My name is San Diego. I'm a 7 years old male Frisian horse and I would like to
introduce you to my world, tell you about my life, my experiencies and of my breed.
My origins you can find in the northern part of The Netherlands in a district called
Friesland. Friesian people, farmers mostly, have their own culture, their own language,
their own horsebreed ( us ) and a mind of their own. That way they are a lot like me...
We have existed for a long time.We did first appear in history around 1276
and about 400 years ago the nobilized us with the noble Andalusian horse.
That is where we have gotten our round appearance from, our pride and the mighty neck.
We belong to the group of the so called Barock-horses. Later in the Middleages we were a
popular gift to Royal Empires and we were mainly owned by principalities and aristocrats.
In some areas we were taken to wars carrying the knights on longdistance rides.
Sometimes as far as Israel.In the 19th century we started to be out of fashion.
A new, slender and fast type of horse came up and fascinated with it's quality in sports
like horseraces. The Thoroughbred,also known as the English fullblood.
Times have changed and time has gone by...In 1913 the Frisianhorse reached a
point of almost dying out. The Frisian farmers then decided, that this was the moment
for a radical change and started to reconstruct our race. So in 1913 the Het
Friesenpaarden Stambök was founded, our new Stembook. Short time after that,
the Frisianhorse was back in the world.
The guidelines for our breeding are the most strict ones of all horsebreeds.
A stallion needs the highest qualification in pace, trot and gallop. He has to
have a high knee activity, a high performance-level and he is supposed
to enjoy running in front of a carriage. Further his personality should be a strong one,
he also has to be honest and brave. A lot of expectations for a 3 year old
stallion, but it is a must in order to maintain the quality and health of our breed. After all,
we are different from all the other horses in the world. Today there are
about 50 Frisian stallions available for breeding to the mares.
So nowadays some people have discovered us again and we a living some kind of
Renaissance. Our dressage-disposition is deep in our roots. It's a wonderful heritage from
the Andalusianhorse. Still it does not fit within the regular guidelines for dressage
tournaments, since our paces a quite different. And that's the way they are supposed
to be. English dressage does not really support our talents. It's the Spanish dressage
that brings us to the highest achievement. So our place is not really in big
tournaments.We are enjoyable leisurepartners and we are brilliant showhorses.
About my life: Well, I was born and raised in DRACHTEN ( WEST FRIESLAND), where I
enjoyed a quiet and peaceful childhood. By the timeI was 2 years old,
they took me to AMSTERDAM. Anja, my owner appeared there one day and
I saw it coming she wanted to posess me. They delievered me to Germany ,where
she lived, to a large horsestable, where I do still live today. In general I am a
very friendly and happy horse. I am a willing dressage partner and you
can do almost do anything with me. For example taking me on long
distance rides..Occasionly I even carry Anja home to her house. I am interested
in almost anything and I watch the world around me carefully. Of course I do have my mistakes.....
I have decided to stay an eternal child. I like to escape from Anja whenever
I get the chance. She must be quite fast,otherwise I am gone. I seem pretty
strong and relaxed,but my soul is very fragile. I do need Anja around me,
and once they took me away from my home for dressagetraining with the
result that I suffered from 15 colics within 6 months and lost about 100 kgs.
I might even have died, if they wouldn`t have taken me back..... I would not see
myself as a typical Frisian horse. I have the intelligence, the typical attention
and humanbeing reference but most Frisians are not as rebellic as I am.
With lovely greetings
SAN DIEGO
