It is found primarily in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, and also, in smaller numbers, in Lower Saxony.

It shares the origins, ancestry and much of the history of the Danish Jutland breed, and shows some similarity to the British Suffolk Punch.

[7] The division of Schleswig between Denmark and Germany in 1920, in the aftermath of the First World War, meant the loss of a large part of the breeding area and was a major setback.

However numbers rose again, and in 1949 reached a peak of about 450 stallions and 20,000[5] or 25,000[7] brood-mares in the hands of more than 15,000 breeders spread throughout Schleswig-Holstein, though more concentrated in the north.

[9] The Schleswig Coldblood was listed as "endangered" by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2007.

It was used on farms and for hauling timber from forests, to pull omnibuses and brewery wagons in cities, and for heavy work in the military.