Ancestry



Here is something unexpected:  a video of the great-grandfather of my own little girl.

7 comments:

bthun said...

Handsome devil that friesian, no doubt about it...

douglas said...

beautiful. Wish there was some motion in there as opposed to all stills, but great lines. What a neck on him. I don't know why that's what stands out to me, but it is.

douglas said...

This is where the technology of information in this day and age is so wonderful- that you can look something like this up based on your breeding records and viola- someone's posted a slide show like this.

MikeD said...

Not just you douglas. I don't honestly know the first thing about horses, but I loved the cant of his head in the running (trotting?) pictures.

He's also got a beautiful glossy coat. Not sure I'm as much a fan of the long mane, but like I said... I don't really know horses, so take my opinion for what it's worth.

Grim said...

Mike:

Most of those moving pictures are of trots, but there is one canter at about 35s. The canter is my favorite gait to ride: it's a fast, rolling gait rather like taking a speed boat over waves. You let your body kind of go with it, like a whip.

The trot, on the other hand, is a lot of work to ride because you either have to "post" the trot -- meaning raise yourself up with your legs on a regular beat -- or, if you sit the trot, you'll get jounced around by the saddle.

Texan99 said...

Wow, that is one big romantic horse, with rock-star hair. Do all Friesians have neck arches that pronounced?

douglas said...

A little more thinking about it, and a little googling... Apparently Friesians are noted for the arched necks, but from a quick perusal of pics on the internet, not all as much as this fellow. I think my interest in the size and form of the neck on him has to do with a few things- first, it reminds me of the sort of horses head you'd see sculpted in a chess set for a traditional knight piece. It would also make sense that a horse with shoulders and a neck like that is going to have a much greater ability to pull with the front legs, and having better strctural support of the back (what with the counterweight of the head and tension line from there to the back) be better able to carry a load. He just reads as a powerful horse, but with a balance of an athletic body that implies grace and nimbleness. That all fits with What I read at the Friesian Horse Association of North America:

-The armored knights found the Friesian horse very desirable, having the strength to carry great weight and still maneuver precisely.
-The Hungarian King Louis II used a Friesian stallion on the battlefield on June 15, 1526.
-Friesian ancestors were used as war horses by Friesian soldiers fighting with the Roman armies, and later were used by knights and traveled all the way to the Middle East with the Crusaders.
-Their suppleness and agility made Friesians sought after in the riding schools of Paris and Spain in the 15th and 16th centuries.
-They were also used as a fast trotting coach horse, and it was, in fact, Friesians who invented trotting races over short distances (320 metres) in the 18th century.

I think I'm beginning to see why Grim has one.