The American Warmblood is a horse of warmblood type, intended primarily for the traditional sport horse disciplines of dressage, show jumping, eventing and combined driving.

The emphasis is on the quality of each individual horse, for both registration and breeding approval.

[1] Gaited horse breeds (like the Tennessee Walker, Missouri Fox Trotter, or Icelandic horses) are also non-typical, though if they are able to perform walk-trot-canter in the appropriate levels of the accepted disciplines, they too can be eligible for registration.

Horses which fail to meet or have yet to meet these performance criteria may still be issued recording papers, but are not considered registered American Warmbloods until they satisfy performance or inspection standards.

[1][5] The American Warmblood has been influenced by the European warmbloods, the Thoroughbred, the Arabian, and the Anglo-Arabian, as well as some draft horse breeds, such as the American Belgian Draft, Clydesdale, Percheron, and Shire.