By 'Katja Rolvink': Who doesn't know her? She photographed horses at the top of Belgium's equestrianism, and is to be seen at almost every horse events... always looking for that beautiful unique picture! This year she surpasses herself!

It may be said: thé calendar of (horse) calendars! Again, our Belgian top photographer Katja Rolvink manages to capture the horse on camera, altruistically and soft, powerful and elegant; she honors this inspiring creature with her full-color ‘HORSES 2011 wall calendar'!

Moreover: for every sold calendar a donation will be made to the organization of your choice - Brooke Hospital for Animals - Riding For Africa - World Horse Welfare. So... dear visitors: are you looking for a fun and original Christmas or New Year's present? Then quickly surf to the website www.katjarolvink.com and surprise your family and friends with this unique (autographed) 2011 calendar!!

PS: why are we so enthusiastic about this calendar? Because...
1. It is a beautiful calendar;
2. For every calendar a donation will be made for a good cause;
3. It's also functional...

But ESPECIALLY because our 'Timo' AND our own bred Friesian colt 'Hamlet fan 't Proosdijhof' are both represented in the calendar...

Our sincere thanks to Katja! Check it out www.katjarolvink.com

Isn't this beautiful? Just before the 'Order of the Day' I briefly sneaked into the room 'morphology' of the UZ Merelbeke (hospital) and what did I see: this beautiful skeleton of horse and rider. I quickly took a picture to share it with you...

And then quickly... back inside...
Thursday 11th was D-day again: the Flemish Horse Office organized another deliberation day between the 'horse sector' and the government. And yes again, the main issues were on the one hand about the interests of our sector (think about all the champion's horses ever bred in Belgium) and, on the other hand, the degree of difficulty for us breeding facilities & commercial stables to understand & correctly apply the rules of Spatial Planning in an Agricultural Area (= ADLO).

Groundbreaking? A bit, yes... We clearly feel a bridge of communication between the official body (ADLO / VLM = Flemish Country Society) and the sector. It was Mr. Johan Verstrynge 'himself' (one of the big national chiefs at the service of Spatial Planning) who confirmed that horse breeding nowadays can be considered as a full agricultural activity (under condition of course that the viability can be proved). Dear friends, this is groundbreaking for everyone amongst us who mean it well: as a hobbyist, recreational breeder and/or professional breeder!

Do you have any questions about what you can and/or may do at your place? Check this: www.dlv.be (= Independent Service for Agricultural Advice) They will help you further...

Friday 19 November 2010, we had the honour of visiting the breeding facility of Willy Naessens. In a couple of words? "Impressively beautiful & very functional"... What a wonderful collection of carriages this man has collected: out of love for the Friesian horse!

This beautiful breeding facility called 'Strohoeve' lies in the heart of Elsegem, and immediately takes your breath away upon arrival. It really is paradise on earth for the horses where we, every horse lover, dream off! Everything has been built following traditional, ancient techniques (not a screw of nail to be seen!), but all state-of-the-art techniques are provided, such as:

- a central system for vacuum-cleaning, per box to muck out the stables;
- a unique carriages museum wíth automatic carriage carwash;
- an automatic and personalized feeding system/box;
- an automatic sprinkling & manure system for the paddocks;
- a real pool for horses and ‘low & high tide treadmill system';
- a solarium for horses with appurtenances...

In brief, too much to mention, but definitely worth a visit for every ‘driver'/carriage lover...! Take a quick look on their new website www.strohoeve.be ...

First of all we wish to thank you for the trust that you, our visitors, put in us... In October, our new website friesepaarden.be generated up to 3457 visitors during its first month! What a success...

And it doesn't stop there! Questions keep on coming: "we are looking for ... can you help us? ... Yes, we can!" We received so many questions that the majority of the commercial horses present at our stables were all sold within 2 months, both in and out of the country.

What exactly does this mean? It means that we are quickly looking for new, sweet & beautiful but especially the right horses to be at your service. Mares, geldings, stallions between 3 & 8 years old, from saddle broke to advanced training, in a price range starting from 5.000€ till ... .

Please pay our site a regular visit & look which new horses we can offer you...

 

How did I feel next to this imposing stallion? ...*a moment of silence*... The feeling is hard to describe: "impressed, a tiny bit scared of this amazing bundle of muscles... Yes, an absolute highlight for us: never to forget!"

For those amongst us who don't know who this stallion exactly is:
Haitse 425 (Sport), Friesian, born in 2002, height 1,66m
Haitse is a stallion with stature, is flexible and forward, has lots of balance and feeling in his pace, trot and gallop, a nice stance and has a lot of backward thrust. The front leg shows a good knee action and is put away spaciously.

Haitse's offspring has been well-received at the "keuring" and has received multiple prices. Haitse has a high index of delivering first premium offspring. Thus, the report of Haitse's foals is very positive...

