The History of the Friesian Horse
The Friesian horse is a breed of horse from Friesland, a province of the Netherlands. Although originally bred as a draft horse, the breed is graceful and nimble for its size and later developed into a finer-boned nobleman's steed. During the Middle Ages, Friesian horses were in great demand as destriers throughout Europe since their size enabled them to carry a knight in full armor. After a few close calls with breed extinction, the impressive Friesian horse is now growing in numbers and popularity, proving to excel in both dressage and driving.
Breed characteristics
The Friesian is probably best known for its black color and luxurious mane, tail, and 'feathers' (long, untrimmed hair on the lower legs). The official breed rarely has white markings of any kind, because registries allow only a small star on the forehead for purebred conformance. Though extremely rare, Friesians are sometimes chestnut, these horses can not be registered. "Fire Magic" is an example of a chestnut Friesian.
The Friesian's average height is about 15.3 hands (1.60 m), although it may vary from 14.2 to 17 hands (between 1.5 m and 1.7 m) tall at the withers, and mares must be at least 15.2 hands (1.57 m) tall to qualify for its special 'star-designation' pedigree. It has a spectacular trot, both fast and high-stepping. The Friesian is very willing, active, and energetic but gentle and docile. A Friesian tends to have great presence and to carry itself very proudly.
The breed has excellent overall conformation. Friesians have long, elegant, arched necks and fine extended short-eared (Spanish type) heads. Their sloping shoulders are quite powerful. They have compact yet muscular bodies with strong sloping hindquarters and a low-set tail. Their limbs are comparatively short and strong. Like fashion models, Friesians have good bone structure and impressive hair.
History of the Friesian
The breed was developed in the province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands, where there is evidence of thousands of years of horse populations, and this breed is said to have descended from the primitive Forest Horse. The Romans used the breed for riding. It is also said that Romans took Friesian horses to England, where the breed influenced the Shire, Clydesdale, Fell and Dales. Once thought to be ugly, this northern-European-mainland breed is now considered among the most beautiful of horses. "Black is [now indeed] beautiful."
Friesians were used in medieval times to carry knights to battle. In the 12th and 13th centuries, some eastern horses of crusaders were mated with Friesian stock. Sometime after the Middle Ages came to an end, the Friesian breed was dying out. Soon there was only two left, fortunately male and female. They were carefuly captured and bred in an attempt to bring back the breed. During the 16th and 17th centuries, when there was less demand for heavy war horses as battle arms changed and especially when Spanish forces occupied The Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War, Andalusian blood was added to lighten the breed in order to lighten its weight and thereby render it more suitable (in terms of less food intake and waste output) for work as a more urban carriage horse. Friesians were also used by riding schools in France and Spain for high-school dressage, and they remain a student-favored breed to this day for their gentle temperaments and proud dark beauty.
The breed was especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, when they were not only in demand as harness horses and for agricultural work, but also for the trotting races then so popular. The Friesian was used as foundation stock for breeds such as the Orlov Trotter, the Norfolk Trotter (ancestor of the Hackney), and the Morgan.
In the 1800s the Friesian was bred to be lighter and faster for trotting, however this led to what some owners and breeders regarded as an inferior stock, so a sort of revolt and call for a return to pureblood stock took place by the end of the century.
The Friesian stud registry book, Friesch Paarden Stamboek (FPS) was founded in 1879 by a group of Dutch farmers dedicated to preserving the breed. Friesians had become popular for crossbreeding due to their fantastic trot, presence, and color, and as a result, Friesian "purity" was severely threatened. The "Royal Society Het Friesch Paarden-Stamboek" was founded to protect and promote the breed's bloodline. Friesian horse populations then dwindled in the early 20th century partly due to displacement by petroleum-powered farm equipment and passenger vehicles. Due to fuel rationing during World War II the Freisian's farm and carriage use was revived, saving the breed long enough for both its population and popularity to rebound.
The Friesian also influenced the "Old Black Horse" of the U.S. farm belt (especially the Midwest, where unpredictable and unseasonal weather often paddocked less robust breeds), and it influenced the Dole Gudbrandsdal of Norway, and formed the stock base for Germany's Marbach stud, contributing to the development of both the Oldenburg and the Württemberger breeds. Today, there are two distinct conformation types. The baroque type has the more robust build of the classical Friesian. The modern, sport horse type is finer boned. Conformation type is judged less important than correct movement, and both types are still common today.
The Friesian today
From the latter part of the 20th century until present, demand for purebreds and also a finer-boned, taller, more agile version of the Friesian was and is high, so both stud farming and crossbreeding are used to produce purebreds and a lighter-weight mix breed horse of valued characteristics. Friesian and Friesian-mixed horses excel in dressage competitions due the breed's strong intellect (and show-form looks) and powerful strength and body control, hence its participation in such events has grown dramatically, although prices have skyrocketed out of the average emerging equestrian's financial reach.
Due to its heavy, muscular physique the purebred Friesian is not well-suited to aerobic sports like all-out racing, but its status as a student and dressage horse is peerless. The Friesian is used mainly for dressage. It also remains popular as a carriage horse, including in competitions, because it is easy to match teams and its high-stepping action makes it eye-catching and impressive. They are also good all-rounders, used for showing, driving, and general riding, and are also used as circus horses.