January 10, 2009
The competition for the 2009 world championship began early. Though everything started at 9, the arena was well on its way to being full at 8. They started off with the older stallions. I took a few shots from the "backstage" area and it was definitely like being back stage at a rock concert. For the actual competition, the classes are broken up by when the stallion were approved. The stallions are [more...]
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January 9, 2009
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Adel retires"][/caption] We just got back from the Friday evening event. It was AWESOME. There were dressage exhibitions, marathon driving, the history of the Friesian horse, pas de deux, even a little foal with a puppet strapped astride it (yes, that is correct!). I have loads of video but I will have to process it when I get back to a big computer. Of all [more...]
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January 9, 2009
A lot of you folks have been interested in the stallion Harmen and I admit, I love that guy too. Yesterday he competed in the final harness test. Though the cumulative results for harness competition put him in 3rd place overall, last night he was magnificent. Here I have a video. It is dark and I am sorry - when I get home on a real computer I will try to lighten [more...]
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January 9, 2009
Today started with a couple of clinics. Unfortunately, we missed out on some of them - mom and dad were so tired that they had a hard time getting out of bed. Regardless, there was a good session on breeding. I just missed out on an excellent session on judging, but this summer there3 is to be a 5 day clinic here in Friesland. I am going to try very hard to save enough money [more...]
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January 9, 2009
We are heading out soon. I have been using Walter and Gryt's computer this morning and managed to upload a few (crappy) photos and post a blog story from last night. I did take some video last night but will probably have to process it when I get back. On the blog here, to the right, are photos from the show. I hope to add more today and tomorrow. Flickr set on [more...]
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January 9, 2009
Thursday evening is holding a very special treat that I did not expect. Over the past several months, approved stallins have been competing against one another in dressage and/or harness. These test results were compiled and the final was held tonight. I thought this was fantastic because it allowed me to see the stallions in actual sport competition, and to hear what the performance judge had to say about the horse's strong and weak points. [more...]
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January 8, 2009
We arrived in Amsterdam without a hitch at about 8am Dutch time. Got in the car and headed north over the large dyke and into Friesland. The dyke is a levy about 50 miles long and it basically keeps the North Sea from flooding all of the Netherlands. This thins is just an amazing feat of engineering - a huge earthen wall with water on each side and a 4 lane highway across the top. [more...]
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January 7, 2009
I am waiting for my mom, dad and sister to arrive here and pick me up. We'll then drive about 5 hours to Dulles airport outside Washington DC, park and check in and wait for a 6pm flight. A whole day of traveling and waiting. Anyhow, to kill the time I looked through some old video tape and came up with Olof 315 from the stallion show 2003. This was taken before [more...]
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January 1, 2009
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 [more...]
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December 7, 2008
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 [more...]
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August 24, 2008
Hiltje has a new son born May 13, and his name is Beau. Beau is a very big foal with quite the attitude. Just full of himself and proud as he can be. Beau's dad is Wander 352 and Beau is the full brother to our Cori and Dusti Perdue's Jantsje. While Cori is a piddling 16 hands tall, Jantsje is 17 hands and Beau is gonna be a whopper too. He has a lovely [more...]
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July 20, 2008
It is a good thing Friesians like rain.Dahlia - 2004 KeuringPeople are starting to talk about the upcoming (as in September) annual breed inspections for the Friesian horses. We still use the Dutch word ("keuring" where "keur" rhymes with "her") for this big event. This year our family does not have any adult horses to take, and have decided not to take the babies since we do not have any fillies where [more...]
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May 18, 2008
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 [more...]
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May 13, 2008
Today at 5:30 am, Hiltje had her foal by the stallion Wander 352. Hiltje is a wonderful broodmare. She is 14 years old and this is her 7th foal (one died in foalbirth, one was kicked as a baby and had to be put down, and she has 5 living children ranging from 8 years down to this newborn). This is Hiltje's 3rd foal by the stallion Wander 352. This fellow is [more...]
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May 4, 2008
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 [more...]
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April 24, 2008
In early March my parents got a phone call from Geni Dowd, a writer from the local newspaper. "We want to do a story about your horses", she said. And so she came to the farm, took pictures and notes, and wrote a front page story for the March 18, 2008 edition of the Surry News Messenger. I just found the online version. The author made a few mistakes, and spelled some names wrong (and [more...]
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March 10, 2008
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, [more...]
