It was originally bred as a cavalry horse at the Strömsholm, Ottenby and Flyinge studs.

The origins of the Swedish Warmblood lie in the seventeenth century, when foreign horses were imported to Sweden from various countries, mostly in Europe, and were cross-bred with mares of local stock to produce horses suitable for military use.

[4]: 149  Breeding took place at the stud-farm of Strömsholm in Västmanland, which was established in 1621; at the Ottenby Stud [sv] on the island of Öland; and at the Flyinge Royal Stud [sv] at Flyinge in Skåne, which dates from 1658.

[5]: 180 [6] In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there were further imports, of sport horses of Arab, Thoroughbred, Hanoverian and particularly of Trakehner stock.

In 1928 a breed society, the Avelsförening för Svenska Varmblodiga Hästen or Swedish Warmblood Association, was formed.