On Saturday 4 January, two stallions successfully completed their harness exam and thus their Central Examination in America. This means that the KFPS has two more studbook stallions: Gurbe 548 and Sepke 549.
Gurbe 548 AA
Gurbe 548 AA was born as Hilbrân fan North Ster Ster (Wybren 464 x Sipke 450) at Lana & Megan Markey and is owned by Roger and Dana Hartle from Crossville Tennesee. The now seven-year-old stallion comes from dam line 2 and goes back to a beautiful series of five Model Preferent and fertile mares with Eeldertsje Model Pref (Nammele 147) as foundation dam. His sire is Wybren 464 (Feike 395 x Wicher 334), who was also bred by the Markey family and earned his approval in America in 2011. Gurbe 548 is the first son of Wybren 464 to be approved. Gurbe 548
scored 75 points for his saddle exam, 80 points for his driving test and the score for the harness test was 78 points. The large-framed and high-legged Gurbe 548 has a correct build and three good basic gaits. His walk and trot are spacious and tactful, with a sufficiently carrying hind leg, whereby he could show a bit more suppleness in body use. In harness he lacks a bit of front.
Sepke 549 AAA
The four-year-old Sepke 549 AAA was born in the Netherlands under the name Sepke van de Meerbos Ster (Tiede 501 x Bikkel 470) at breeder Martin Driessen from Erp. He is owned by Lisa and Kai Zijlstra from Cooksville, Michigan. Sepke’s mother is Anke fan Meren-State Ster (Bikkel 470 x Tsjalle 454), lineage 50. The still young Sepke 549 scored 75 points for his saddle exam, and 82 points for both the driving and harness test. He has a lot of front, moves upwards, has bend in his hind leg, an enormous moment of suspension and he puts his foreleg away nicely. Sepke 549 has a lot of talent as a driving horse, as a harness horse he has a lot of talent, conclude chairman Piet Bergsma and Ellen van Gastel who administered the exam on behalf of the HKC.
After 10 years of approval in America
The HKC and members of the performance jury have travelled to California in America several times in recent months to follow the performances of both stallions in the 70-day CO. After the successful completion of the saddle exam on 10 December, the duo also successfully completed the harness exam and are therefore promoted to KFPS studbook stallion. Special for the breeders of Friesian horses in North America, it has been ten years since they were able to welcome an approved stallion on home soil.
The extensive report of both stallions will be online after the HK 2025
