Friso Royal Zjoerd 2003 National Hi-Point Winner By Shirley Freeman, written in early 2004 Zjoerd, born in 1991, is by Johan Willem Friso, out of Marlena Petraa Friso. Our family has 5 horses, Friso Royal Zjoerd, and Zucchero fan Friso. These are the pure Friesians, whilst Minke Rose and The Carrock Xylona are our Friesian Warmbloods, as well as our little one with attitude, Glen Dara Tessina - very short in stature, big as a Friesian in attitude (also known as a Shettie). Since Zjoerd came into our family he has shaped our lives and many others. My children are Cass (23yo-RDA rider), Tianna (19yo-now in Adelaide working with young horses), Matthew (15yo-not a keen rider, though a natural, however loves the black horses). Thant (10yo-Autistic and a natural-loves Minke best of all). Last but not least, Janet (6yo- the baby of the family). Zjoerd has safely carried my children and many children and adults to their dreams. He has competed in every horse sport imaginable, giving a credible performance in all cases, and usually winning or placing. Friesian classes over here are almost non-existent so all we have done with Zjoerd and the crew have been in open classes. Which at times has been a little hard, but always fun when our guys get up and strut their stuff. His achievements are too many to list - highlights include Supreme Ridden Light Horse at the National Horse Show 1999. Pony Club State Dressage and Event Team, Placed 8th Junior Prelim at St Gregs ODE Sydney, ACT Schools rep teams, Pony Club Rep Teams, Bowraville School rep teams, North Coast Dressage Champ, Dressage Council Young Rider. Zjoerd gave my daughter, Tianna the opportunity to excel safely in all horse sports, to travel to Perth with Jordy Boy to star in the Tattoo in 1997 (pictured). Lead out parades and much more. This has given her the confidence to go on and continue with a career in horses. In 2000 Zjoerd had a nasty paddock accident, and was out of action for over 6 months. He now has arthritis from the injury that tore the tendon from the bone at the fetlock joint. We thought he would become a babysitter to our young horses and No.1 garden ornament and adored pet, but we soon discovered that he not only loved work, but also needed to work to keep his arthritis and weight under control. He took on a new direction as mega-big kids pony, and RDA mount for many riders. 2001 saw him take all 5 of his RDA riders to 1st place at the NSW State RDA Dressage Champs, all varying disabilities. One rider, an amputee, could only ride in his saddle, that didn’t fit Zjoerd (his original mount decided to play up on the day), due to Zjoerds typically Friesian figure, the saddle rolled and the rider managed to stay on, and finish the test (he didn’t want to get disqualified!!) without missing a beat. In 2002 he took one of his riders to win the National RDA Champs in Melbourne, and a few hack shows. Last year he was busy again, my daughter, Cass, who is an RDA rider, she has an intellectual and physical disability, but after seeing everyone else compete decided to give it a go. She managed to qualify using open EFA dressage comps, then RDA Comps. Cass was picked for the RDA Talent ID Squad, which means she gets to train with the national coach, Gill Rickard. She then went on with Zjoerd to win the NSW RDA Grade 3 Champ, Australian RDA Grade 3 Champ, and the NSW RDA Team won the National Teams Event for RDA. My mum said he was reliving his tattoo days when he did his freestyle for the Champs as he grew a foot taller and danced with the music, so much so that it became a true freestyle, ala Zjoerd Style, he put his own bits in. I guess that the benefit of that is, the judges didn’t see the real one so we could get away with doing it again next year, only without Zjoerds input. In between times he continues to take care of his RDA Riders and Special Riders, as well as all the kids around. Cass and Zjoerd are due to defend their title in May at the National Champs in Sydney, where we expect to have all 3 of our guys competing, Zjoerd, Minke and Zucchero. We went to the state Andalusian show in November and it was great to see so many Friesians/FWB’s out together in NSW. Cass has never had the confidence to show a horse, as it gets a bit overwhelming for her, but as I was recovering from an accident, she had to do it all on her own. Between Zjoerd and Cass, they did a great job, the judge said he was a grand old horse. He has inherited his mothers love of jumping, but due to his injury we only let him jump small and light now, which suits Cass and her RDA friends (and me, we are not very brave!). We and Zjoerd’s many friends would recommend a Friesian or Friesian warmblood to anybody for any purpose, they are gorgeous looking, great temperaments, incredible movement, just perfect! They are so trusty, I sometimes think it is because they know how to get the good life without too much effort, make their rider look good, be adoring and make them think they are great horsemen and women, I also think that they don’t want to be left behind, so best to keep a firm hold on their rider, otherwise they might just miss out on a feed. They are incredibly conservative in expending energy unless they have an audience or a camera. Back