ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the rise of a distinctly Frisian breeding culture, the breed politics that led to the (re)invention of the Friesian horse by exclusion and inclusion, and the clash of economic, political, and cultural values that reached a tipping point in 1913 when only three “purebred” stallions remained. The local development of the breed helps to clarify not only the way breeds evolve in the light of a larger global context of modernization, nation-building, and change, but also the way Frisians both embraced and rejected change in the way they bred their horses to establish their breed and breeding culture. Through careful analysis of occasionally heated debates about the use of foreign stallions and notions of “breed”, “purity”, “type,” and tradition in the context of Frisian nationalism and identity politics, the foundations of Friesian horse breeding will be assessed to re-examine the breed in the context of modernization and change.