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March 5, 2008
Recently I attended the FHANA Annual General Membership (AGM) meeting, held in Lexington Kentucky. As always, I met wonderful people who dearly love their horses. While there, my Dad and I had the pleasure of getting to know a young couple named Brian and Kendra, and their friend Michelle. They are officers and very heavily involved in the new (and impressively active, I must say) Ohio Valley Friesian Horse Association. These are just delightful people [more...]
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February 24, 2008
Dusti Perdue and her wonderful family came into our lives when they bought Hiltje's second foal Jantsje (Wander 352 x Lute 304). We are so pleased to have one of our horses go to such a loving and good home. I asked Dusti if she would like to tell us a Jantsje story and she graciously accepted. Here is Dusti's story... Almost 5 years ago, I purchased [more...]
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February 10, 2008
For a KFPS-registered Friesian stallion to be approved for breeding purposes, he must go through a barrage of tests. Some are conformation and movement exams by Dutch inspectors. Some tests are xrays, DNA testing, semen testing. And those who make it through all this get to the finals of testing - a 70 day test where the young stallion is trained to ride and drive and is judged for performance. I have [more...]
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January 30, 2008
OK, I know I owe everyone more stories and videos from the stallion show, and I promise they will come. I have been traveling a lot lately and I am behind on everything. But now that the stallion show is over, all the breeders are pondering over what to do for the spring. What stallions are the best for our mares, what will the market be like in 2008 and 2009, how are our [more...]
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January 20, 2008
For a Friesian lover - and especially a breeder - the "hengstenkeuring" (stallion show) is the highlight of the year. Held in an arena in Leeuwarden Friesland in January each year, the newest young stallions are judged to determine which, if any, will go to the "finals" of stallion selections. The "finals" is actually a 70 day intensive test. In 2007, about 1500 young stallions tried for breeding privileges and only about 100 made it [more...]
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December 13, 2007
This year the Friesian geldings/driving horses Mark and Hessel continued their long winning streak by taking home the golden whip award once again. They and their owner/driver (and a friend of mine, I am so lucky to say) Walter Bruinsma, set some kind of record by winning this prestigious event for the 7th year in a row. These two horses, especially the more talented one, Mark, are famous all over Friesland and regularly get written [more...]
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November 14, 2007
It has been really hectic lately. Between work and finishing off the new barn (fencing is going up now), it has been hard to find a minute of peace. I have been feeling stressed outta my mind. Yesterday mom told me of a radio show she listened to featuring cellist YoYo Ma. One of my favorite pieces of music is the Prelude for Bach's Cello suite 1. I think this is one [more...]
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September 26, 2007
*** UPDATE 28-Sept: Here is Oeke's Keur Video!*** We had a great day today. Wikke, the 3 month old baby, was named a 2nd premie. He was adorable and moved very well - just needs more lengthening in his walk. If they had had baby awards for "most beautiful", "sweetest", and "most personality", I think he would have won all those! Sara, his owner, was really proud of him and so was [more...]
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September 15, 2007
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 [more...]
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September 9, 2007
In the summer of 2004, Mom and Dad visited Friesland for Anneke's wedding. They stayed with our friends, the Bruinsma family. Watte (Walter) and Gryt Bruinsma breed and raise some of the best mares in all of Friesland. That summer they were blessed with 5 fillies. Usually Walter does not sell his fillies, but that year he agreed to sell us two. These cousins, Ock and Oeke, came over on the plane in the fall [more...]
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August 28, 2007
Back about 7 or 8 years ago we met a young Friesian man named Auggie when we were in Canada picking up our mare Hiltje. The next year Auggie came from Friesland to the farm and worked the horses for a month or so in preparation for the keuring. Most of the pictures on our website where the horses are pulling a carriage have Auggie as driver. Over the years we have become friends [more...]
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August 26, 2007
The Mid-Atlantic Friesian Association ("MAFA") - a local Friesian club in the DC metro area - put together a keuring clinic August 25-26. It was presented by Jan Englesma, a former judge. This was held in Beallsville Maryland at the stables of Wish Upon a Ster Friesians, which donated their lovely facilities. I know pretty much about Friesian horses, and everyday I research to learn more. So I was unsure of how [more...]
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August 16, 2007
A couple of months ago, the stallion Wierd 409 won a major Dutch harness championship. Son of the wonderful world champion Folkert 353, Weird has finally started to get some recognition. As a 3 year old his stallion scores summed up to 83.1 with the highest being in the trot (8.3) and Show Driving (9.0). The judges said "He is an honest, spontaneous stallion, who loves to work. He often starts with lots of spirit, [more...]
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