The Happy Harness Horse

When Dahlia was just a little baby, dad tried to put a halter on her. They were in a 12 x 12 stall (with Dahlia’s mom) and it still took him 30 minutes to catch her. “I’d put my arms around her” he says, “and she’d jump out – like a bunny rabbit.” Later on it was typical to see her wander off all by herself in the pasture. Her momma would panic and desperately start to look for her. Dahlia would roll her eyes as if to say “holy cow momma, just chill out, would ya?”. We knew early on we had one fiesty, independent minded equine on our hands. She is still the same way. And that is why I love her.

You can go into Dahlia’s stall to find her lying down (a lot of the time) and if you wanted, you could probably sleep in there and use her as a pillow. But when it is time to work, you see a different side. If she sees a saddle, her face says “oh crap, I hate that thing”. She tolerates the exercise, but seemingly complains. On the other hand, if there is a harness there she perks up – looking like a kid about to get on the ferris wheel. Then she goes and you can almost hear her shout “wheeeeeeeee!!!”.

I took Dahlia to Wiebe Dragstra, her trainer in NC, about a month ago. She loves him because he is the carriage driver. Which means he is her buddy – they are part of the same fraternity that the rest of us cannot quite get into. Wiebe is exercising her for the IBOP test. They are not supposed to judge her on looks – just performance – but they have a hard time with that. Dahlia is a short, chunky mare. She really does look like a Friesian – one from 1950. She cannot seem to get trim, no matter what Wiebe does. So, I am not sure how she will fare in her scores. But that’s ok. If nothing else, for 6 weeks she gets to be a harness horse. And a happy one at that.

Today I went to visit Dahlia and watch as she and Wiebe played. If a horse could laugh, she’d be laughing. Or, at a minimum, she’d be yelling “wheeeeee!”

To IBOP … or not?

With Friesian horses, there is a performance test which an adult horse may undergo. This test, in either harness or under saddle, indicates the horse’s capacity for doing well in that particular discipline. That is, the inspectors are evaluating the horse’s potential to perform well (based on inherent musculature, movement, conformation , attitude, etc). A horse may be young, and therefore not very well trained, or may be older and very experienced. The inspectors should be able to tell potential and good performance blood in even the more junior horses.

This test is called an IBOP (pronounced “EE-bop”[correct], or “EYE-bop” [not actually correct]) and is a very difficult test to score well on. I am unsure of exactly how horses are scored, but I do know that if a horse can reach 77 or more out of a possible 100 points, that horse is considered very very good. 77 points is an elite measure, in fact, and not often achieved.

Traditionally, people prepared 1st premie star mares for an IBOP, because 77 points or better could position her to make model. Nowadays, you are hearing more about the IBOP and I feel more people will be striving to achieve a good score with their horse, regardless of the horse’s gender or papers. Why? In my opinion, this is because the KFPS (the Dutch Friesian registry) very much wants Friesians to prove their utility as sport horses. IBOP is one indicator of performance capability. So, although taking a horse for IBOP does not happen in the US much now, I have a feeling this is about to change.

My ster mare Dahlia is not model material, but I do think she has the potential for doing well on her IBOP. She loves driving and took to it like a fish to water. She has not been in training much at all and is very very rusty. But this year, though recently pregnant, she is still young and does not have a foal by her side. If I would like for the inspectors to look at her, this is the year for it. It will cost a good bit of money for the trainer and transport. I woudl have one good month to get her ready – and that is not much time at all.

And come on… practically, what would be the benefit of spending the money and time to condition Dahlia to be ready for an IBOP in early October? Would it make her or her offspring more valuable? Possibly yes, but probably no – the IBOP, though prestigious in the Netherlands, is too unknown in this country. So why should I bother?

I have been thinking a lot about this question of “why”. Finally today I came to the realization that it is mostly out of a desire to let Dahlia try to achieve part of what I think she can. I feel somewhat guilty that I have not utilized her more and I am letting her talent go to waste because I have not placed her in a position to succeed. She could be a good performer I think, and win points and recognition. I think she would be very happy in competition. But for me, she just eats and has babies. I think of last winter when my Friesian friend Marten asked me “what do you do with your mares?”. “They are broodmares” I answered, puzzled. He looked at me quizically and said “yes, but what do you do with them?” In a small way, the IBOP gives Dahlia the opportunity to do.

So tell me, what do you think? IBOP, or not? Take the poll.