About

Femma was a truly regal mare, well aware of the fact that she was Queen of the Greenbank Farm Stud. Born in 2001 and imported to the UK in 2005, she became the very first of her breed in the UK to be awarded the prestigious MODEL status by the international inspection jury of Koninklijke Vereniging Het Friesch Paarden Stamboek (KFPS) om 2008.

KFPS Inspectors, Jaap Boersma and Popke van de Meulen, praised Femma for her 'upstanding presence, excellent conformation and superb movement' and awarded her 'Best Mare' and 'Overall Champion of the 2008 UK inspections'. But the highest accolade was still to come with her finally being crowned with 'MODEL' mare status.

To put this into context, only a handful of Friesian mares throughout the world receive the 'MODEL' title each year. To qualify for MODEL status, mares must be over seven years of age, have raised a foal, and be awarded a 1st Premium at a Breeders Show and a Central Inspection. They are also required to have scored in excess of 77 points in ridden and driven performance tests in the Netherlands. In short, they must be amongst the best examples of the breed in the world. Femma scored an outstanding 81.5 points for her ridden test and 80.0 points for her carriage driving test.

Femma was such an outstanding example of the Friesian breed that we couldn't have asked for a better foundation mare for our long-term breeding aspirations. In 2009, we took an embryo from Femma and inseminated it into a recipient mare, Jubilee, who produced 'Ineka fan de Groenbank', a tall, beautiful filly, by Tsjerk 328, in January 2010.

After taking the embryo, we inseminated Femma again, this time with semen from the beautiful young stallion Sake 449, the first approved son of the prolific Doaitsen 420. In March 2010, Femma produced a third daughter, Ischka fan de Groenbank.

Both of Femma's daughters were graded at the FHAGBI inspections and received 2nd and 1st Premies, respectively.

On 30 May 2011, Femma gave birth to a healthy and very long-legged filly foal called Jolanda fan de Groenbank. Jolanda is by Gjalt 426 which made her an exciting breeding prospect as she has a kinship percentage of just 16.7% and inbreeding of 1.37%. We had hoped, in years to come, that Jolanda would contribute to widening the gene pool.

Femma went on to have a fourth foul, Sjouke fan de Groenbank, on the 7th July 2013. Her sire was Sake 449 who also fathered Ishka in 2010. However, Femma had a difficult pregnancy and we were in great fear of losing her when she suffered a uterine prolapse giving birth. Fortunately, with the amazing help and dedication of our vet, Jess Gillon, then of Frame & Swift Veterinary Centre, Femma pulled through. She went on to live a happy retired life with her horse husband, Hoitze, looking over the fields and seeking lots of human attention in their field by the house.

Upon her passing in 2021, Hoitze became very sad and was unaccepting of other tries at mare companionship. Eventually, he and mini-Shetland, Mr. J.B., best of friends. They are now known as "Little and Large" and look forward to sharing their newly-built house once completed in early 2025. A very spiritual mare, we're sure Femma continues to keep an eye on her beloved horse husband, Hoitze.