I adore my cross (1/2 Friesian, 1/4 ASB, 1/4 Percheron). I got her as a 2yo, and now as an 8yo, we’re showing I-1, schooling P&P, and she events in the winter (she jumps 3’6" easily, but I usually keep it closer to 3’ for cross training purposes). She is very clever, but can also be stubborn (especially when the routine changes). She sweats more than I do, but isn’t happy when the thermometer is over 95 (but will give me 30min of good work before she’s ready to go back inside). She also builds fitness easily and canters like a dream. My only complaint is that she never grew-she’s a solid 15’2hh, but I expected a bit more coming out of a 16’2hh mare by a 17hh stallion! 
Has anyone heard of the Friesian registry FWR? I am looking at buying a Friesian stallion who is registered with FWR but I can’t find anything out about this FWR registry.
[QUOTE=samhenry2933;8817437]
Has anyone heard of the Friesian registry FWR? I am looking at buying a Friesian stallion who is registered with FWR but I can’t find anything out about this FWR registry.[/QUOTE]
FWF? Flying W Farm? They breed a lot of Friesian/Saddlebred (and Draft Saddlebred) crosses and have their own registry, Georgian Grande. People sometimes refer to their horses like a registry (that is an FWF horse) because they do turn out a LOT of foals.
I have an ArabXFriesian. He has been my absolute heart horse. I’ve never had the opportunity to work with such a horse that is SO willing to please. He will try his heart out just to do good. Has no mean bone in his body. I’ve trained him up through 4th level. If he had been started in dressage as a 4 year old he easily would have went up to GP. However, he ended up just being a trail horse till he was 10 so a change in careers was a challenge for him for awhile.
My only complaint is the health issues. I always thought he was just unlucky until I realized how predisposed Friesians are to health issues. He suffers from both respiratory and skin allergies. Both are thankfully seasonal but a pain in the rear non the less to deal with.
The only other challenging thing about him is he is SO wide. He literally needs a 40cm saddle. That is an XXXW tree. He has the biggest, broadest, shoulders and back.
One great thing about him is he is actually put together quite well. Has nice large feet and big solid bones and musculature.
I have very little personal experience with Friesians, but I’ll admit to being one of the “skeptics” … Simply because the Friesians seems to be one of those breeds that people (generally new to horses) fall in love with because of purely superficial traits. Namely, they’re big and black and have long flowing hair … Black Stallion Syndrome incarnate. Whereas those who have been around horses longer tend to be much more impressed by what a horse does than how much hair it has.
That said, there do seem to be a fair number of Friesians that are successful in dressage beyond the lower levels, so maybe if I saw more of them in action I’d be impressed by what they can do. The one full-blooded Friesian I’ve known seemed to be a sweet, kind horse but was severely swaybacked … Not sure if that was just this particular horse or if they have a tendency toward that.
[QUOTE=samhenry2933;8817437]
Has anyone heard of the Friesian registry FWR? I am looking at buying a Friesian stallion who is registered with FWR but I can’t find anything out about this FWR registry.[/QUOTE] Are you looking at Lexington? He is registered with FSA, which stands for Friesian Sporthorse Association. I believe he was bred at Flying W Farm.
No, definitely FWR
[QUOTE=MysticOakRanch;8812380]
I had a cross stallion that showed through Grand Prix, and in his late teens, is a young rider’s schoolmaster. [/QUOTE]
My wonderful FriesianX, who I posted about on page 1 of this thread, is a son of this stallion.
[QUOTE=JER;8818003]
My wonderful FriesianX, who I posted about on page 1 of this thread, is a son of this stallion.
:)[/QUOTE]
So nice to hear Love hearing about the Cadence kids!
Well I guess we need to break the mold because my 17.2hh Friesian/TB has an AMAZING canter (and gallop) and absolutely thrives in the heat. He does not tire and handles hot and humid temps as well as, if not better than, the other TB event horses on the property.
