Friesian

The Friesian is a breed of horse from Holland.

In the North of the Netherlands is “Friesland”, a province with a large surface area of water due to its many lakes. It is possibly one of the most beautiful regions of this country and the people of this province are proud and noble persons.

A Frisian is a person who has triumphed over adversity as the history of Friesland was marked by two adverse situations, the sea and the Counts of Holland, who repeatedly wanted the Frisian lands for their own possessions but were thwarted as the inhabitants had never been willing to bow and surrender.

The inhabitants of Friesland were strong men, blond, blue-eyed people and a nation of sailors, merchants, farmers and ranchers committed to raising breeds of dogs like the Stabij and Wetterhoun, sheep, their famous black and white Frisian cattle and their horses.
The history of the Friesian horse has meaning when linked to the people of the area who remained loyal to their breed during very difficult times, while other breeds of the other provinces were lost due to impulsive crossing and disorganized breeding that destroyed the blood lines.

Thus, this ancient breed of Friesian horse is the only Dutch native horse of origin to survive. The Friesian horse is very coveted as a war horse and Roman historians mention the appearance of troops on the Frisian.

In the fourth century after Christ there are many mentions of these Dutch men and their horses called Friesians and Guillermo “El Conquistador” told they were used in the Battle of Hastings in 1066 as the horses were mostly Friesians stallions.
Probably this breed and other breeds in Europe were crossed with Arab and Spanish horses during the Crusades, and later during the war of 80 years. The current morphology of the breed highlights the distinctive head, neck and gait in the trot which sets them apart from other breeds.

The first written record of the current name of this breed dates back to the sixteenth century and is the famous portrait of Don Juan de Austria, mounted his horse Phryso in Naples 1568.
In the seventeenth century, horses were used in Frisones Riding School, together with the Pura Raza Spanish Horse. The Friesian horse was recognized for their ability in High School Dressage, and during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries after the French Revolution which decimated the ranks of nobles the horse breed became progressively restricted to the region of the Netherlands, known today as the province of Friesland.

At the end of the nineteenth century, in the province of Friesland, this horse was a symbol of wealth and importance among the farmers, who used their horses on Sundays to go to church in his “Sjees, a carriage typical of the region pulled by two Friesians horses.

The horses were used in sport riding bareback with a small orange blanket and in short distance harness racing. At that time, the Friesian Breed produced some famous harness racing. The traditional sulky harness horse was the Russian Orlov where in the United States trotting races were booming.

At the end of the previous century and the beginning of this century was a very difficult period for the Friesian horse as they had to compete with the heavy-type breeds of horse native to the province of Groningen The Netherlands and Oldenburg Germany.

This put pressure on the breed and the race was in jeopardy of dying out as besides the trip to church on Sundays and some casual fun, it was also hard work on the farms and the Friesian was considered being of noble blood and there for a gentleman’s horse and not a true work horse.

The strenuous farm labour was not suited to this breed of horse and many of the farmers opted for the cold-blooded horses of the “Bovenlander” bred specifically for such hard plus the bred was crossed with the Friesians breeds to make them heavier and this was also a negative for the breed.

On May l879, concerned people in the future of the breed, founded the “Book of Raza Matrícula-Friesian Caballar” giving rise to the first “Studbook” that still exists in the Netherlands.
Despite the positive influence of that Matrícula book the popularity of heavy horses remained a threat to the Friesian breed, which continued to decline in numbers in the early twentieth century. In 1919, there were no more than 3 stallions registered for use in bloodstock breeding and there were no young stallions to replace them if something happened to them.

This situation caused many people to band together to save the race and hundreds of citizens founded a Frieslandia an association to protect the Friesian horse from it’s eminent demise.
After the critical situation of 1913, there was no other option for the Friesian horse than to endow them with the skills to compete with the popular draft horse race “Bovenlander”. This would change the breed from a leisure breed to produce an animal with more strength and an animal with less noble and more work ability.

However this has changed and the horse is once again bred for its noble features, fine coat and long and luxurious mane, tail and leg hair.

In the sixties the horse was replaced as the source of power in agriculture.

As most farmers lacked time and money to keep horses purely for pleasure. By 1965, mares registered in the Stud Book-Matrícula had not moved from 500 registered.
The changes in the economy provided a new platform in saving the Friesian horse and it was the influence of a prosperous economy.