# Bred in the purple...



## kate081 (2 December 2008)

So what does it mean? I understand it means good breeding but what's the significance of purple &amp; why is it on so many adverts these days?

Thanks for enlightening me!


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## Ladyfresha1 (2 December 2008)

It goes back to olden times when purple was the most difficult and costly colour to produce. Only rich people (generally nobility and royalty) could afford to wear something purple or use purple in their homes etc. It suggests that the horse would have a long line of blooded ancestry as would royals etc. or something like that!


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## kate081 (2 December 2008)

interersting. Thanks. It seems that 'bred in the purple' is used more often than 'pink papered' these days. Guess it's just the current fashion.


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## Hollycat (2 December 2008)

I hate this term!!!!  Don't know why  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 At least 'pink papers' was descriptive!


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## Ladyfresha1 (2 December 2008)

I might paint the covering barn purple...


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## S_N (2 December 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
I might paint the covering barn purple... 

[/ QUOTE ]

LMAO!!


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## CVSHotShot (3 December 2008)

Oh thats so cool! Ive always wondered what that was all about, thanks 4 that Ladyfresha1...interesting stuff! lol x


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## sms (4 December 2008)

This must be a really dozy question but can someone please explain the term pink papered?


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## Pinkwellies2 (4 December 2008)

I used to think it was because that was the colour of the paper they had in the printer at the time but think its is to do with number of generations on both side that pedigree goes back.  Am sure that someone with more knowledge than me will be able to enlighten you.


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## Ladyfresha1 (4 December 2008)

Lol! Is it to do with pink papers if both parents are graded and white if only one or none are graded? I don't know but just a guess!


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## kate081 (5 December 2008)

that's what I always thought - pink when both parents are graded &amp; hence the resulting horse should be true to type.


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## Ponyplanet (6 December 2008)

pink papers means a horse is an import.


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## kate081 (6 December 2008)

Taken from Holme Trakehner's website:

"All Trakehner breeding stock has to undergo rigorous grading methods to maintain the high standards and only foals from graded parents on both sides are eligible for "Pink Papers" and the Trakehner Brand"

So I think they can still be bred in the UK. Just a warmblood is more likely to have both parents graded if it's from abroad.


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## Ponyplanet (6 December 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
Taken from Holme Trakehner's website:

"All Trakehner breeding stock has to undergo rigorous grading methods to maintain the high standards and only foals from graded parents on both sides are eligible for "Pink Papers" and the Trakehner Brand"

So I think they can still be bred in the UK. Just a warmblood is more likely to have both parents graded if it's from abroad. 

[/ QUOTE ]

thank you for the clarification, up until about 10 years ago pink papers indicated it was imported, but times have changed I suppose


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## TarrSteps (6 December 2008)

How would the colour of a horse's papers, issued at birth, be influenced by it being imported?

The term is literal.  Many studbooks really do issue registration on different coloured paper for different "books".  So a foal with two graded (fully registered, approved etc.) would be accepted into a higher book (one printed on, for some books anyway, pink paper) than one with, for instance, one graded and one "non" parent (with a certificate on white paper).  It's not necessarily a designation that the former foal is of higher quality but that it's *breeding* is of higher calibre.  It also makes a difference in how its own foals can be registered.

The first book I heard it used commonly with are Hanoverians which does issue "pink" papers.  (Can't say for sure for KWPN etc.) for foals of fully approved parents.  Like so many terms in horses though people thought it sounded "cool" and used it in all sorts of less than literally correct situations so it's come to be a general term, which may or may not accurately describe the horse in question.


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## Ponyplanet (6 December 2008)

well thanks for the even more indepth information on the subject, when the term was first used it was generally referring to horses that had been imported as at the time very few were born in uk with pink papers, unlike these days i am sure 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 I worked on a very busy dealing yard back in the lates 80's and our pink papered horses all came off the continent so I suppose that is where i get it from


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## TarrSteps (6 December 2008)

Sorry, didn't mean to cause offence, was just wondering if I'd missed something "uk-specific".  That would make sense - it was the same in North America for a long time.


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