About the Norwegian Warmblood

Breed Standard

A Norwegian Warmblood must hold a certain presence. Due to the breed's long and unkept history, allowing influence from many different breeds, certain features can be seen, and accepted, that is otherwise unseen in other warmblood breeds.

From slight convex profile is a common sight, along with the standard straight profile represented by the thoroughbred breed, to a shortened face with large "doe" eyes, a characteristic seen in ponies.
No matter it's head shape, the Norwegian Warmblood has managed to retain and keep a very expressive eye, along with flaring nostrils and a high set tail. Thus, watching a Norwegian Warmblood at liberty is one of the most beautiful and joyful experiences one can ever imagine.

There are no specific sets of "types," though there is a range of body types that can be seen. These warmbloods most often have a medium warmblood type build. Long legs are accompanied by a proportionately muscular body, and a relatively high set neck, giving off a stately and proud demeanor.
Slightly slimmer models, with a build more like a sport horse, as well as horses with a heavy warmblood build often accompanied by sparse feathering are rare. It is important to note that these horses are still accepted by the registry, though not as heavily desired as the medium type build.

Their height ranges from 15hh to 18hh.
Norwegian Warmbloods can  come in all base colors, and can carry the sooty, dun, pangare, flaxen, and cream dilutions.
Thanks to influence from Danish Knabstruppers, Thoroughbreds, Swedish and Dutch warmbloods, appaloosa, roan, tobiano, sabino, overo, and splash markings can occur, along with the silver and white dilution. However, these are extremely rare. If you see a horse with one of these up for adoption, I suggest you pounce!

Personality

Norwegian Warmbloods are, for some reason, often born extremely wild. Not in the sense that they are untouchable by humans, but rather in the sense that they never seem to have an "off" switch. They can run around, buck, rear, along with other unnamable types of "air dressage" all day and all night. Again, these horses are an absolute joy to watch.
It is important that this breed has daily contact with humans, preferably more than one. They need to be able to develop trust, and learn that it is indeed possible to live without spazzing out every few minutes.
With this daily contact, they seem to gradually calm down, without loosing their "spark," allowing for the perfect dressage, jumping, or cross country horse.
Once the horses are at the rideable age of around 3, they should be broken in and worked almost immediately, as these horses tend to get bored very quickly. Never let a horse stay in the pasture or stall for more than one day, or it will become even more hot headed, and it will be back to square one. A well worked horse, given lots of continuous challenges, will develop a calm and willing personality.
Again, with daily contact and some type of working, this breed has an enormous capacity to excel in almost any discipline you decide to focus on.

Disciplines

This breed has an exceptional gait. Depending on the horse, you can see a long, low, and stretched movement, to a high and active movement. Either way, these horses are in most cases great dressage horses, guaranteed a few wins, and definitely a lot of "oohs" and "ash" whilst performing.
Norwegian Warmbloods have an enormous jumping scope. The way they pop their knees and hocks over a jump secures a clear and steady jump. You can expect a lot of rushing towards the jump, but never a stop. These horses are very courageous, and will jump anything they are put before. It is the riders job to make sure the horse gets to where he needs to be securely. The horses that are more hot headed will excel in both show jumping and cross country.