The horses offered for sale at Tannenwald are all the products of our own breeding program. As breeders, we strive to produce horses that are classically "Trakehner," hopefully an improvement on the preceding generations in terms of conformation, type, movement, and ability.

As foal-raisers, we try to bring our foals up to be the perfect horses for their future owners—the horses they would have raised for themselves if they had the chance. Our young horses are handled daily with kindness and consistency. They are fed a carefully formulated diet and given regular farrier and veterinary care. Following practices proven to encourage the development of physically and mentally sound horses, they mainly live outdoors in small groups so that they can play, exercise at will, and socialize with other horses. We work to ensure that they mature into healthy, relaxed, and pleasant horses, equally comfortable in the company of humans and other horses.

Tanzdiva with owner, Holger Hoetzel

Tannenwald Trakehners have homes with amateur and professional riders as family horses, children's horses, future competition mounts, and breeding stock. We really love keeping in touch with our "extended families" and are grateful for the friendships that our horses have helped to build. And the comments from our horses' owners tell us that we are doing pretty well in accomplishing our goals:

•I am extremely happy with Tazzy . . .

He handled the transport fine, there were no ill effects from the long trip, and the drivers were very complimentary on his loading and unloading manners. He ate and drank well when he got here, we didn't have any problems switching him over to the new routine. Most importantly, his personality was exactly as Ingrid had described. He is healthy, happy, and well adjusted. It's interesting to me, being around a lot of horses that were treated roughly in their early years, the contrast between Tazzy and those other horses. You can tell that the thought of people wanting to hurt him just has never crossed his mind. I think this speaks a lot for the way he was raised.—Virginia Slavin

•I had fallen for Tanzdiva just from seeing a photo . . .

. . . and a clip on Tannenwald's website. And to be perfectly honest there never was really a choice - without having ridden her, nor having seen her in person, I knew it had to be this beautiful mare from Tannenwald. "Diva" had to move quite a long distance from Michigan to California to start her new life and she arrived here in excellent shape. And my gut feeling about this Trakehner mare and her breeder were on the spot: Tanzdiva is not only a spectacularly beautiful and talented mare, she also has an affectionate and calm personality, with the curiosity and willingness that makes a great riding horse. As for Ingrid: her in-depth knowledge, insight and honesty made this purchase an absolute pleasure.—Holger Hoetzel

For your consideration, we present our