On Saturday, May 9 six brave friesians and their riders rode in the Tulip time parade in Holland, MI. It was the first time in a parade for 3 of the 6, but they all did great! The crowd loved them, and a fantastic time was had by all. Check out the gallery to see pictures.

MHSA has added Friesian Classes to 4 of their approved shows and to year end High Point awards. Membership is $15/individual and $25/family. For a list of shows and classes, check out the events section.

Congratulations to Klaas and Mares Vanderploeg on the approval of Sipke 450! Sipke passed the 70 day performance test in California and will be standing at the Friesian Connection Stallion station in Dorr, Michigan. Come meet Spike at an openhouse in his honor. More info in the events section.

Congratulations to Paulus Van De Willem-State, a ten year old star gelding who won the 2007 USEF Reserve Friesian Driving Award. Accepting the award on Paulus' behalf at the USEF Horse of the Year Dinner in Louisville was his friend Robyn Bomhof.

The World Friesian Horse Show was held October 24-27 in Springfield, Ohio. What a great show! FHANA should be proud of this event and hopefully continue it year after year.

Our club was well represented in the classes with well known names such as Sneller, Matherly, Cole, Bluhm, Vanderploeg, Deboer, Bomhof, Kelnhofer. We all did well and enjoyed the competition and networking. Many other club members came to watch and cheer us on.

Special recognition goes to Paulus Van De Wilem State. Paulus is a ten year old star gelding owned, trained, and operated by Robyn Bomhof. Paulus came from the driving classes to win the High Point Perpetual Trophy as he accumulated the highest overall score.

Also congratulations go to Tjalling, Vanderploeg's model mare for achieving the Reserve Mare Champion status and Glenn & Carol Bluhm for taking the Country English World Championship with Roelof (Cathy Martin up).

For class results, go to www.horseshowonline.com

A beautiful time to be in West Michigan with our beautiful Friesians. Our Inspection went well as usual thanks to all of our dedicated club workers.

The judges once again reminded us how difficult it is to get a star rating (in fact even a third premium was difficult). There were 104 Friesians that were judged. Of those going for a star rating, only 4 mares, 2 stallions, and 1 gelding made it. We did have however, one new Model Mare and one Stallion going on to be tested.

For the complete unofficial results, open up the attached Word document provided by the Friesian Connection.

For crowd pictures, go to our Gallery-Members section.

Attached File: Keuring-Hasting results-2007.doc

Another great Keuring!

For a summary Results Page, open up the attached Word document.

Attached File: 2006 Hastings Keuring Results.doc

Four of our members took their performance horses down to Lexington, VA to compete with North America's finest at the International Friesian Show Horse Assoc Grand Nationals.

Robyn Bomhof took her gelding Paulus. Amy & Sara of the Friesian Connection took Pieter P. and Rintse. Cally Matherly took her young stallion Cervantes. Janet Enyart took her mare Taitske.

The facilities at the Virginia Horse Center were first rate and the weather was just right as the Friesians from different registries showed off for the crowd.

About 100 Friesians competed in class sizes ranging from 1to 15. Competing against serious competitors from around the country is difficult, but when it was all said and done, the West Mich. entrants rose to the challenge as spectators Dirk Ten Haaf and Pete & Cathly Van Ooy can attest.

Our horses always finished in the ribbons and we took more than our fair share of first and second places.

Placings of note:
Cervantes - this young stallion was mostly shown in the Western classes with Shawn & Cally riding. In the Western Pleasure Junior Horse class he become GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPION and in the Western Pleasure Amateur class, he become RESERVE GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPION.

Rintse - besides his dressage testing, he took GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPION in the Dressage Hack Open class with Shaana Pritchard up.

Paulus - Robyn's eight year old gelding did well in four classes and become GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPION with Kelly Hill up in the Dressage Suitability class.

Taitske - Janet was entered in pleasure driving and obstacle driving classes. Janet's turn out and driving skills were superior as usual taking RESERVE GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPION in all of her classes.

A good time was had by all.

A West Michigan Friesian - something to admire and enjoy!

For photos, go to the Events Section-IFSHA Show

For a tale of the 2005 Keuring, open up the attached Word file.

Attached File: Keuring-2005 story.doc

Here are the unofficial results of all 91 entrants. Just open up the attached Word file. Thanks to Friesian Connection for this tally.

For some pictures of the Keuring, go to the Events Section-2005 Inspection.

Attached File: Keuring results 2005.doc