Trakehnen is derived from the West Baltic Old Prussian language word "trakis" meaning field, wilderness or track.
When Prussia was occupied by the communist Soviet Union, the people were made to leave, sent to Siberia or be killed. Some owners managed to walk and ride some Trakehner horses on the thousands of kilometer long trek to the west starting in the winter of 1945. Some horses survived and the breeding of Trakehner horses continued in Westphalia in Germany.
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