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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sorry it has taken me a while to add this new step – I have been busy getting the mares bred (or trying to)!

I did want to tell you a bit about getting the semen here and getting it stored so I could then have it protected and available.

As mentioned in a previous post, I purchased my semen through a friend who served as broker for me.