Friesian Horses

Yvonne Horjus https://www.theepochtimes.com/bright/video-pregnant-mare-heartbroken-after-stillborn-birth-paired-with-orphan-foal-and-her-reaction-is-priceless-4335261 known online as Friesian Horses (extended as Friesian Horses - Follow the Herd) is a Dutch YouTube channel about a stud which owns and exhibits horses of the Friesian breed. Horjus incurred a serious accident in 2021 when she was found unconscious in an arena at Stal fan 'e Goëngamiedenhttps://www.dehoefslag.nl/nieuws/algemeen/100450/yvonne-horjus-maakt-reallifesoap-van-haar-paarden-op-haar-you, she remained in a coma for a week where she was not expected to recover however managed to and has managed to continue riding.
==Background==
===Friesian Horse Breed===
The Friesian originates in the province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands, where there is evidence of thousands of years of horse populations.
As far back in history as the 4th century there are mentions of Friesian troops which rode their own horses. One of the most well-known sources of this was by an English writer named Anthony Dent who wrote about the Friesian mounted troops in Carlisle. Dent, amongst others, wrote that the Friesian horse was the ancestor of both the British Shire horse and Fell pony, however, this is speculation.
It was not until the 11th century, that there were illustrations of what appeared to be Friesians. Many of the illustrations found depict knights riding horses which resemble the breed, with one of the most famous examples being William the Conqueror.
These ancestors of the modern Friesians were used in medieval times to carry knights to battle. In the 12th and 13th centuries, some eastern horses of crusaders were mated with Friesian stock. During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Netherlands were briefly linked with Spain, there was less demand for heavy war horses, as battle arms changed and became lighter. Andalusian horses were bred with Friesians, producing a lighter horse more suitable for work as an urban carriage horse.
The breed was especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, when they were in demand not only as harness horses and for agricultural work, but also for the trotting races so popular then. In the 1800s, the Friesian was bred to be lighter and faster for trotting, but this led to what some owners and breeders regarded as inferior stock, so a movement to return to pureblood stock took place at the end of the 19th century.
A studbook society was founded in 1879 by Frisian farmers and landowners who had gathered to found the Fries Rundvee Stamboek (FRS) The Paardenstamboek (horse stud book) was published in 1880 and initially registered both Friesian horses and a group of heavy warmblood breeds, including Ostfriesen and Alt-Oldenburgers, collectively known as "Bovenlanders". At the time, the Friesian horse was declining in numbers, and was being replaced by the more fashionable Bovenlanders, both directly, and by crossbreeding Bovenlander stallions on Friesian mares. This had already virtually exterminated the pure Friesian in significant parts of the province in 1879, which made the inclusion of Bovenlanders necessary. While the work of the society led to a revival of the breed in the late 19th century, it also resulted in the sale and disappearance of many of the best stallions from the breeding area, and Friesian horse populations dwindled. By the early 20th century, the number of available breeding stallions was down to three. Therefore, in 1906, the two parts of the registry were joined, and the studbook was renamed the Friesch Paarden Stamboek (FPS) in 1907."
In 1913 a society, Het Friesch Paard, was founded to protect and promote the breed. By 1915 it had convinced FPS to split registration into two groups. By 1943, the breeders of non-Friesian horses left the FPS completely to form a separate association, which later became the Koninklijk Warmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland (Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands (KWPN).
Displacement by mechanical farm equipment on dairy farms also was a threat to the survival of Friesian horse. The last draught function performed by Friesians on a significant scale was on farms that raised dairy cattle. World War II slowed the process of displacement, allowing the population and popularity of the breed to rebound. Important in the initial stage of the recovery of the breed was due to the family owned Circus Strassburger, who, having fled Nazi Germany for the Low Countries, discovered the show qualities of the breed and demonstrated its abilities outside of its local breeding area during and after the Nazi occupation.
===Channel===
The channel was created on 7 December 2006https://www.youtube.com/@FriesianHorses/featured and is owned and operated by Yvonne Horjus who appears in most videos and is the rider of the Friesians. The channel is moderated by several different users them being, Greg Hammer, Janet Major, LeidolfLady, Shannon Dominguez, Shelly Ross, and Yvonne Delft.
==Content==
===Videos===
Yvonne op de Steile Wand... motorbeurs Groningen. (Yvonne at the Steile Wand... motorcycle fair Groningen. in English) uploaded on 25 January 2009 is the oldest video on the channel having over 28.2K views, over 1.3K likes, and 311 comments as of 5 July 2024, it is 1 minute and 27 seconds longhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE7wWSJVwck. Orphan foal meets foster mother Queen👑Uniek. I've never seen this before! Amazing! | Friesian Horses uploaded on 28 May 2021 at 12 minutes and 38 seconds in length is the most popular video on the channel as of 5 July 2024 with over 15.9 million views, over 287K likes, and 20,174 commentshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIYrZn7Y9k. This video is also the current channel trailer.
===Shorts===
Cat drinking milk / slow motion! uploaded on 6 December 2015 with over 6.6K views, 779 likes, and 91 comments is the oldest short on the channelhttps://www.youtube.com/shorts/LB11FwIz3Q0. Happy birthday, Rising Star uploaded on 25 May 2023 with over 144.6K views, over 11K likes, and 659 comments is the most popular short on the channel as of 5 July 2024https://www.youtube.com/shorts/whZVI__yFSI.
===Live-streams===
The channel has been live twice as of 5 July 2024, the first time being on 9 May 2021 being nearly 9 minutes in length and titled Uniek's Birthday, first time we try to go live 🙈🤣 Friesian horses with over 22K views, over 1.5K likes, and 348 commentshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcxlwfXzOUg. The other stream titled Live Q&A @stall fan 'e Goëngamieden WITH A BIG SURPRISE!!! Rising Star and the Friesian Horses uploaded on 10 July 2021 has over 159.5K views, over 5.3K likes, and 1,072 commentshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kh6_3Inntg.
==References==
Category:Vlogging YouTubers
Category:Film YouTubers
Category:Dutch YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2006