Sure he’s hard to connect back to front but we can do it. He’s not as brave as a TB but crazy athletic and fantastic jumper.
And so incredibly sweet to all living things (except bugs). I remember moving him to a barn that had a bunch of little girls, a new experience from where we moved. I left for 5 minutes and came back to see about 5 of them hanging on his neck and head, just dangling all over. He was in heaven, head down, just taking in all the love. :love-struck: :tickled_pink:
Quite honestly I am not a fan. I have probably known (ie cared for and/or ridden) over 2000 horses in my life and disliked maybe 5 total (plus every. single. paso fino but that is another story altogether and generally I would never run into paso finos), but that number 5 ibcludes every friesan I have worked with. So a limited but consistent sample.
The ones I have met could not jump to save their souls and had very tight backs and a fairly dumb spook. They take forever to learn anything. The one friesan I was particularly unfond of would charge you on the longe line hut also refuse to go back in his house. Once a groom was discovered asleep on the barn aisle holding the leadrope because the eff horse would not go in his house and the groom (who had his own issues but was very sweet) finally gave up and decided to just take a nap on the floor until help appeared.
I then had to wrap the longe line around the stall door post (so I could pull the horse toward the stall from a safe and non chargeable distance) and encourage it forward woth the other end of the rope. Basically either you go in your house like a normal horse or you pull the whole barn down by this post, whichever comes first. A special trainer had to be called in to teach it to get on the trailer. It also once backed up all around the farm while my trainer was trying to lead it until it fell over backwards into the pond and came up spluttering ala swamp thing, which was then a delight to clean out of its copious follicular output. However it believed wholeheartedly that my trainer had caused the earth to turn to water on purpose and followed him like a demure little lamb thereafter.
There are thousands of horses with better brains and easier backs to ride. I have met 1000x more (literally!) Oldenburgs/Hanoverians/tbs/qhs than I have friesans and none of them were even close to as stupid and all a million times easier to ride and deal with.
I’m sure people love them but out of 2000 horses my average experience is like 1995 perfectly pleasant non friesan horses, 3 friesan idiots, and 2 random breed rogues.
Honestly, if that is the way you feel about the breed, obviously there is a clash -
perfectly ok - and a person is free to like the kind of horse they like or not.
Perhaps the Friesians feel the same way, perhaps it is your touch, who knows.
However, it is not fair to call down an entire breed on your own personal feelings.
Many, many more are loved by their owners and they would not be bred in Holland if they were so screwball. We don’t know the history of the horses that you had to handle either.
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;8819730]
Honestly, if that is the way you feel about the breed, obviously there is a clash -
perfectly ok - and a person is free to like the kind of horse they like or not.
Perhaps the Friesians feel the same way, perhaps it is your touch, who knows.
However, it is not fair to call down an entire breed on your own personal feelings.
Many, many more are loved by their owners and they would not be bred in Holland if they were so screwball. We don’t know the history of the horses that you had to handle either.[/QUOTE]
First of all, the thread ASKED FOR people’s personal feelings on Friesans. I did not see the part where only positive personal feelings were allowed?? OP is more than welcome to take my perspective with the grain of salt that should be reserved for all things internet, but there is no need to censor anyone from even responding.
Secondly, if it was “maybe my touch,” I do wonder why multiple people (my trainer, the other groom, another friend of mine with a different friesan) all mysteriously had the same issues, and I additionally wonder why the other thousands of horses I have handled did not have the same issues.
OP asked people for their opinions. I stated that I personally am not a fan, and stated why that is true for me. OP is more than willing to conclude that my sample size is too small if she would like. I will not take it personally if OP is not slavishly convinced of my every stated preference from not being a fan of friesans to also not being a fan of black licorice, and OP (and everyone else) is more than welcome to arrive at a different conclusion than I did, but there is no need to censor me just because you don’t like it.
