February 17, 2021
Moraine van Bedum Model AA (Beart 411 x Feitse 293) Photo: Johanna Faber
The purchase of Model mare Moraine van Bedum Model AA (Beart 411 x Feitse 293) breathes new life into the breeding of Friesian horses in Brazil, says Coen Vissers, a Dutchman who has been living in Brazil for thirteen years. ‘Moraine is the first Model mare in this country. We are trying to breed high-quality Friesian horses here by using frozen semen, embryo transfer and ICSI.’
Helping with translations
Vissers is not a horseman by origin. His son takes riding lessons at a riding school and that is how he got in touch with Brazilian horsemen who asked him to act as a translator go-between with the Netherlands. ‘The Friesian breed is popular over here but people are unfamiliar with the procedures of registration and the Studbook. I’m trying to help’, says Vissers who meanwhile, together with his Brazilian partner Rodolfo Costa Rodrigues also owns a few Friesian horses under the name of Phryso do Brasil.
Vissers was the mediating factor in the purchase of Model mare Moraine, who’s going to make the crossing via Leny Haytema. The 8-year-old Moraine comes from pedigree 50, her granddam is a half sister to Stendert 447. The Model mare became Champion on the Ambt Delden Breeding Day in 2019 and this year will give birth to her fifth foal by Markus 491. In Brazil that is, at buyer Rafael Ferreira’s place.
Country of equestrian sports
A club with Friesian horse enthusiasts was already in existence in Brazil and a few dozen horses and foals can be found in the country. ‘But Studbook breeding in line with the KFPS was largely disregarded, while B-Book stallions were sold as top horses’, Vissers explains, emphasising that Brazil is no smaller than Europe. ‘Equestrian sports is big over here, especially showjumping, but dressage is on the rise. And there’s certainly room for the Friesian horse in that area.’