At Stal 't Proosdijhof as well, we have a beautiful descendant of Haitse hopping around this year: our Friesian colt Hamlet fan 't Proosdijhof. A wonderful combination: Ireena v/d Veldstraat x Haitse 425: next year we go for it again!!

We can clearly see it at the trees & grass... We can feel the wind: summer is almost over, winter is approaching!

Although every change of season undoubtedly has its charms, they also bring along many discomforts! Almost unremarkably our horses must adapt themselves again to changes in their diet & in their surroundings. Many common discomforts in autumn are diarrhea & horse colic due to sand intake and /or parasitic infections. But many horses also have problems with their respiratory system, mostly because of the long days in the stables (some say: every horse has a natural "weakness" for this. Therefore it is also very important to detect problems such as coughing and nasal discharge in time. Don't forget: a neglected cold could cause serious and irreversible changes in the lungs!!

Yesterday, Sunday 10/10/10, is a day etched in our memory as a wonderful, sunny autumn day! Really one to enjoy... When looking at the picture, our horsies thought the same thing!

A promise is a promise... Our son, Louis Brysse, helped his father incredibly well yet again at the breeding facility this weekend. Look at how he's proud of his new Proosdijhof working clothes! Of course...

Last year we purchased ourselves a Theault horse van (yes yes, with driver's license B). It may be said: a beautiful investment!! The horsies are transported in all the (necessary) luxury & all get in almost ‘stress free'...

But what can also be mentioned is that good horse transportation is a véry expensive matter (read: investment). So, every decent good house father thinks about how to maximise this investment, right? From this point of view, we decided to use our van as marketingtool and to have it fully stickered (see picture). As clear as possible: who, what, where: clear contact details. Please let us know if it works: if you see us passing by. "Give us a smile... We'll understand...!"

Design: Chilli Design & Multimedia BVBA
Mr. Jan Van Lysebettens
Ketelpoort 9
B-9000 Gent

Realisation: CCD Lettering BVBA
Mr. Geldof
Monnikenwerve 50
B-8000 Brugge

We have talked about it plenty of times, but everyone kept on telling us: "No, Piet, there's no market in Belgium for the breeding of foals. Belgians don't pay for that..." And yet... Regularly we receive questions if people can't put their foal with us to breed.

After a long period of doubt and internal conversations, we decided to open up our breeding facility for 10 Friesian foals (the Proosdijhof breeding centre :-). Only ten because we clearly want to test our knowledge and infrastructure in order to see if they meet up with our clients' expectations. Why as well? I promised my wife to keep it familial...

How much does the breeding of a Friesian foal cost at the Stables 't Proosdijhof?
:: 75€ /month* in the period from April 1st until September 30th (summer)
:: 125€/ month * in the period from October 1st until March (winter)

On top of that we offer your foal/yearling a complete adapted training during the summer months according to his/her possibilities. (Natural Horsemanship) This training takes up a quarter of an hour every day & costs you as a client 50€ extra /month. (only during the summer months)

(*) Costs not included - this includes: black smith (farrier), deworming, taxes, vaccines, vet costs, ...

We hope we can be at your service with these facilities. Don't hesitate to fill in our contact form with your details. We will contact you soon.

This morning Geert Van Buynder paid our stables a visit for the annual dental care of our horsies.

It was the first time that Geert the horse dentist came to our stables. In my opinion? "It was a success!" No complaints or remarks about the technicality of our previous dentist(s), but in my opinion Geert is thè horse friendly horse dentist by excellence.

He arrived round 8 o'clock: carefully prepared, clean materials, calm and with a smile. I was surprised to see that the horse was allowed to move freely during dental care. A totally different approach than keeping the horse on a short rope. Our Winke, who had never seen a dentist before, willingly let Geert remove a milk tooth (who began to show hooks) thanks to his calm approach. Our Daan clearly didn't feel like a visit at the dentist, but Geert showed infinite patience to take care of him as well. If only I could put things into their perspective like this man can... Therefore, Stables 't Proosdijhof has bombarded Geert to be the permanent horse dentist for our breeding horses. If you are also looking for a good horse dentist for your horsie: 1 address -> Geert Van Buynder. (cell phone number can be received upon request)

Friday (10/09) we could welcome the foal "Hero fan A" (full papers 1st premium) at our stables. This unique colt was purchased by Stables 't Proosdijhof on September 4th, on the Friesian Star Sale at Drachten (Holland).

When we saw him run at the auction, we immediately got goose bumps: what beautiful paces this proud foal showed!! With a lot of show, he ran at least 10 to 15m in front of his mother... With an attitude like "the world is mine to explore"! He has the appearance of our Hamlet, so we bought him as a friend for our Hamlet so they can grow up together.
You can take this from me: these two will become impressive Friesian stallions!! Central "keuring" for stallions 2013, here we come ;-)

Dear visitor, today on 15/09/2010 we present to you with pride our new website www.friesepaarden.be. Should you have any further questions about our activities or our horses after reading this website, please don’t hesitate to fill in the contact form. We wish you a lot of reading pleasure...