‘March with its volatile weather conditions certainly manifested itself in the past few weeks: the traditional ‘sting in the tail’. Weeks with gale-force winds, rain and the wind-chill effect, then unexpectedly that one spring day promising we’re heading towards that time when it is so much nicer for man and animal to dwell outside again’, KFPS Chairman Bert Wassenaar states in his column of the April Phryso.
‘A revival of Nature, daylight lasts noticeably longer and the indoor activities are in their final stages, with a nice finale in the shape of the Dutch Championship ‘beljeien’ (horse-sleigh riding, ed.) for Friesian horses on Thialf’s indoor ice-rink.
By the time this Phryso falls on your doormat I will be in Australia to attend a series of inspections of the ‘Australian Friesian Horse Society’. Considering the large numbers of overseas breeders it is good policy on the part of the Board to show an interest in them too.
A change from spring to autumn, for while here in the Netherlands we are looking forward to the outdoor season, down under in faraway Australia and New Zealand people are gearing up to bring the summer season to an end. Down here, inspections are organised by keen Board members and breeders once every two years. In terms of organisation people have to deal with other concerns than in the Netherlands. A total of seven inspections, all huge distances apart. For Inspector Harrie Draaijer and Jury member Wil Thijssen this means quite an intensive alternation of inspections and travels, partly by plane but also long drives by car. It’s no different for the breeders. Hans Maes told me that he was in transit for nine hours with his two horses before he reached the inspection site in Robertson, close to Sydney.
Something else we want to bring out into the open this spring is the new Long Term Policy Plan (meerjarenbeleidsplan, in short MJBP), in which the objectives and plans for the next five years will be laid down. The KFPS have chosen to define the content of the MJBP by entering talks with the members. The ‘Touring the country’ project across four locations has been completed. We are planning to provide feedback regarding the Concept MJBP at the upcoming regional meetings following which final approval thereof will take place during the meeting of the Member Council, all subject to the knowledge that policy-making is a matter of making choices. Not everything we wish for is attainable, if only for the fact that it also has to be affordable.’
