The first mention of the Friesian breed of horses are found in the annals of the 3th century. But everyone wants their national breed of animals to lead a pedigree almost from the origin of life on the planet. Therefore, in Dutch sources one can find information that the first Friesian horses appeared in Friesland XNUMX thousand years ago. And the Romans who conquered the country appreciated the breed, taking it with them to the British Isles.
If you go down from heaven to earth, you will find that the Friesian horse was really in demand. But not in Roman times, but in the Early and Middle Ages. At this time, Frisian horses could carry knights. Often they served as war horses for knechts. In the Late Middle Ages a more powerful horse was needed and the Friesian horse almost died out for the first time. But the breed was able to survive by increasing in size and changing its purpose from a fighting knight horse to a draft horse with an extremely high rise of the wrist at a trot.
During the conquest of the Netherlands by Spain, the Friesian horses were significantly influenced by the Iberian breeds. Even today, this influence is clearly visible in the Iberian profile of Friz’s head and the high neck protrusion.
The Friesian horses are considered to have had a major influence on the British Fell and Dole pony breeds. Not in Roman times, of course, but much later. These breeds really look like miniature Frisians, but with a larger palette of colors.
With the development of the automotive industry, the Friesian horse ceased to be in demand for the second time and began to die out. Enthusiast breeders managed to save and advertise the breed, but they had to start reorienting the Friesian horse from harness to riding. But the ability of the Frisians to walk in a team remained. The Dutch are proud of their breed and even arrange special holidays and private exhibitions in honor of it.
It is possible that this name is associated with the national Dutch breed.
Modern types of Frisians
The Dutch breeders did not set themselves the goal of necessarily preserving the type, they preferred to keep the characteristic features of the Friesian breed, but to slightly change the exterior in order to be able to sell horses to amateurs.
Due to the fact that dressage today is divided into two directions: “classic” and sports, the Dutch breeders have directed efforts to develop lines in the Friesian breed suitable for these types of dressage.
The “old” type was called Baroque – Baroque. Similarly, all horses of a type suitable for a variety of dressage during the Renaissance are designated. Such horses are distinguished by a small step, a high relatively short neck, a very short but wide body, and small stature. A striking example of the Baroque breed is the Andalusian horse.
The “sporty” type requires more free movement, lighter bones and larger stature.
If you compare the photo of the Friesian horse of the “old” and “sport” types, the difference will be clearly visible.
baroque type.
Modern sports style.
“Baroque” is lower, “shaggy”, with a straighter shoulder. Usually the height of an old-type horse is 147-160 cm. The height of the sports type is 160-170 cm. There are much fewer friezes on the metacarpus. Sometimes only the “brushes” common to other breeds remain.
The young stallion is 164 cm tall and has almost no friezes. There will be no very thick and long hair on his legs.
The breeding farm “Kartsevo”, which breeds the Friesian breed, initially purchased a sports type that allows you to perform modern elements of dressage. In the video, a pair of Friesian horses from Kartsevo during the show.
In modern driving, Friesians are unlikely to win against half-breeds, but in national closed competitions, Friesian horses are also used in carriages.
General features of the exterior, characteristic of all types:
- rough constitution;
- long body;
- long, often soft back;
- Spanish type head;
- long, arched neck;
- high neck outlet;
- low withers, so much so that it seems as if the neck grows directly from the shoulder blades;
- wide chest;
- rounded ribs;
- often strongly sloping croup;
- thick long mane and bangs;
- friezes on the legs;
- always black suit.
The main feature that makes the Friesian a recognizable breed is his mane and long hair on his legs. There is a known case when, for the purpose of revenge, the Friesian horse was cut off its mane and bangs. It turned out a simple black horse.
Masti Frizov
This is something worth talking about separately. Previously, there were significantly more colors in the Friesian breed. There were even chubarye Friezes. Today, the requirements for the suit are very strict: stallions are only black without a single mark, mares are allowed a small star on their foreheads.
Almost managed to get rid of other suits. But even today, red foals are sometimes born in the Friesian breed. These are purebred Frisians, but they are not allowed for further breeding. The fact is that the red color is recessive in relation to any other and in the Friesian breed it is hidden under the crow. A red foal is always homozygous, otherwise, even if it had a red color gene, it would be black.
Brown suit is the darkest shade of red. Photo of “colored” Friesian horses.
Both options are brown.
Black Friezes are very photogenic and look great in a carriage, but at the end of the XNUMXth century it turned out that “big black stallions with a long mane” began to annoy the consumer. Don’t lose profit. While maintaining the breeding core of the breed, experiments with crossing began.
In the early 2000s, a photo of a white Friesian horse made a splash in Runet. First, it was not white, but light gray. White looks different. Secondly, it was not a Friesian horse, but an Arab-Friesian cross.
It is safe to say that the sire on the Arabian side was gray, as the gray gene dominates any other color. The experiment was carried out deliberately and not to “refresh” the Friesian blood, but to obtain a completely different type of horses.
If you cross Appaloosa with Freeze, you can again get the lost chubar suit.
Crossing with the Andalusian breed allows you to get “colored” offspring, which in structure will be closer to the Frisians. And such crossings have been actively carried out since the 90s of the last century. Andalusian Frisians are already such a large group that they are beginning to claim the breed. Now this group of “colored Frisians” is called Warlander.
Given the variety of colors in the Andalusian breed, the Warlander can be of almost any color.
Scope
Speaking frankly and without bigotry, Freeze is best suited for “standing beautifully during a photo shoot.” For modern high-level dressage, he lacks the quality of movement. For serious jumps, he is too heavy and will quickly “tear off” his legs. Horses are good-natured and happy to cooperate with a person, but they are only suitable for show jumping up to 1 m high and amateur level in dressage. Definitely good for the show.
A serious drawback of the Frisians in conditions is their chic long hair on their legs. In the damp climate, friezes create conditions for the development of fungus on the skin.
Mokret develops in a humid environment. If other horses dry the “brushes” (the second name of the friezes), sometimes missing, it is very easy. Then the Friesian horse is a whole procedure. Often, the wool was cut off so that it was possible to treat the biting midges.
The second pitfall: grazing in autumn on an unimproved pasture with burdock. Combing the burrs from the mane and tail of the Freezes is not an activity for the faint of heart.
Reviews
Conclusion
Statue commemorating the centenary of the modern Frisian tribal book.
The Dutch advertised their national breed very competently, not really caring about its suitability for modern sports. Yes, they did not have such a task. Their target audience was romantic girls and girls dreaming of a “wild mustang” with a long mane. In general, this audience is already covered and the passion for the Frisians has begun to decline.
At the same time, if earlier in Our Country these horses were very expensive, today, with the development of ties, it turned out that the cost of “expensive” Frisians in their homeland is 2-3 thousand euros, and the Dutch do not sell truly valuable horses.
But Freeze can be a good pleasure horse if you choose your horse carefully.