[QUOTE=meupatdoes;8819767]
The Noodlehttp://tiny.cc/NGKmT&http://tiny.cc/gioSA
Jinxyhttp://tiny.cc/PIC798&http://tiny.cc/jinx364
Boy Wonderhttp://tiny.cc/G9290
The Hana is nuts! NUTS!!http://tinyurl.com/SOCRAZY [/QUOTE]
Is this supposed to link to a Pakistani University?
Had a Friesian x TB once. Sadly had the worst of both breeds.
Shark fin withers
Very hard keeper - eventually died of colic, cause unknown.
Bullish personality - smart but not generous.
Very aggressive to dogs.
Sluggish: favorite gait - halt.
Very hard to get fit
Canter was awful - 4 beat
Preferred to jump through fences vs over them
On the plus side he had great feet and an epic tail!
A barnmate had a purebred and he had a lovely personality, lots of itchiness problems, and sarcoids IIRC. Seemed more forward, but she was a trail rider.
[QUOTE=meupatdoes;8819709]
Quite honestly I am not a fan. I have probably known (ie cared for and/or ridden) over 2000 horses in my life and disliked maybe 5 total (plus every. single. paso fino but that is another story altogether and generally I would never run into paso finos), but that number 5 ibcludes every friesan I have worked with. So a limited but consistent sample.
The ones I have met could not jump to save their souls and had very tight backs and a fairly dumb spook. They take forever to learn anything. The one friesan I was particularly unfond of would charge you on the longe line hut also refuse to go back in his house. Once a groom was discovered asleep on the barn aisle holding the leadrope because the eff horse would not go in his house and the groom (who had his own issues but was very sweet) finally gave up and decided to just take a nap on the floor until help appeared.
I then had to wrap the longe line around the stall door post (so I could pull the horse toward the stall from a safe and non chargeable distance) and encourage it forward woth the other end of the rope. Basically either you go in your house like a normal horse or you pull the whole barn down by this post, whichever comes first. A special trainer had to be called in to teach it to get on the trailer. It also once backed up all around the farm while my trainer was trying to lead it until it fell over backwards into the pond and came up spluttering ala swamp thing, which was then a delight to clean out of its copious follicular output. However it believed wholeheartedly that my trainer had caused the earth to turn to water on purpose and followed him like a demure little lamb thereafter.
There are thousands of horses with better brains and easier backs to ride. I have met 1000x more (literally!) Oldenburgs/Hanoverians/tbs/qhs than I have friesans and none of them were even close to as stupid and all a million times easier to ride and deal with.
I’m sure people love them but out of 2000 horses my average experience is like 1995 perfectly pleasant non friesan horses, 3 friesan idiots, and 2 random breed rogues.[/QUOTE]
While I generally respect the things you have to say here and elsewhere, I just find this to be so silly in comparison to the friesians I have known that it obviously must have been some weird fluke. Because I do respect you enough to believe you but I also have known enough horses in the breed to know that this absolutely is not typical for the breed. 
[QUOTE=2miniB;8812738]
I don’t have any personal experience with Friesians. If it’s the look you like (black, lots of hair and feathers) the Welsh Cob, Fell or Dales pony would also fit that bill, without all the health issues Friesians have. I have a black Welsh Cob section C/Arab, and she was a very nice dressage pony.[/QUOTE]
I haven’t read through all the posts here, but I am really surprised that nobody has mentioned yet all the health issues that friesians have due to being from such a small gene pool. Dwarfism, Hydrocephalus (rare in other breeds, but not so in friesians), aortic ruptures high in the aortic arch which lead to a slow bleed, and a few other problems that are rare in other breeds, but seem to pop up frequently in friesians.
OP if you’d like to educate yourself on health issues, the Fenway Foundation has done some amazing work and has many articles on all of the topics related to Friesian health.
http://fenwayfoundation.com/educationlinks/
Thanks, BlackPearlz. Very helpful!
