Marbach Stud

The Marbach Stud, also known as Weil-Marbach, is Germany's oldest state stud farm for horse breeding, has a history that dates back over 500 years. It is located in southwest Germany near in the district of Baden-Wurttemburg. It is probably best known as the home stud of the Weil-Marbach Arabians. The majority of Arabian horses bred at Marbach are sold to private owners. Horses bred at Marbach are performance tested before being allowed reproduce and are branded with a symbol called the Hirschgeweih.

Marbach was first established as a private stud between 1477 and 1480 by Graf Eberhard V. Christoph, Duke of Wurttemburg (r. 1550-1568) expanded the stud and in 1573 it was named a court and state stud, after the ruling Dukes realized a need for improvement in local horse breeds.

The Weil stud was founded in 1817 at Esslingham by King Willhelm I of Wurttemburg for the purpose of breeding Arabian horses. Among the foundation horses was the mare Murana I 1808, whose dam line still continues at Marbach today. The stallions Bairactar, imported directly from the Arabian desert and his son Amurath I 1829 played a significant part in the development of the Arabian breed at Weil, and made major contributions to the breed throughout Europe, particularly on Arabian horses bred in Poland.

While the Weil stud thrived though the 19th century, from 1890 on, it went into considerable decline and by the time the Weil herd was transferred from Princess Pauline zu Wied of Württemberg to the Marbach State Stud in 1932, only 17 purebred Arabians remained. To expand the breeding pool, Arabian horses from Poland were used, particularly those of the Ofir line such as the Witez II son Wisznu and the stallion Abu Afas. In 1955, the Arabian stallion Habdan Enzahi was imported from Egypt with some other breeding stock, and this infusion of new blood added to the foundation animals established the Weil-Marbach line of Arabians. Since the importation of Hadban Enzahi, the focus of Marbach shifted to Arabian breeding of strongly Egyptian bloodlines, though the older lines are also preserved.

This is where Cirque Krone gets there beautiful Arabians for the liberty acts. They do have particulars and are a distinctive looking Arabian horse. Above is the main stable, and below is the historic barn where the Stallions are housed.