To begin, the day before my dear friend and farm manager Chris  and I left for SC I had literally just come home from Holland . 

I don’t even need the “in retrospect” stuff to say how happy I was we went.  

If you missed the clinic given by B.J. Nerenhausen Wittenberg you missed a lot more then a re-cap of what you could have read on either the FHASE or FHANA websites. Yes, some of the topics:  Evaluating the Friesian Horse, Preparing your Friesian for the Keuring, IBOP testing, Stallion Indexing , Linear Scoring and so on, were ones we are all interested in learning  more about and for some of us, a major  clarification is welcomed. Speaking for myself of course!

To say that  Ms. Whittenberg was generous with her information, her insights and knowledge hardly begins to state the case.  B. J. as she likes to be called, answered every question (there were plenty), with intelligence , insight and good kind humor.

Cheryl Baird, owner, trainer, instructor of Cheryl Baird Stables LLC  was our hostess. Rarely have I ever seen anyone work as hard as Cheryl . She made this clinic a pure delight.   It was a family affair with Cheryl's Mom helping serve lunch and her Dad acting as our official photographer.

Cheryl arranged to have six of her Friesians used in this clinic for our "inspection."  With B. J.'s  guidance we had the opportunity to evaluate and judge them.  All of this helped enormously when we returned home to more clearly and objectively judge our own horses.  AHHHHHH, the only thing missing was a person who could run like the wind with a Friesian in hand. Oh, by the way, Cheryl can run!!!! Immediately after our ‘inspections’ a sumptuous  luncheon was prepared by Cheryl and her parents   .

In the afternoon we were treated to an outdoor presentation where we enjoyed watching two clients of Cheryl’s ride her  Saddle Seat trained Friesians. This was something I had never seen before.  I was taken with yet another attribute  of the Friesian horse; its great versatility as a sport horse.

 The day after the clinic Chris and I went into the barn with a pad, pen and camera. One by one we took the mares and fillies out and we did our own inspection. With a blank linear score sheet in hand we rated each one for conformation.( Neither of us, unfortunately, can run fast anymore.)  I know that having this information will be valuable as time passes and we can compare how the horses have grown and/or changed for the better or the worst.

A word of wisdom from B. J... If in doubt, meaning, if you think your horse is not up to its best in terms of conformation and/or  movement, simply wait  another year to take it to the keuring.   Now I can see what she meant while viewing my own horses.

One of my mares now 9 years old (I bought her as a 2 year old) actually matured  poorly given her brilliant lineage of star, model, crown dams. She is full papered but somewhere along the line she missed the boat and is not top notch  ( none of which matters, by the way, because she is a permanent and beloved member of our family) but, what I found interesting after our clinic with B. J. was that if I was the judge,  this particular mare would not have made it even into the stud book.!  I definitely have a lot more (always!) to learn!

Having said that, both Chris and I left the clinic with renewed respect for the judging process and those hearty souls who travel the world to make sure the Friesian horse is healthy and  thriving in the manner in which it was  born to serve.

Thank you B. J., Cheryl and Bobbi for all your efforts, knowledge and your great sense of humor. It was a pleasure!

Warmest regards,

Maggie Kotuk