Breed for a Champion!
After the stallion show in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, in January of 2017; the stallion Hessel 480 departed from the Netherlands to spend the several years in the state of Michigan in the U.S.A.
With the help of Doeke Hoekstra, the VanManen Brothers of Ede, the Netherlands have arranged to lease their stallion Hessel 480 Sport for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 breeding seasons to the Friesian Connection Stallion Station, Inc. The lease has been extended to include the 2020 and 2021 breeding seasons. The Friesian Connection is the Stallion Station of the DeBoer family in Michigan, where Janice and Amy, daughters of Bob and Arlene DeBoer, are the owners/managers.
Hessel is, in type, the absolute epitome of a modern Friesian. He is big, has length in the legs and is built upwardly, which is accentuated even more through his long, light neck. He distinguishes himself by strong connections between the different skeletal parts such as neck/shoulder, shoulder/back and back/loins, followed by a long and well laid croup. That is where athletic ability and sustainability come from!
In the performance test Hessel stood out with his impressive way of moving. His trot is absolutely spectacular. He has a high and far reaching front leg, with power from behind. This stallion moves with a lot of body use and is flexible. The walk is spacious and active, in the canter he jumps up beautifully with a lot of balance.
The bloodlines of Hessel are very interesting. His sire is the famous stallion Norbert 444 Sport Preferent. The mother of Hessel, Jitscke, is a star daughter of Jelke 367. Jelke was a large and modern stallion and a son of Pyt 325. The dam report describes Jitscke at the age of 10 as a beautiful mare and breed typical, with a lot of quality in the legs, a spacious and powerful walk and a good trot with a nice body frame. The granddam of Hessel is the 1st premium star mare Preferent Sport Fryske vd Boschijk.
In 2014 Hessel had a super nice debut, he was one of the landmarks of the Stallion Inspection (Hengsten Keuring). In 2015 Hessel again performed great at the HK with his modern exterior and strong trot. Hessel won the head position in his group, was Reserve Champion of the young stallions and General Reserve Champion! The year 2016 and 2017 continued to see Hessel on the top of his group and in the championship rounds.
Hessel 480 is the tallest of the 16 KFPS approved stallions to have stood at the Friesian Connection Stallion Station over the years and he is also the sweetest. His character is one of the best they have seen in their 34 years of breeding Friesian horses. He is extremely easy to handle in the breeding shed as well as in the training barn. He is quickly making a mark with North American breeders by being the most popular stallion used by mare owners in the 2017 breeding season.
In 2017 Hessel was #1 in his class placing above Jehannes 484, Hette 481 and Julius 486
2018 proved to be a very exciting year for Hessel offspring. In just one year Hessel has had enough prodigy go through the ABFP program with high points and presented at various keurings to give him full approval on offspring. Hessel seems to be especially strong in passing on his positive traits to his female offspring with several breeding day champion mares in the Netherlands.
2019 proved that Hessel was a very desirable horse for producing sport champions. The 2019 KFPS Talent Cup winners in both the mare and stallion/gelding categories were offspring of Hessel. The 2019 Pavo Fryso Bokaal winners in the mare and stallion/geldings categories were also sired by Hessel. In addition, the 2019 European Champion of Friesians was a 4 year old son of Hessel. 2019 also resulted in several new crown mares and IBOP scores on Hessel offspring of 89 points, 80.5 points and 82 points. And looking ahead for the 2020 Friesian Talent Cup – a Hessel offspring currently has the highest score of all horses qualifying to compete. Hessel 480 Sport is proving to be a sire of champion sport horses!
In 2020 Hessel had 2 of his sons become approved for breeding stallions by the KFPS.
- Beant 517 (Hessel x Tsjalle x Gjalt)
- Fryso 518 (Hessel x Jisse x Anton)
