The fairytalesque Friesian! Throughout the month of February, we are featuring Friesians and Friesian crosses.
Did you know… dressage riders who compete with a member of this stunning breed are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program. The Friesian Heritage Horse & Sporthorse International, Friesian Horse Association of North America, Friesian Horse Society, Friesian Sport Horse Registry, and Friesian Sporthorse Associationare all participating organizations!
In her search for a part-time show horse/part-time husband horse, this rider from Region 1 stumbled upon a Friesian Sporthorse broodmare who, with some time and dedication, would become the perfect partner for them both.
By Sheridan Oliver Martin
I found Manon when I was feeling fairly low and defeated in my horse journey. A few years prior, I had lost my fourteen-year-old mare, Talia, from a complication following a tragic pasture accident. She was my heart horse, and her loss absolutely wrecked us. My next mare, a palomino Pura Raza Espanola (PRE; Pure Spanish Horse) named Elisabeta, ended up having a difficult path, and is currently taking some much-needed time off. After making that decision, I knew I needed to start searching for a new partner, but I was still reluctant to let go of one dream in search of another.
I had actually gotten my husband, Sinclair, into dressage during the COVID-19 pandemic. He’d always been the best groom and supporter from the ground, but during the lockdown, he showed more interest in getting in the saddle. Eventually, he progressed to taking regular lessons on a dressage schoolmaster at Fellowship Farm in Greensboro.
Dressage became something we did together, and I knew Sinclair was overdue for a horse of his own at this stage in his riding to keep progressing. I needed to find a horse that was athletic and promising enough for me to bring up the levels as my next project, but also sensible enough to not get my husband (who I love very much) hurt. And I needed to find this with a very modest budget.
For about a month, I looked all over: online, Instagram, word of mouth, Facebook. Until one day, I was scrolling, and saw a Facebook post advertising a very pretty, seven-year-old, dapple grey Friesian Sporthorse. The post described a sweet mare who still had a foal at her side, but would be available for sale after weaning.
I reached out to the farm, and they sent me information and videos. One of these videos was of a girl taking a walk-trot lungeline lesson on the mare. She hadn’t been in work for about a year, and her formal under saddle education was very brief, as she had also had four foals. However, she was an impressive, powerful, big-moving mare that also seemed to have a sweet side. The farm said it would be another couple of months until her foal was weaned, so I told them I would reach back out around then.
I couldn’t get her off my mind. A couple of months passed, and I reached back out. She was still available, and with my trainer Tami’s nod of approval, I booked a flight to go meet her.
When I stepped off the plane, I was met with a true Massachusetts winter; it was a bitter 13 degrees when I went to try her. As I walked up to her in the barn, I just kept thinking, “This thing is HUGE.” Compared to my 16-hand PRE, at 17.2 hands, she was massive. Her long, long legs, and high-held Friesian neck and headset made her appear even taller. But she had big, soft, kind eyes, and I was drawn to her immediately. She’d only had a couple of rides since weaning her foal the week prior, so she was still a little skinny and, of course, needed to build strength and stamina after having been out of work for so long.
Our ride was far from glorious, and not just because the bitter cold had me numb from the inside out. She was rusty and very green, especially in the canter, where it was like she just couldn’t figure out where to put her legs. However, I felt the potential, and I loved how she took my feedback and tried to understand me. It took about five minutes for me to think, “Yep. This is the one.”
Every horse search I’ve ever done before has involved many, many trips, and seemingly endless searching, yet here I was, ready to go all in on the first horse I’d sat on. A far from perfect, but hopefully, diamond in the rough, big grey mare that also happened to have the same birthday as my husband. Even though she was an excellent mother, I imagined having four foals by her seventh year warranted her a little break from baby-making, and hoped she would embrace a change in lifestyle. We signed the papers and arranged shipping.
It was a little rocky in the beginning. Manon was a big girl with long legs, and not enough strength or confidence to situate them at times, which gave her a tendency to dive and buck in transitions. You could tell that she never did anything out of malice or to be naughty; she was just weak and unsure.
We kept at it, and slowly but steadily built up her strength over those first few months. With strength came self-confidence. She filled out, muscled up, and began to move with more cadence. Gone was the gangly, slightly awkward mare from before. Building strength and confidence took a while, but it was great for our developing partnership. As soon as she got the basics squared away, my husband was able to start riding her in his lessons, which he was over the moon about. Now she is able to help teach him the things that I am teaching her. It’s perfect.
As her education has progressed, she has shown herself to be incredibly intelligent and workman-like. She has the best attitude, and you can tell that she genuinely enjoys her new career. I always joke to people that she is a working mom now! In almost exactly a year, she has gone from a greenbroke broodmare to a full-blown dressage diva that loves dancing in the sandbox.
I took her to her first show in September, and what a first show it was. We went to Lexington, Virginia, for the Great American/USDF Region 1 Dressage Championships, and competed in an open class as her first dressage show ever. She was electric and excited, but she handled the chaos well. We’ve headed to another show since then, and so far, we have our first qualifying score at First Level for the 2026 Great American/USDF Regional Championships. We will be working towards getting our other qualifying score and making a Second Level debut this spring, thanks to the encouragement from my trainer, Tami.
Our original goal with Manon was for me to train her up to Third Level so that Sinclair could get his USDF Bronze Medal with her; however, we now believe that bar is too low. She is incredibly smart, athletic, and willing to please. Manon is a Friesian Sporthorse, with a Friesian sire (Agape of Friesian Glory by Tietse 428) and Standardbred dam. She exudes so many characteristics of the Friesian breed that make Friesians great. Her workmanlike attitude, friendly disposition, and athleticism are just a few to name.
It is pretty neat when people first meet her, and are always stumped, asking, “What IS she? A warmblood? A PRE cross?” – because when people think “Friesian,” they think black horse with long black mane, and she is a grey with dappling and a white mane and tail. However, she got many characteristics, like the Friesian breed standard neck and movement, from her sire. After I tell people what she is, and they see her thundering presence in the arena, they normally go “AHHH, wow, that makes sense!”, but it can be hard to guess without seeing her go. We wouldn’t have her any other way.
I am so excited to see USDF featuring Friesians as the breed of the month, and am so happy to play a part in sharing how truly awesome these horses are.
