And 2009 starts – with the Stallions Show!!
We leave January 7th and arrive January 8th in the Netherlands. The annual “hengstenkeuring” (which we just call “the stallion show” in English) starts on the 8th. The stallion show is held in Leeuwarden Friesland and is the time where the best young stallions from 2008 go through final evaluations to see which ones can make it to the “finals” of stallion selection. Since the “final” is a 70 day test which occurs after the finalists have been trained and matured a bit more, this show in Leeuwarden is the last time to see these guys all in one place and in one show.It is a big event in a large indoor arena – *packed* with Friesian crazy spectators. There is just nothing better.
But there is so much more than that…
- The older, approved stallions compete against one another for the “World Championship” title. These guys are legends in the Friesian world.
- There is a full program of events and clinics. You can see the program here
- There are a variety of open houses, parties, and get togethers
- We get to see our friends and visit horses who are relatives to our horses here
- Visiting Friesland is pure joy for me. I love the place, the people, the horses, the event – everything about it.
This year I am going to try – and I will emphasize try - to write and submit videos directly from the show. Who knows if it will work? But you should bookmark this site – just in case!! I’ll be writing more soon about the equipment I plan to use, etc.
In the meantime, here is a teeny video of Wikke, a foal born here on the farm 18 months ago. Wikke is owned by Sara Andrew and I live near them. On New Years Day Wikke was trimmed by the farrier and I helped hold hm. As Sra walked him to the pasture I took a teeny video. I am really interested to see Wikke develop – my Cori is now pregnant to Heinse 354 with Wikke’s full sibling.
Wikke at 18 months, New Year’s Day 2009. I think he is so pretty.
Visions of Friesians Dance in My Head…
Well, yes I have fallen horribly behind in updating the web site. It is not that nothing is happening. In fact, the opposite is true. We have been busy, Busy, BUSY! The main thing monopolizing my time is working on the new barn and paddocks. You see, we now have a 2nd Tanbark Acres location. There is the big farm where Dee and Carlton and Carole (my mom, dad and sister) have their horses, and then the little place where I (Jeannine) live and now have my horses. The big farm is in Cana, Virginia and my place is 1 hour north, in Christiansburg VA, right by Virginia Tech (Go Hokies!). Since my place is still sort of under construction, and since I do the web updates, unfortunately the web updates have fallen behind. But here is the latest news.
Foals from last spring all sold
Beau and Tsjip, discussed in my last post, are sold and no longer available. Tsjip stayed local so we get to see him grow up. Beau’s new owner is my niece Meghan, who just stayed in love with Beau (see Beau and Meghan on Beau’s first day in this world). So he will stay on the big farm and if you come visit us you will be able to meet him.
New Foals Coming for 2009
We have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that Hiltje lost her foal within a few weeks of conception. This is a rare occurrence – especially for Hiltje (she has had six foals already in her life) but these things do happen. We’ll rebreed her in the spring.
The good news is that we have two very pregnant mares now halfway through their pregnancies. Oeke (Wierd x Tsjerk), a 2nd premie ster mare, is in foal to Mintse. That upcoming foal has some of the best bloodlines imaginable. Oeke’s sire Wierd just won the harness championship for Friesian stallions for the 2nd year in a row over in the Netherlands. Damsire Tsjerk was just named preferent – and thus is one of only 2 living preferent stallions. And the upcoming baby’s father Mintse is a former world champion and scores out of the park on the trot. And Oeke’s damline is one of the most successful and well known in all of Friesland. Awesome!
Coriander (Wander x Lute), our 1st premie ster mare, is in foal to the very famous and coveted Heinse. Heinse is a legendary breeding stallion as well as 4th level dressage and two time Dutch driving champion. He has also sired four (yes FOUR) approved sons including TWO approved last year. Everyone wants to breed to Heinse, but alas, he is really hard to breed to due to poor semen quality from the old guy. In fact, I think it is possible that last spring was his last breeding season. Only 3 mares in the country are pregnant to Heinse – and Cori is one of them! We crossed Cori with Heinse before and got a dynamite colt (Wikke), now 18 months old and drop dead gorgeous. So we’re super excited about this baby.
