About

Ciska was the first daughter of our dual UK Breed Champion & KFPS Model mare, Anja (Tsjalle 454 x Ait 410). Her sire was the 2016 World Champion Friesian Stallion Tsjalle 454. With parents of that calibre it was no great surprise that Ciska achieved 1st Premie as a foal and took the UK Foal Championship in 2016.

From the moment she came into the world, Ciska knew she was someone quite special and adored all the attention she received from visitors to the farm.

When her mum Anja started work again, Ciska’s babysitter was our Ster gelding, Hidde--or "Uncle Hidde"! He was extremely tolerant of her despite the fact that she would pester the life out of him. She was even seen on one occasion trying to eat the grass from under his nose!

Ciska moved in with our herd of mares where she as able to learn about social interaction, respect and discipline. Like her mother, she developed into quite a dominant mare within the herd. It was only when she spent a summer with retired horses Femma and Hoitze that she began to respect a little authority.

Without a doubt, Ciska inherited her mum’s strong nature. Having learnt so much from Anja over the years, I was excited to work with Ciska as there were so many similarities. When Ciska turned four, we started to do some basic work, and she was certainly a fun mare to work with.

The plan was to take her to be inspected for the KFPS studbook in 2020, but due to he Covid-19 pandemic, the inspections did not take place.

Ciska continued to live out in the fields during 2020 and always appeared fit and well. Devastatingly, on 13th September 2020, Ciska suddenly passed away in her field. She had been happily grazing one minute and 20 minutes later, she was gone. Given the speed of her passing, our vets suspected it was her heart--and given the heart issues within the Friesian breed, which we had already experienced, we felt it was only right to conclude that this was the cause of her death.

Shortly after, we were delighted to hear that the KFPS and The Fenway Foundation for Friesian horses in the USA were investing more money into the ongoing research of this and other health issues in the Friesian horse.

Ciska touched so many hearts in her short time with us. Her memory will live on forever. She has a beautiful apple tree called 'Pixie' planted in her memory in our Memorial Orchard.