Unregistered Friesian horses

A question which I have been asked on many occasions is; Is it ok to buy an unregistered friesian?

The answer to me is the same for any breed of horse. I personally like to know the breed history and have the full pedigree and this is because I am a breeder and would be ill practice to breed without knowing the pedigree as we could end up interbreeding without even realising it. If the horse is in any stud book then you have all of the breed information. I have bought many horses who have not been in the main stud book but the entire pedigree has been supplied by the breeder which to me is perfectly acceptable as long as you can trust the breeder.

If the horse is to be purely a big pet for hacking, local shows, dressage and pleasure riding etc then there is no reason why buying an unregistered horse would be wrong. If you are looking to compete at high levels then he or she must be registered with a society (not necessarily the breed society).

Most of the Friesians I buy are registered with the FPS or KFPS (all horses advertised for sale on my website are FPS or KFPS registered unless otherwise stated) but being a lover of horses I have to say that horses for my own personal use are bought purely because I like them and not because of what paperwork they have or do not have. How much I like a horse depends largely on the nature, if I have a connection with him or her, looks, movement etc. The advise I would give is to know the value of horses eg I would not expect to pay the same amount for a horse with unknown breeding as I would for a ster graded horse.

It is of course a good thing to have breed societies to oversee the breeding and hopefully help to improve any breed of any animal. One must also remember that simply because a horse has not been made a part of a human formed club does not mean that he or she has a disease or anything wrong in the slightest. It is after all quite possible to breed an amazingly beautiful animal without being a member of a society. Humans do not have to be graded and entered into a stud book before being allowed to breed and yet we have still managed to create the Antonio banderas and Brad Pitts of this world.

If the breed history was in question then I personally would not breed from that animal because I would hate to unknowingly put for example a full brother and sister together as this can create major problems in offspring.