Heinse’s latest approved son, Meinse 439 now in America!
The stallions approved in 2007 were just incredible – I have not seen a stallion group that good since the Doaitsen group a few years ago. I mean every single one made your mouth pop open. Well, one of them, Meinse, was just imported to America. He may be breeding here in 2009 – we’ll have to see. Meinse just won Friesland’s young stallion competition in dressage with a score over 70%. And since he is a Heinse son, and Heinse is incredible, I think Iron Spring made a wonderful purchase. It is great for them and great for America! I just happened to find the video I took in January 2008 of Meinse’s debut at the stallion show in Friesland. Here ya go!
Stallion News – Brend 413 Coming to America, Remmelt 323 Deceased
First, “The Phryso” magazine has confirmed that the approved stallion Remmelt 323, owned by the Stevens family in Utah, has passed away. Since my Dutch is not very good (and The Phryso is all in Dutch), I am unsure of the exact cause. But my heart goes out the the Stevens family because I know they dearly loved that horse. Cori’s first foal was by Remmelt and I liked him very much. Remmy was known for lovely, good natured foals. We will all miss him very much.
Next, the news hit the internet sites on Saturday that Brend 413, son of Brandus 345, has been purchased by Iron Spring Farm in PA. I believe an “official” announcement will be out early next week, though there are enough unofficial sources that we are certain it is true. Iron Spring is a great horse business and they take their dressage very seriously there. Brend is doing very well in dressage and thus this seems like a great match for Iron Spring, Brend, and the entire Friesian community.
Brend’s breeding is sire: Brandus, damsire: Doeke (from the Age line) and great damsire: Tjimme. Personally, I love this unique combination. Brandus [alive and well] and Tjimme [now deceased] are two of my very favorite old style Friesians – full of heart and desire to work. Superb temperaments. Doeke brings in more rare blood. Another interesting tidbit is that in his stallion scores, Brandus had a 9/10 on the trot – a score nearly unmatched. Doeke had a 9/10 on the walk, which has never been surpassed. And Brend? He and his offspring score very high on the gallop!
Here is the write up from Stal Meijer, the previous owners of Brend:
Brend, a star on the list of descendents of his father! Describes as “A fine horse to work with and one that moves with power and balance!”
At the age of only 8 years he is already very successful in the subtop dressage competitions in Holland. He is selected for the semi finals in the ZZ licht in February and after the indoor Championship he will continue his way to the top in the ZZ zwaar class. In December 2007 he was approved on his offspring with the conclusion that he has a positive effect on the breeding through the exterior and that his offspring has more than average talent for dressage! The star percentage of the young Brends is 45 % The best result in the ABFP testing from Brend was realised by Nienke Ris (Owner: Fam. Rispens), she finished her test with 85.5 points and the received a 1st premium! Brend’s mother is the starmare Meta van de Strubbenhof, she is from a very strong breeding mare line and Brend was her first son, so that is promising! He has the beauty, character, movements and the size! Brend is 1.67 mtr [about 16.2 hands tall].
Once again, as a breeder I am shaking my head at the good fortune at having such nice stallions coming to America. Congratulations to Iron Spring and, indeed, the entire Friesian community.
As a special treat, below is a video I took of Brend just this past January at the Stallion Show in Leeuwarden Friesland.
Breeding Season is underway
BREEDING AND FOALING SEASON. This is one of our busiest and most nerve wracking times of the year. Be sure to check back often as I will be trying to make more frequent postings.
Last week my sister Carole bred her lovely mare Oeke ster (Wierd x Tsjerk) to Mintse 384 Sport. It looks like the timing was really good so we find out in about 2 weeks if there is a baby in there.
Hiltje (Lute x Lammert) is presently in foal to Wander 352 and due, basically, any day now. She also has been booked to Mintse 384 for next year.
