Story & Pictures by Natasha Althoff
Ebony Park Friesian Stud,  Victoria.

The Victorian Keuring (judging) for the Friesian horse was held on the weekend of the 6th and 7th of May in Whittlesea. Unfortunately it was our coldest weekend for a while and Sunday it did rain, but nothing could dampen the spirits of us Victorians, soaking up the chance for our horses to be judged by these amazing judges brought especially over from Holland to judge our Friesians.

Saturday kicked off with an amazing clinic being held by the judges, telling us what they look for and what they like to see in an ideal friesian horse. i think a lot of us were all a little concerned as most of the things they were saying was not good, we were like oh oh my horses have that! But what was good about the judges were they have an ideal but they really judge the horse as a whole not just fixate on one little thing that may be wrong with it. They judge the horse 40% on conformation and 60% movement on only the walk and trot gaits shown in hand.

After the clinic which we all learnt lots, we had some lunch and then the judging began!

The results possible with the foals being judged are:

no premie: All foals are foalbook registered, no premie means that they have a fault, in confirmation or movement and there-for are not good enough for a premie

3rd premie: Good foals Have no faults, and movement is good.

2nd premie: Very good foals. Approx 20% of the foals get this, these are ones who are excellent in movement and confirmation but could still be better in some area.

1st premie: Excellent. About 5% get this, these are the best and are as close to 'perfect' as you are likely to get, mostly in the movement as this is the main thing they judge

The results were:

Fillies under 12 months
Siaan (x Jasper 366) owned by S. Morell & P. Howie: 2nd premie

Colts under 12 months
Valiant (x Iepe Tj) owned by M. Robinson: 3rd premie
Sybren of Wildcroft ( x Age B) owned by M. Kanaris: 3rd premie

Valentino (x Age B) owned by M. Robinson: 2nd premie and Junior Champion

Saor (x Weird 409) owned by S. Morell & P. Howie: 3rd premie

Tao (xArjen 417) owned by E. Chesson: 2nd premie, Junior Reserve Champion

Fillies over 12 months
Monica (x Ludse) owned by E. Chesson: 3rd premie
Siezelle (x Reimer 379) S. Morell & P. Howie: 3rd premie

Geldings over 12 months
Neo (x Lammert) just comments due to his age (dont give premies to
colts/geldings over 12 months)

There was a dinner with everyone and the judges at 6pm which i heard was lovely, but some of us had to get home and wash clip and prepare horses all night!

Sunday we all woke to rain and it kept raining, but by 9am when the keuring started it wasn't so bad.

The judging for the adult mares is:

no premie: entered into the studbook, but with no premie means horse has no faults in movement or confirmation but could be better, if the horse had faults it would NOT be entered into the studbook but would remain foalbook.

3rd premie: entered into the studbook, as 3rd premie this means they are 'better quality' studbook

2nd premie: entered into the studbook as 'ster' 2nd premie Better again and amongst the top quality horses

1st premie: entered into the studbook as 'ster' 1st premie the very best of the horses

Model: stunning mares can go better then ster and recieve model but
this doesn't happen very often! they have to do a performance test for this.

Results:

mares for studbook

Hula (x Wicher 334) owned by M. Robinson: 2nd premie ster

Asje (x Iepe Tj) owned by E. Zygas: studbook
Geluk PH (x Sape 381) owned by J. Limb: studbook

Isabella (x Nanning 374) owned by E. Chesson: studbook

repeat judging for premie/ster
Christa B (x Piter 312) owned by S. Morell & P. Howie: no premie

Famke Mayke (x Lolke 371) owned by N. Althoff Ebony Park Friesians: 2nd premie ster, Senior Champion

Woepke van Groot Altena (x Folkert 353) owned by G. & T. Lamers: remains 3rd premie

Giske (x Tjeerd) owned by C. Jefferson: remains 3rd premie

Fly-A-Way (x Otte 315) owned by S. Baxter: remains 3rd premie

Siebrig Fan Henswoude (x Lammert 320) owned by J. McKenzie: 2nd premie ster, Senior Reserve Champion

Evita fan it Pomplebled (x Ulke 338) owned by S. Morell & P. Howie: no premie

 line-up of mares

Entja (x Remmelt) owned by C. Jefferson: studbook

Hendrik fan Friso (x Reitse) owned by R. Trenwith: studbook

stallions for ster

Elko van de Woalderhoeve (x Teunis 332) owned by N. Althoff Ebony Park Friesians: ster (applied for breeding lisence)
Gaele fan Fjildsicht ( x Fietse 293) owned by G. Bransford: not ster

Abe (x Anne 340) owned by N. Althoff Ebony Park Friesians: ster
(applied for breeding lisence)

We eagerly await the judges decision on the breeding licence for Ebony Park Abe and Elko

ster stallions for breeding licence renewel

Age B (x Heinse)

A HUGE thankyou has to go to the runners on the weekend who ran themselves crazy trying to show our friesians to the best. They all did an impeccable job and we were all so grateful and proud of them! Jim Burrell of the Carrock performance horses was awarded a 1st premie for his running which was the only 1st premie awarded for the weekend!

L to R: Cody Harrison, Andrew Wood, Mr Doyle, Dan Wake, Kayls, and Jim Burrell.

I personally need to thank Jim and Denise Burrell for all their help and especially Jim's help running and thanks to Cody Harrison for helping run my stallions out as well, Jim and Cody did baton changes with the stallions and I have no doubt my excellent results came from their expertise showing them.

Monica and Cody

Thus Victorian Keuring 2006 was over for another three years, and i'm sure it will take me that long to recover! For anyone interested in Friesians I encourage you to attend the next Keuring! its a lot of fun and you learn so much! Everyone in the Friesian community is so lovely and welcoming and we all share the one thing at least the love of the Friesian horse.

Judges

Interested people in Friesians should visit the following websites:

http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/friesian/index.htm
http://www.friesianhorses.com.au/theafhs.htm

The Ebony Park website is almost finished the web address is

www.ebonyparkstud.com.au

Natasha Althoff Media Release