Blog from New Zealand: Kia Ora! Hello!

I’m so excited to sit down to write my first Friso blog with ‘News from New Zealand’! What a wonderful opportunity to have this opportunity, and a great way to connect and share our story with Frisian enthusiasts around the world.
My name is Anna Zhigareva I will vary the topics of these blogs but I thought I would start with an introduction about me and my horses and then tell you a little about the New Zealand Friesian Horse Association and some of its members!

Me and my horses

I have been in New Zealand since I was three, so I consider this beautiful country my home. What joy indeed! I am trained in Linguistics and work at an educational technology company in Auckland that specializes in teaching children writing skills.
I’ve always been a horse girl! Yes, it’s in my genes! I grew up enjoying summers with our family horses: helping with training and breeding. I am currently completing a Research Masters in Equine Science at the University of Edinburgh and would like to spend time studying scientific developments in horse breeding and welfare. I have worked with many different breeds, but I have never met a horse as brave, curious, friendly and loyal as the Friesian horse!

Two to four, five… er… six Friesian horses

I fell in love with Friesian horses when I first met them in New Zealand with my parents. What’s special is that I now own two Friesian horses that I met 8 years ago (one from Nanning 374, one from Feitsey 293). These lovely nephews are now enjoying a wonderful holiday with me in Auckland’s Waitoki Hills.
In 2020, my mother and I decided to import a beautiful star mare (Uldrich 457 x Deutzen 420) and a spectacular 8-month-old colt (Diemen 503 x Sibbald 380) who suffered from Friesian horse virus. They arrived in New Zealand on April 1, 2021, after much research, with the dedicated help of Nicole Adriaansen in the Netherlands and the care and professionalism of IRT (a wonderful horse transport company!), Bedje (Betty) and Nandart (Nano).
A few months later, we decided to give our Frisian family a beautiful 2-year-old mare named Miche (Tide 501 x Folkert 353), who arrived just in time for summer Christmas, and another foal, Othello (Julius 486 x Du). 416), entered the new year. These four youngsters are the heart of our small-scale breeding operation, the Lone Pine Friesians, and I’m incredibly excited to see where our journey takes us!

Become a member of the New Zealand Friesian Horse Society

I have been a member of KFPS (and NZFHS) for over a year and help with NZFHS social media and website. In a wonderful turn of events, I was recently officially elected Secretary and Webmaster of the New Zealand Friesian Horse Society! With our much-anticipated (thanks, Covid) ‘Inspection’ coming up in 2023, it’s a doubly exciting occasion and a great honor and opportunity to be involved in its organization and participation!
This young and new member has a lot to learn, but it’s great to experience such a warm welcome from our Frisian community!
NZFHS was founded in 2018 by Louis and Marianne Weidenberg and are an enthusiastic source of advice and assistance for new and old Friesian horse lovers. Being part of NZFHS is a great way to meet members on group social outings or through virtual competitions! Of course, it wouldn’t be right not to tell you about the wonderful founders of NZFHS, Louis and Marianne, so read their story!

Founders of NZFHS, Louis and Marianne Weidenberg

Louis and Marianne are the proud owners of Glenrose Friesians and have been successfully importing and breeding Friesian horses in New Zealand for many years. They are self-sufficient: they scan and inseminate their horses themselves, know everything about foals, take care of their horses’ training, and teach them in saddle and under saddle.
Lewis’ passion was breeding. He first started with dairy cows and explored calf club days at schools. Since then, he’s moved to Friesian horses and many nights he watches studies, streamed live from KFPS. Marianne is the driving force behind the scenes and takes care of their online promotional work. This year Louise was re-elected President of the NZFHS and also took on the role of Secretary.
The Weidenbergs get a kick out of watching their horses go up to the big guys and following them on their journey. They are also always willing to help and were great at giving me their advice personally when I arranged my first import!

Foal Book Stallion Jolmar Fan Twillens (Onne 376)

Jalmar Fan Twillens (Onne 376 x Oege 267), a foal book stallion with breeding permit available for stud, now retired. His companion, a small gelding named Henk, is never far away. Henk also acts as a friend to the grandchildren!
Louis’ current dressage horse, Ninthe fan ‘e Boerestreek (Tsjalle 454 x Beart 411), was imported via Henswoude. After a failed embryo transfer, Louise Ninde has decided to carry her own pregnancy to Nanae 492, which is due in January 2023. He hopes to be able to show the cub in our experiment in 2023!

Another new board member!

Another new team member to join the Gil Chambers team! During one of the 2021 lockdowns, Gil and his own beautiful Friesian mare Kalani from Glenrose Friesians (Haitze 425 x Olof 315) competed in a virtual working equitation competition where they placed 2nd! They scored 68.95% in Dressage category and 78.08% for Ease of Handling (EOH). Watch their full presentation here: https://youtu.be/q6c0buo4pOk.
Gill’s knowledge is extensive and has been involved in the NZ equestrian scene for decades. Gill has been Chairman of the Hawkin’s Bay Dressage Committee since 1999 for 9 years. He is heavily involved in sponsorship and fundraising and travels around NZ as an A grade judge. We are lucky to have Gill as our promotions and events officer as we set everything up for NZ’s 2023 exploration!

next time!

Hoping not to ‘worry’ too long, I’ll close this blog post now. I would like to introduce our incredible team members, Baldeep Dhillon (Vice President) and Branvin Yucel (Treasurer). I can’t wait to tell you about their Frisian experiences in my next blog post!

For now, goodbye! Pay attention to your safety! See you later!

~Brother