for breeding within their own regstry that originated from another. This has become especially true within the last few decades with the prevalence and availability of shipped semen. Your Dutch Warmblood might actually come from Holsteiner, Selle Francais, and Hanoverian bloodlines. Your Oldenburg might have a lot of Hanoverian roots. Your Holsteiner might actually be largely thoroughbred (Mighty Magic is registered Holsteiner but is actually by a full TB stallion and out of a mare that also had a full TB sire). All of these different European-based registries, which are regional, end up intermingling, albeit some more than others. While technically still an open studbook, Holsteiner is typically less accepting of outside blood than a lot of other registries, for example.
All these different warmbloods aren’t breeds the way a Haflinger or a Friesian are – they are more of a TYPE (sporthorse, or warmblood) that contains different regional registries within said type. This is why, when it comes to sporthorses, it’s much more important to look at the actual names on the pedigree rather than the registry at the top of the page. The registry only tells you which studbook the horse is registered with, it doesn’t necessarily tell you anything about it’s actual lineage. The only major registry with a “closed” studbook is Trakehner, in that they have only allowed Trakehner, Arabian, and Thoroughbred horses to be used within their registry. E.g. Presto is registered Belgian Sporthorse (the studbook of the southern French-speaking region of Belgium, not to be confused with Belgian Warmblood which is the studbook of the northern Flemish region of Belgium) but he is by a stallion that himself was registered Holsteiner despite being mostly TB, and out of a mare who is registered RPSI but is actually by a Hanoverian stallion out of a TB mare. And of course, he’s never been to Belgium in his life, nor are either of his parents from Belgium. It’s a lot to unpack, but you can see why they aren’t really breeds.
approved vs registered
If that last one wasn’t enough to hurt your brain, I have one more super confusing but often misunderstood topic: the difference between approved vs registered. As I said above, these European-based warmblood registries tend to all intermingle. This is helped along largely by the fact that a single horse can be approved for breeding by multiple registries. In the world of sporthorses (with a few complicated exceptions), breeding stock must be inspected and approved in order to be used for breeding – you can’t just take one rando horse, breed it to another rando horse, and then get papers for it. The inspection and approval process provides a level of quality control, as every horse that is used for breeding within every registry has to meet a minimum standard of conformation, pedigree, and quality in order to be allowed to produce papered offspring. And while a horse can only have one set of papers – ie it can only be registered with one registry – it can be approved for breeding with as many as you like. This means a horse could produce offspring for any registry it meets approval for.
To use our same example, Mighty Magic (registered Holsteiner) is approved for breeding with: Selle Francais, Anglo-Arab, Holsteiner, Hanoverian, Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, Rhineland, Westfalian, Swedish Warmblood, and Zangersheide. Additionally, many registries (like Presto’s – Belgian Sporthorse) will also accept foals by known stallions with multiple approvals, even if they haven’t specifically obtained approval within their own. That means Mighty Magic can produce foals for any of those registries. He only has ONE set of registration papers, and he will never be anything but Holsteiner since that is his birth registry, but he can produce registered offspring for just about any other registry.
The same goes for mares. A mare can potentially be approved by as many registries as you want to take her to for inspection. It’s not uncommon at all for mares to have breeding approval from multiple registries. This is why she could also produce offspring for different registries. E.g. Sadie, for example, is registered RPSI but approved RPSI and Belgian Sporthorse , and has produced foals that have been registered both RPSI and Belgian Sporthorse (RPSI actually got absorbed into Westfalen a few years ago, to make it even MORE COMPLICATED but I won’t go down that rabbit trail). Theoretically, she could even produce full siblings that ended up registered differently. As with stallions, a mare will only ever have ONE registration , but she can have multiple breeding approvals and produce offspring for multiple registries. It’s important to note that registration also does not equal automatic approval – every horse of breeding age must be presented and pass inspection in order to be approved as breeding stock. Just because they are registered with said registry doesn’t mean they will be approved for breeding with said registry. Clear as mud?
Write RPSI. That is his registration.
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