Dahlia ster (Thomas x Tsjerk) is due with her Feike foal on June 1. I am thinking of leaving her open for next year so I can focus on getting two year old Tara ready for the keuring.
Finally, Coriander ster (Wander x Lute) is booked to Heinse 354 and I am trying hard to repeat the lovely cross we got last year with Cori’s son Wikke. This will be a miracle baby. More about that….
Yesterday my dad and I loaded up Cori and hauled her to Iron Spring to try a rebreeding to one of my favorite stallions, Heinse 354. I am still recovering from almost 20 hours on the road.
As most of you probably know, Heinse, a Leffert son, is one of the most impressive stalions alive. He has 4 approved sons, including an older one just approved who went through the short test due to his success as a harness horse. Heinse himself is 4th level dressage (and thus has the Sport predicate) but he was also twice the driving champion in Friesland. He has over 50% lifetime ster rating. Although breeders would desperately like to breed to him, this has been very difficult. Heinse semen is short lived and there is not much of it. He had a very difficult time last year with semen longevity, and only one mare became pregnant. This year Iron Spring is breeding Heinse only to pre-approved mares (ones who match well to him fertility wise), and you have to bring the mare to him. It is an expensive proposition and virtually rules out people who do not happen to be located at least relatively close.
Cori bred to Heinse before and her resulting foal (named Wikke by his owner) is really lovely and sweet. I think he will be a terrific sporthorse, which is what I was breeding for. I just had to try Heinse again.
So, we shall see. Maybe I’ll be lucky again. Maybe not.
But anyhow, a major reason I love Heinse is that outside of Heinse’s successful stats, he has such a wonderful character. He is a barn favorite due to his desire to show affection, bonding with humans, and general sweetness. The grooms say he always wants to work.
I just cannot think of traits I more want in a horse – especially a sporthorse.
We’ll find out in a few weeks if we were successful.
Note that there will probably be more photos from our visit on flickr soon. I’ll post a link if that occurs.
Two new approved stallions in the US. My head is spinning!
Michiel 442
At the end of February 2008, Friesian horse history was made in North America. One of our stallions passed the first ever fully sanctioned stallion test held in North America. The new stallion is named Michiel 442 (“Me-HEEL”, where the final h in HEEL is like ch in Bach – from the back of the throat) is owned by our friend Harry Witteveen in Canada. Tanbark Acres first two broodmares, Hiltje and Matsje, came from Harry. He taught us a lot about breeding and bloodlines. One day I will write more about Harry and his family. They are legends in the Friesian world in North America. Anyway, Michiel is Tsjerk x Leffert P – nice breeding. I am very interested seeing how he develops. Note – Carol (Harry’s daughter) is managing the stallion and has set up a website for him at http://michiel442.com. She wrote me to say there is a new video available. I am linking this in below.
Lolke 371
Today another big announcement came across the wires. I have friends in the DC area who are also small breeders. We constantly talk about breeding and bloodlines. Today I learned that they have just bought the fully approved stallion Lolke 371. Lolke (“LOAL-kuh”) is the last approved son of the famous stallion Oege P, and Lolke’s damire is the equally famous stallion Reitse P. Oege is known as the “hair man”. You can imagine what the trait is of his sons. Reitse is famous for passing on a tremendous work ethic. Lolke has one approved son now, a young stallion named Felle (“FELL-uh”) who is really impressive.
I am surprised the Netherlands let Lolke go. He was a popular breeding stallion over there and has very nice breeding stats. So I don’t know why the let him go, but we’re so lucky he is here! Lolke’s website is at http://lolke371.com. Here is Lolke at the 2008 stallion show. I shot this video just 2 short months ago in Leeuwarden Friesland.
Congratulations to – well – all Friesian lovers. We are getting such nice stallions to match with the nice ones already here. As a small breeder, I feel like a person at a big buffet. Such wonderful food but only a small stomach. My head is spinning!
