Frits (Vreerk)

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Frits has been Sold - Congratulations to Gail in Rochester, NY
Watch for them at shows out in Western New York State!

I had the great privilege of owning Frits for the last 5 years.  He and Linda have given me some of the greatest moments of my life.  Being a "show mom" has been amazing.  Frits has a beautiful heart and Gail is an incredibly lucky lady to have him in her life now.

This is Vreerk (Rypke x Tsjalling [check out my unofficial list of dressage sires]; Motherline:  Ster+Pref, Ster, Studbook, Model - Stam 15, the 2nd most successful stam line), who I have affectionately renamed Frits as everyone was having problems pronouncing his real name (pronounced free-erk, but you have to roll the "r"s).   He's 7 years old and 16.2 hands.  His dam, Bonne Amie, produced 2 national driving champions in the Netherlands, one of them is the famous Pander (read article), the other is Rykle (both of them by Feitse, sire of Rypke).

I went to the Netherlands to go to the stallion show and to look for horses for a gentleman I was working for at the time.  I had not been planning on purchasing a horse for myself while over there, but saw Frits at the farm of Auke Couperus and at the stallion keuring and fell in love.  Well, the rest is history.  He's truly one of the most amazing horses I have ever known.  He was purchased through Bob deBoer at the Friesian Connection.  My deepest thanks to Bob and Arlene for allowing me to join their trip that year, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life!  If you would like to "talk Friesians" with me, please drop me an email.

October 2006:  Frits has finished 2006 with these year end results:

• 3rd place USDF All Breeds Awards 2nd level Open FHANA Friesian

• 38th place for USDF Second Level Horse of the Year

• 2nd Level Open Sweepstakes Reserve Champion

• 5th in the Regional Championships in Open competition

August 2006:  Frits is currently ranked 12th in the nation at Second Level!!  Linda Parmenter is yet again doing amazing things with him.  They were the first to qualify for the Region 8 Championships.  Here's their results so far this year (against some pretty darned tough competition):

November 2005:  Frits has finished his show year with great results!

• 3rd in USDF All Breeds Awards at Training Level for FHANA Friesian

• 5th at Training Level Open for NEDA (New England Dressage Association)

• 46th ranked horse at Training Level in Open competition with the USDF

• High Point Champion at his first 3 shows:  

  • NEDA Spring Schooling Show, 71.2%

  • Dressage at Saratoga, 79.2% - the highest score in the entire history of the competition!

  • Mystic Valley Hunt Club Spring Dressage, 76.9%

• Training Level Sweepstakes Champion at NEDA Fall Festival of Dressage

December 2005:  The show season is over and Frits is very fit from all of the wonderful work Linda has done with him.  I wanted to share a few photos of him because I think he's looking so awesome!

October 2005:  NEDA is over and Frits and Linda were Training Level Sweepstakes Champions!  Frits also won his First Level Test 2 class.  It was a great event for Friesians as they took 1st and 2nd place in both Training (Noah owned by Sandra Holden & Timber owned by Constance Sisler) and First Level (Simon owned by Erik & Juliet Chavez & Timber again!) Regional Championships.

August, 2005:  Well, it's time for a long overdue update for Frits' web page.  In the winter/spring of 2004 I started him in dressage training with Linda Parmenter of Pinehaven Farm in Hubbardston, MA.  He moved to her stable in the fall of 2004 and started more intensive training.  In the spring, we decided to take him to the NEDA Spring Schooling show in Hadley, MA.  At his very first dressage show ever, Linda & Frits won High Point Champion for the day with a 71.2 at training level!  

We decided to look forward and take him to Dressage at Saratoga.  We had a magical weekend.  In his very first class at the show, Linda & Frits received a 79.2% - not only was he High Point Champion, but that was the highest score in the entire history of the show!!  When I read the score on the scoreboard, I couldn't breathe and started crying, it was so amazing.  I went back to the stables where Linda looked worried because I was crying, but I immediately pulled out the ribbon and told her the score.  I get a kick out of telling people now that he broke a record on the Saratoga Racetrack (hey, the competition rings were ON the track after all!).  Here is a photo of him just before entering the ring for that test.

And, here he is with his championship cooler (please forgive the poor lighting, there was a HUGE storm bearing down on us!).

His next show was at the Mystic Valley Hunt Club in Connecticut, where once again Linda & Frits won High Point Champion for the show with a score of 76.9%!  He also competed in his very first 1st level class, which they won!  Here are a few shots from that show.

EXCITING NEWS!!  Frits got his Ster rating at the Keuring on September 16th, 2002!!

The following pictures were taken in the Netherlands on January 13, 2002 on the farm of Auke Couperus, where I first met Frits.  

This picture was taken the day I picked him up from quarantine.  He was flown over from the Netherlands - I had no idea that's what they did, I thought he would come on a boat!  He then had to spend 2 days in quarantine in Newburgh, NY.  When they brought him out for me, he looked so much bigger than he had in the Netherlands.  He was such a gentleman, stepped right onto the trailer without a pause.

He then traveled to a stable in Connecticut.  They kept him in a quarantine stall there for yet one more day.  These pictures were taken the first day he was allowed to run outside.  Boy, did he have loads of pent up energy!  Which is no surprise considering he had been cooped up for almost a full week.  Woohoo!

Here are some photos of one of his training sessions with Andy Marcoux of Coachman's Delight, in 2002

These pictures were taken on 7/9/02 with Andy riding him.

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