The Heřmanův Městec stud farm

The stud farm in Heřmanův Městec is a place where the Kladruber black horses are trained and bred. Being part of the Kladruby Stud Farm, it is a National Cultural Heritage. The former Kinský estate was transformed after the Second World War into a training centre for the rare Kladruber breed thanks to the care of zoologist and breeder professor František Bílek. 

The modern history of the estate in Heřmanův Městec is closely connected with the aristocratic Kinský family from Vchynice and Tetov. They acquired the estate in 1828 and were instrumental, among other things, in the construction of the stud farm, which was completed in 1875. The Kinský family however, did not keep the Kladruber breed, which had a stud farm for its rare white and black horses in Kladruby. They were more interested in races, which was very popular among the nobility at that time, and also in par force des chiens hunting - i.e. hunting wild animals and game with the help of dogs. After all, the Kinskýs were instrumental in organising the biggest Czech race, the Velká pardubická cross-country steeplechase, and Prince Karel Kinský was the only Czech ever to win the Great National Liverpool Race. It was in 1883 with the mare Zoedone trained in his stud in Heřmanův Městec. The Kinský family continued to work on their estate even after the First World War in the new atmosphere of the Czechoslovak Republic, which did not favour nobility. The fate of the Heřmanův Městec branch of the Kinský family was finally met in 1945, when the estate became the property of the state. The stables could have been abandoned, but in the end, their fate was merciful and similar to the nearby stud farm in Slatiňany. Professor František Bílek, the rescuer of the Kladruber black horse, moved the training centre for this –almost extinct– breed here. As a traditional breed of powerful carriage horses intended for ceremonial and representative purposes of the nobility and the clergy, and thus a symbol of the former imperial-royal monarchy, the Kladruber breed was not in demand in the new republic. In the 1920s, it was decided to stop breeding them and to gradually eliminate especially the “less noble” black horses. Some were sold off, some ended up in slaughterhouses. In 1938, however, professor František Bílek, a renowned zoologist and breeder, decided to save the breed. He moved the remnants of the breed first to Průhonice u Prahy and then to Slatiňany and Heřmanův Městec, where their breeding continues to this day. In the Slatiňany stud they are mainly bred and in Heřmanův Městec the older horses are trained. Visitors to the stud farm can visit the so-called Great Saddle Room, a small museum with unique exhibits dating back to the time of the Princes of the Kinský family.

50 let hřebčína Slatiňany 1945-1995. Kladruby nad Labem 1995.

GREGOR, D., VÍTEK, M.: Národní hřebčín Kladruby nad Labem. Opava 2012

PECHEROVÁ, K.: Liverpoolský triumf Karla knížete. Kladruby nad Labem 2018, s. 168

(Author: Public domain)