Zuiderzee

Zuiderzee is a Friesian filly who belongs to Jill. She was a gift and was flown to Shiloh from The Netherlands. The following is from the "News" section from of our site on 9/30/06 and tells Zuidee's story.

Zuidee and Fallon on 4/14/07 deciding who is going to eat out of the feed bucket!

There has been a very special new arrival at Shiloh this last week. Jill's new six month old Friesian filly who arrived from Holland. The filly has been named Zuiderzee, which was an old south sea in the Netherlands. Four months ago, a family friend of Jill and Tony's, named Jackie, suprised Jill with a gift of this incredible filly! Jackie traveled from Holland, where she lives, and presented Jill with a photograph of a beautiful Friesian foal who was born and bred in The Netherlands, and who would be arriving in Las Vegas in September! Jackie is a life long horsewoman who breeds Arabians on her farm in Holland and is a well known international competitor in the Arabian show ring. Jill and Sally, whose ancestory can betraced back to The Netherlands and even north into Friesland, decided to travel to Holland to meet Jackie and help bring the new filly home to the United States.

Jill, Sally, Jackie, and Zuiderzee traveled to the United States from Amsterdam on the Dutch airlines, KLM. Incredibly, there were 14 horses that traveled on the commercial 747 with us! The horses were loaded into what looked like a horse trailer, with three horses to each box. The boxes were then loaded into the cargo hold of the airliner. There were two large Dutch Warmbloods in the box with Zuidee, but she was the star of the group! While many of the older horses showed signs of stress and fear, little Zuidee nibbled on her hay and took a few naps. The trip took over 11 hours on the plane, but she was in her box for almost 21 hours. She remained calm and relaxed the entire time. Zuidee landed at LAX, where she had to remain in Quarantine for three days. Jill and Jackie drove the Shiloh horse trailer back to Los Angeles to pick her up and finally delivered her to her new home at Shiloh Ranch. We were all exhausted, but it was the adventure of a lifetime!

The Friesian Horse is one of the oldest European breeds. The modern Friesian is a direct descendant of the horses the Medieval Knights rode into battle. The breed was developed in Friesland, a northern part of The Netherlands where they were originally used as work horses, pulling the plows of the peasants and the carriages of the nobility. Andalusian blood was introduced to the breed during the 16th and 17th centuries when Spanish stallions were left on the battlefields of the Thirty Years War (a war between the Dutch and the Spanish). The Friesian is a rare breed, there being fewer than 1000 of them in the United States and Canada. In fact, there are fewer than 50 approved breeding stallions in the entire world!