Friesian Horse - History

History

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.

Ancestors of the modern 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. During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Netherlands were shortly linked with Spain, there was less demand for heavy war horses, as battle arms changed and Andalusian blood was added, lightening their weights and thereby rendering them more suitable (in terms of less food intake and waste output) for work as more urban carriage horses.

The historian Ann Hyland wrote of the Friesian breed:

The Emperor Charles (reigned 1516 -56) continued Spanish expansion into the Netherlands, which had its Frisian warhorse, noted by Vegetius and used on the continent and in Britain in Roman times. Like the Andalusian, the Frisian bred true to type. Even with infusions of Spanish blood during the sixteenth century, it retained its indigenous characteristics, taking the best from both breeds. The Frisian is mentioned in 16th and 17th century works... a courageous horse eminently suitable for war, lacking the volatility of some breeds or the phlegm of very heavy ones. Generally black, the Frisian was around 15hh with strong, cobby conformation, but with a deal more elegance and quality. The noted gait was a smooth trot coming from powerful quarters. Nowadays, though breed definition is retained, the size has markedly increased, as has that of most breeds due to improved rearing and dietary methods.

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 may have been used as foundation stock for breeds such as the Dole Gudbrandsdal, the Norfolk Trotter (ancestor of the Hackney), and the Morgan. In the 1800s, the Friesian was bred to be lighter and faster for trotting, but this led to what some owners and breeders regarded as inferior stock, so a movement to return to pureblood stock took place by the end of the century.

A Studbook Society was founded in 1879 by Frisian farmers and land owners who had gathered to found the Friesian Cattle Registry (FRS, The Paardenstamboek ("Stud book") was published in 1880 and initially registered both Friesian horses and a group of heavy warmblood breeds, including East Friesians and Oldenburgers, collectively known as "Bovenlanders". At the time, the Friesian horse was declining in numbers, and being replaced by the more fashionable Bovenlanders, both directly and by crossbreeding Bovenlander stallions on Friesian mares. This had already virtually exterminated the pure Friesian in significant parts of the province in 1879, which made the inclusion of Bovenlanders necessary. While the work of the registry produced a revival of the breed's popularity in the late 19th century, it also resulted in the sale and disappearance of many of the best stallions from the breeding area, and Friesian horse populations dwindled. By the early 20th century, the number of available breeding stallions was down to three. Therefore, in 1906, the two parts of the registry were joined, and the studbook was renamed the Friesch Paarden Stamboek (FPS) in 1907."

In 1913, a society known as the Het Friesch Paard was founded, dedicated to the protection and promotion of the breed. By 1915, the group convinced FPS to split the registries back up into two groups. By 1943, the breeders of non-Friesian horses left the FPS entirely to form an entirely separate registry, which later became the Koninklijk Warmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland (Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands (KWPN).

Displacement by petroleum-powered farm equipment on dairy farms also was a threat to the survival of Friesian horse. The last draught function performed by Friesians on a significant scale was to work on farms that raised dairy cattle. World War II slowed down the process of displacement, allowing the breed's population and popularity to rebound. Important in the initial stage of the breed's rebound was the circus of the Strassburger family, who, having fled Nazi Germany for the Low Countries, discovered the show qualities of the breed and demonstrated its abilities outside of its local breeding area during and after the Nazi occupation.

Today, there are three modern bloodlines: Tetman 205, Age 168, and Ritske 202. Each of these sires trace his blood to Paulus 121, which was born in 1913 and entered into the Studbook in 1916. He, in turn, can be traced back three more generations to the original 19th-century Studbook foundation sire, Nemo 51, born in 1885. All purebred Friesians trace back to these bloodlines.