Feathered Horse Spring Classic April 13-15, 2012
MARK the Calendar
4th Annual Feathered Horse Spring Classic
April 13-15, 2012
Calsonic Indoor Arena, Shelbyville, TN
The Feathered Horse Classic (FHC) Shows provide a competitive and social Horse Show for owners of Friesian and Gypsy horses to compete. FHC offers a wide variety of classes to serve many levels of horse and rider.
Classes offered are: Halter, Specialty In-Hand, Showmanship, Trail In-Hand, Trail under Saddle, Western, English, Liberty, Freestyle Riding, Driving, Costume and Dressage Levels Intro to Training and Pick-A-Test for the those that have excelled beyond. Added for the 1st time at the 2012 April show in Shelbyville, TN is Two Green Reining Classes.
2012 marked the 3rd year offering Dressage. USDF Judges are hired for Dressage at all FHC shows.
Gail Shrine Events is a professional show management company with over 75 years combined experience between myself and staff. We do not own, show or breed Friesian or Gypsy horses, our passion is to provide a platform for the owners, riders, and horses to excel on a neutral playing field, and be transparent to everyone that competes. The USEF Friesian Rules are used to govern all Friesian Classes.
Show details are at: www.FeatheredHorseClassic.com and Visit the FHC Facebook Fan Page at www.Facebook.com/FeatheredHorseClassic
CA 2011 Stallion Testing
Both Stallions were unable to continue the testing this year. Zander fan Camelot came up with a minor injury four days before the final test. Hopefully, we will see him back next year, his overall performance throughout the entire time was outstanding.
Zander fan Camelot
Zander is now one of two stallions left in the testing! The final test will be February 25th and 26th in CA.
Zander fan Camelot Ster: Going through Stallion Approval
UPDATE DECEMBER 9, 2010 – Zander has passed his xray and semen tests and is going to the 70 day test in California. If he can pass these RIGOROUS performance and temperament tests, he will be one of the VERY few KFPS Friesians stallions granted breeding privileges.
See the stallions Lolke and Gerlof Nov 6
Approved KFPS stallions Lolke 371 and Gerlof 294 will be at Pinnacle Farms in Connecticut on November 6.
The Friesian Keuring – Scoring and What to do with the Scores
This is article discusses the final results of the keuring, and what to do with those results. The article is rather short. Why? There is no precise answer. Some people feel the results help the owner determine a market value for the horse. Some people have a stallion they are hoping to advance to consideration as a breeding stallion. Others simply want to see if their horse can be rated as a ster or better.
The Friesian Keuring – Judging the Trot
My take: I will just go ahead and say it. I think the trot is the most misunderstood thing about judging a Friesian horse at an American inspection. Nothing is criticized more in a judge or upsets an owner more than the perceived score for a horse, based solely on what people “think” is a good trot.
When people think of the Friesian horse they often think of the high head carriage and elevated, lovely front knee action.
The Friesian Keuring – Judging the Walk
When inspecting a horse for the KFPS inspection, two of the three gaits are inspected: the walk and the trot. Stallions who are attempting to become approved as breeding stallions may have the canter inspected as well, but foals and mares are looked at (presently) for the walk and trot only. These are judged while the horse is in hand being led/exercised by a runner while a second runner (“the whip”) encourages the horse to move on.
My take: A good runner/whip can make a big difference.
The Friesian Keuring – Judging Conformation
Conformation is really not the “beauty” of the horse (of course!) Conformation has to do with the question “is this horse put together in a way that will enable it to be effectively used for its intended purpose”. The conformation of a draft horse that pulls a plow might be perfect for plow pulling, but horrible for reining in loose cattle. And a reining horse might be built perfectly for that task, but completely wrong for jumping over 6 foot fences.
The Friesian “Keuring” – What is it?
This autumn, inspectors, judges and runners from the Netherlands will fly to North America to inspect our horses in this annual event. For those of us in the Friesian world, this is a significant time for our horses (especially the adult horses) and for Friesian lovers everywhere it is a great time to come out and see lots of Friesians in one place.
So, what is an inspection (Dutch word – “keuring”), and what do the judges look for?
The Dutch word “keuring” is not just for horses.