Breed Spotlight: Friesians

I love Friesians. They're gorgeous and they always look like they'd be great horses to work with.

These horses are super versatile and for stallion testing they have to do dressage, driving and cross country jumping in order to show off their athleticism. While many say that these horses are not bred for dressage, they can excel at it and I have seen several do just that!

It is believed that they were bred as war horses as their size would have allowed them to carry knights in armor. They also had to be light on their feet, thus they can do dressage with the correct training. Also, because of their movement and flashy long hair, they have history as a driving breed.

And guess what? They really can jump! I've seen several Friesians that are really cute little jumpers.

One of my favorite Friesian stallions that I've seen is Rembrant. His is really lovely and such a sweet amazing guy. It helps that I've seen him in person on multiple occasions. He is a little small for my tastes, but if I were looking at Friesians to consider breeding, he'd be at the top of my list.

I'm also a sucker for good Friesian crosses. I think that the best crosses are from a Friesian dam and other breed of sire. There's pinto Friesians, bay Friesians out of Andalusians or TB's, Appy Friesians, and more. I think one of the more well-known Friesian crosses is Mystic Warrior who is just stunning.

To be registered, a Friesian must be completely black. They are only allowed a small white star. There have been some Friesians that have turned out a color other than black, but it is extremely rare and most are crossbred if they turn out a color other than black. It is somewhat likely to be able to get an almost 100% purebred chestnut Friesian if the parents carry the chestnut gene, which is recessive. You wouldn't know it until you bred two Friesians with the recessive chestnut gene and you get a chestnut baby! But that's highly unlikely as most chestnut has been bred out of the Friesian.

Today, breeding has shifted more towards a modern, sporthorse type body type. This picute above is a great representation of the different breed types for the Friesian.

Breed Spotlight: Appendix QH



A lovely example of my favorite type
of Appendix QH. Find the first three
horses pictured on Dreamhorse.com!



I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I love Quarter Horses, especially Appendix QH. I first fell in love with them because I begged my neighbors to let me ride their old horse, Ruby. I had absolutely no riding experience, but I loved her. She was an older horse and her spunky attitude just stayed with me.

My first horse, Grady is a QH. Jazz, my second horse is also a QH, though she is registered as an Appendix. Jazz and Grady both have the same amount of thoroughbred blood though. Anyways, what I love most about Quarter Horses is that they are so versatile, they'll try their hardest for you, and in my experience they're right in the middle of the temperament scale, usually not too hot but not too lazy. These are just generalizations as I'm sure there are QH's out there that are crazy hot or super lazy.



Love the body type - athletic, not too
chunky but not super slender



Jazz has done almost every discipline with me and has done it very well. Sure, you can't make it to the national or international level in every discipline, but we did very well for the level we were working at. I think the only thing we haven't done is saddleseat and vaulting. I did teach her to ground drive and pull a makeshift thingy cause I never got around to saving up for a cart, so we kind of did driving. But we also did reining, dressage, jumping, eventing, english and western pleasure, showmanship, sorting and penning, trail and even some gaming. She tried her hardest at everything we did, learned quickly & was able to transition between disciplines almost seamlessly.



They can jump!!



I kind of want another Appendix QH. Probably because I just want another Jazz! I was always disappointed that I delayed on breeding her and at 20 years old now, I'm not willing to take the chance on breeding her. I suppose I could do an embryo transfer, but at that expense I could buy a weanling that was exactly what I want!

A new horse moved to the barn and is a very cute Appendix QH. I just love the look of most of these horses. They're not ribby and slender like TB's, but they're not stocky and overmuscled like some QH. A nice in-between. They are really athletic and I think they excel in hunter/jumper and eventing. I would like to own another eventing Appendix QH someday possibly. They're just fun horses.



Invitation Only



It would be interesting to see what the differences there are between Appendix QH that have a TB sire and QH dam versus those that have a QH sire and TB dam. Personally if I was to breed Jetta for an Appendix baby, I love Invitation Only. He is a very successful sire and all his babies that I have seen are gorgeous. He passes on a lovely neck, balanced body type with a medium length, strong back. For a QH stallion he also has pretty nice conformation (for my tastes). I don't like the halter type that many horses are being bred for today - giant butts that are several inches taller than the withers with weak loins, huge muscled bodies on dainty feet and legs.



Love this guy. He's huge: 17.2 hh and does english pleasure
(obviously) and also jumps. Very cute jumper I might add
and look at his floaty movement. Good conformation too.
His name is Indian Artbeat.



There are also several QH stallions that are approved through the American Warmblood Society. While this may not sound like much to some (the AWS is a pretty broad group) I think they're actually some pretty nice horses. This guy pictured here is AWS approved.