Friesian Inspections/gradings 2013

This week I went to the UK Friesian Inspections, which this year was held in Lancashire. I have been to many of the official KFPS gradings in Holland but this was the first time that I have attended the British Inspections. I think a lot of Friesian horse owners would find it an eye opener, we all tend to compare our own horses to those being graded and some who have a well graded older horse may discover that they could be downgraded now as the breed standard is changing greatly. For example; there was one stallion who really stood out on the day, he was a 7 year old Rindert 406 x Feitse 293 owned by a Mr John Clark. This stallion was a real beauty with big big presence, long mane, good bone and his action in trot had us all watching intently. I had convinced myself that he was about to receive ster status but when the announcement was made that he had not been awarded Ster many of us stood in disbelief as we watched him leave the ring. The reason he was not awarded ster was because he was “too heavy”.  This is him pictured below.

The judges favoured the much finer types such as the 3 year old mare Tsjalke 397 x Anne 340 owned by Roubi &Roubi . This is the mare who went on to become overall breed champion 2013 and here she is pictured below.

It is good to see what the judges are looking for even if you have a different idea in your own head of what the ultimate ‘Friesian dream horse’ looks like.  Grading Friesian’s is very different to UK showing classes and the judges aren’t looking for the same things when grading horses for the studbook. There were lots of good quality horses there on the day and it is always nice to see a group of Friesian’s together.

It was especially nice to see one of our Former residents ‘Unique’ looking as beautiful as ever!