History of the Friesian Horse

A NOBLE AND DRAMATIC HISTORY

The modern Friesian descends from one of Europe's oldest breeds of warmbloods. Yet as little as one hundred years ago, it was nearly extinct. The Friesian is a prospering breed today due to the efforts of a few admirers of this magnificent warm-blooded horse.

The breed is equally skilled at multi-level dressage, trotting, and driving, singly or combined. Its high step and superb natural movement are the result of its long being favored by breeders throughout Northern Europe. The same blood lines that runs through the Lipizzan are present in the Friesian.

Since the 16th century, Friesians have been in Neaples. Jan van der Straat's 1568 painting shows "Phryso" owned by Don Juan from Austria.

In the 17th century , the Marquis De Newcastle mentioned Friesian horses as being very qualified for dressage and high school riding.

The breed originated in the Dutch Netherlands in the early 16th Century. It takes its name from Friesland, a Dutch province bordering the North Sea, long known for its open pastures and wealth of horse breeding. Because of the wars of this time the native Friesian came under the influence of the great Spanish Andalusian horse. During the Dutch IndependenceWar against Spain (1568-1648), the Spanish influence was renewed to lay the foundation of the modern Friesian.

During the 18th Century, the Friesian lost its favor as a war horse but became respected as both a trotter and carriage horse. Its muscular body, high natural step, well-developed hindquarters, energetic intelligence, and gentle temperament all lent their strengths to these demands.
But the 19th Century favored other breeds increasingly available in the widening world equine trade market. Imported trotting horses from Russia and America replaced the Friesian horses at almost every race course. The once-famous Friesian wasso rare it was in danger of becoming extinct. In 1879 a few admirers tried to save what was left.

The result was the Studbook Society, which included two registries: Friesians in the "A" Book, and other warmbloods including crossbreeds and Bovenlander (Oldenburg and East Friesian horses) in the "B" Book. The first studbook, "Paardenstamboek" was published by 1880. After the fusion of the registries in 1906, the studbook was renamed "Friesch Paarden Stamboek" (FPS) in 1907, a registry which included Friesian and Oldenburg stallions. The Oldenburg blood was added because it was the opinion of some that this warmblood would "improve" the Friesian horse.

By the turn of the century, the ravages of the foreign trade influences as well as the extensive cross-breeding of remaining Friesians had sadly left only a few purebred stallions and mares. The Dutch society "Het Friesche Paard"(The Friesian Horse) was founded in 1913 to promote the breeding of purebred Friesian horses, and by 1915 were able to convince FPS to agree to split the registries once again. By 1943, the breeders of non-Friesian horses of the B-Book left the Studbook to form an entirely separate registry called NWP (NWP=Noordnederlands Warmbloed Paarden, which later became Warmbloed Paarden Nederland (WPN, a.k.a. KWPN). The remaining Friesian breeders of FPS concentrated such intense effort to re-establish the Friesian that it can be fairly claimed that no breed has been researched more scientifically than the Friesian.
There are three modern bloodlines: Tetman 205, Age 168, and Ritske 202. Each of these sires trace their blood to Paulus 121, who 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. Today, all purebred Friesians trace back to these bloodlines.

Thus, thanks to the efforts of a few Dutch Friesian admirers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, purebred Friesians are now seen and enjoyed around the world, with the majority being in the Netherlands and Germany, followed by North America. The result has been the establishment of "daughter" societies of FPS.,

Today, because of continued steady growth in number (now up to approximately 3000 in North America) as well as a tremendous surge in popularity, the Friesian's survival is now virtually guaranteed. Having recently become one of Europe's most respected performance horses, it remains only for America to discover the versatility and beauty of this noble and ancient breed.