The
Count A.G.Orlov-Chesmensky, a tzar favourite, was the founder of the Khrenovsky stud in
the Voronedjskaya province and started to create first stud Russian breeds. The brown
stallion SALTAN I was brought from Turkey in 1775 for the Count
A.G.Orlov-Chesmensky and the silver-grey stallion SMETANKA -
from Arabia in 1976. These horses were ancestors of two breeds: Russian rider and Orlov
trotter. The work of the Count A.G.Orlov and his follower - the ex-serf V.I.Shishckina -
is a classical example of new breeds creation in a horse-breeding. 
The bay stallion SALTAN II was born in 1777 from SALTAN I and
Arabian mare GULVIYA . The stallion had a main quality of a new breed already. The
stallion SALTAN II was used for a pedigree work broadly. Four his best sons - DOBROVOLNY
I , two bay brothers SVIREPY I and SVREPY II and a bay POSTOYANNY I -
were grown in a long searches consequence of a best blood combination. All four became
founders of own line. However only SVIREPY II corresponded to the planning type.
Grey stallion FELKERZAM I was born in 1778 from silver-grey stallion SMETANKA and English Thoroughbred mare OKHOTNICHIYA .
In a period of a Russian rider breed creation it was the second stallion by a
significance.
In
XIX age the Orlov rider breed got a wide popularity throughout Russia. Stallions FRANT ,
FAKEL and FAZAN were awarded a highest prize on The World Paris Exhibition in
1867. They were representatives of the breed. A quarter age afterwards the Count
A.G.Orlov stud foundation - the Count F.M.Rostopchin founded his own one. He made the
interbreeding Arabian stallions with English Thoroughbred rider mares. All pedigree horses
were tested in races. In 1845 studs of A.G.Orlov and F.M.Rostopchin were sold in the State
treasury. First time the pedigree work with Orlovskaya and Rostopchinskaya breeds was
proceeded separately. But gradually Rostopchinskaya mares were selected for Orlov's rider
stallions. This experiment lay the foundation of the new Orlov-Rostopchinskaya riding
breed. Gradually the name was forgotten. Breed was named Russian riders.
It differed by a big height, beautiful forms, dark bay or black colours, a high endurance. The breed got an acknowledgement and high appreciation on exhibition in Russia, Europe and America. The stallion PRIYATEL was known as the best saddle-horse and was the winner of The World Exhibition 1893 in Chicago. The stallion BAYANCHIK on the Paris Exhibition in 1900 got the Gold Medal.
- Russian warmblood breed was destroied completely in times of The First World War (1914) and The Civil War (1917-20).
With 1979 the Starozhilovky stud worked above a reconstruction of the Russian riding breed