Friesian
American Friesian Association Overview of the American Friesian Association Thanks to a dedicated group of individuals who love the Friesian horse, the American Friesian Association has been formed. The American Friesian Association (AFA) was organized to preserve and promote the purebred Friesian horse in America, to promote the Friesian Derivative horse in America, and to serve the owners of these horses. The AFA is committed to the breed standard of the purebred Friesian horse, as interpreted from the Friesch Paarden Stamboek (FPS) with regard to the needs of American owners for a healthy, sound horse suitable for performance in the current equestrian world. Our goal is to maintain the beauty and uniqueness of the Friesian horse, as it has been known throughout history. The AFA is also committed to high standards of quality, integrity, honesty, and fairness for all horses and members. The founders recognized the evergrowing demand for an American-based registry for the Friesian. The AFA wishes to register purebred and partbred Friesians while providing equal and fair representation for all horses and owners while maintaining the quality and integrity of the breed. The AFA was born out of a need for an American registry with American rules. A registry was needed for American owners who have felt like they deserved a registry that they believed in, one that did not feel so distant and out of reach. There was a need for a registry whose interest lies in promoting the American bred and owned horses, offering them attainable goals, and allowing for equality for all purebred Friesians. The AFA is also committed to embracing the Friesian Warmblood (Friesian cross) and giving those horses and owners 198, Equine Journal, September 2011
an association that is everything to them as it is to the purebred horses and owners. Mirrored benefits such as registration, breed inspection, awards, and more will all be available to the Friesian Warmblood. The AFA will honor horses of quality through breed inspections and predicate levels, and we have built these standards into our rules. The AFA will view all purebred registered Friesians as equals, offering the ability to earn predicates and status to all horses based on their individual quality and ability. Inspections will be done using a “blind judging” system, meaning that the horse’s pedigree, owner, trainer, and other information will not be disclosed to the judge(s) prior to their being judged and receiving their scores. For those owners who wish to breed their horses, AFA will offer pedigree information, inspection results, and performance scores to empower owners to make wise breeding decisions. The AFA understands that many purebred Friesian owners may not feel comfortable immediately switching over to a new American registry, and with the foreign based registries not allowing dual registration, the recording option has been developed by the AFA as a good way for owners to “try out” the AFA without putting their original registry affiliation in danger. In this way, the Recorded horses may participate in AFA inspections and other functions. Their offspring may be AFA registered. This gives the owner a chance to learn more about the AFA, see where the AFA is going, and decide if they want to continue with membership and registering horses. Recorded horses may at any time be upgraded to Registered horses, keeping all titles and predicates earned from the foreign registry and/or any AFA inspections. Additionally, the AFA meets the requirements of IFSHA (International Friesian Show Horse Association) by microchipping and DNA testing our horses as a means of positive identification, so that all our registered horses may participate in the IFSHA and USEF (United States Equestrian Federation) recognized Friesian shows. The AFA is also recognized by the USDF (United States Dressage Federation) as a breed registry so our members and
their horses may participate in the USDF Breed Year End Awards. Here are just a few highlights you can look forward to with the AFA: • Sensible breeding practices – AFA will register all Purebred Friesians equally. • Opportunity to belong to a registry that wants to hear your voice and concerns. • Inspections with licensed American Judges and Blind Judging for all horses, Purebred and Derivatives alike. • Emphasis on breed type, movement, and conformation, with athletic talent and ability also considered important. • All honors/status/predicates earned by your horse from the foreign registries will be honored by AFA. No removal of earned status/predicates. Once earned, always respected and held. • AFA Status/Predicate Level earnings. • AFA Supreme Sire or Supreme Dam awards. • AFA Friesian Fun Riding and Driving Log Program. • AFA Year End Awards for many competition and promotion categories. • AFA Lifetime Cumulative Awards for individual performance as well as for production of quality performance offspring. • Timely response to member inquiries, requests, Registration Documentation, Transfer of Ownership, etc. • A place for the Friesian Warmblood (cross) complete with mirrored benefits of a purebred. • Recording of horses belonging to foreign registries, whose owners are not yet ready to give up registration within those registries, allowing participation in AFA inspections, as well as allowing the owners to “try on” the AFA. • Tracking of Bloodlines, Inspection Scores, and Performance records. • A forum for having fun and enjoying our Friesian or Friesian Derivative. Please check out the AFA at our website www.americanfriesianassocation. com or email info@americanfriesianassocation.com or call 912-462-6330 and ask for Button Lee for more information. Submitted by Button Lee