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Place of origin: Holland.
Aptitudes:Draft, farm work, riding horse. Qualities:Excellent trotting horse. Temperament:Docile, responsive. |
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| Conformation: The Friesian is a horse with a compact build and superb bearing, standing approximately 15 hands at the withers. The coat is exclusively black, very rarely presenting white markings of the head only. The head is long and narrow with a straight profile, full forelock, short, pointed ears, and gentle, expressive eyes. The neck is quite short but well-arched; the withers broad and not very prominent, the back straight and short, the loins broad, the flanks rounded, the croup muscular and sloping, the tail full, the chest broad and deep, the shoulder long and sloping. The legs are muscular with broad joints and some feather below the cannons; the foot is large and strong. |
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History: The Friesian is one of the oldest breeds in Europe and was much in demand in the Middle Ages as a war horse to carry knights in armour. Altough greatly influenced by the addition of Andalusian and Oriental blood, the modern breed still retains the characteristics of its ancestors. An excellent trotter, it was frequently used as an imposing black carriage horse for funerals. Known at one time as the Harddraver, meaning "good trotter" in Dutch, it has, together with the Hackney, which itself derives from the Friesian, contriduted to the formation of all competitive trotting breeds. The Friesian was in danger of becoming extinct in the early twentieth century. |
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