Boet 516: good-looking stallion with excellent movement

Rarely did a star of the Central Examination kick up so much dust as the 2019-approved Boet 516 (Jouwe 485 x Uldrik 457) did. Not because of his fine exterior, excellent movement and reliable character but because he has roaring, which brings risks for breeding.

Pedigree 54 is small and little-known. This pedigree begins with Marie B-Book (Danilo 137) and as for Boet 516’s dam line, continues with Vaily Star Preferent (Nammele 147). This 1939-born Vaily produced seven offspring. Five of her daughters have the Star predicate and one of those is Cathrijn Star (Murk 194). She is the dam of two Studbook mares, one of them Yfje (Ulrig 204). Yfje gave birth to a stunning fourteen offspring, two of which made it to Star Preferent. The most influential of those is the 1978-born Sofie Star Preferent (Wessel 237). She belongs to the fourth generation of pedigree 54 and was bred by the late J. Ellens from Eastermar. Her daughter Akke E. Star (Reitse 272) was born in 1992 and brought four offspring, with the eldest having the Star predicate: Silke J. (Fetse 349). Silke’s owner H.J. Braspenning paired her to Sytse 385. ‘Because there wasn’t a very wide choice of stallions and Sytse 385 had relatively free blood.’ The result of this combination was Imkje van de Heikant Star Preferent, born in 2002 and granddam to Boet 516. ‘I had Imkje inspected as a 3-year-old but she remained Studbook. After that I sold her to Jan Folmer who again, sold her on to Van de Ven in Vinkel. One year later he managed to get her Star. As far as I know he has pretty good breeding results with her.’ True enough, so far Van de Ven has bred ten foals out of Imkje. Four of those are Star and made her Preferent; including Ypke Ven Star (Bartele 472) who was selected for the 2018 Central Examination. Where the stud licenses for stallions such as Matthys 504 (Norbert 444) and Teun 505 (Bartele 472) came through, there was no such luck for Ypke Ven. He had shown insufficient progress in his way of moving and suppleness. Which are exactly the qualities in which his cousin Boet 516 would excel just one year later.
It wouldn’t take long though before Van de Ven would be the happy owner of a stud stallion.

Sweet personality
Van de Ven describes Imkje as a large and somewhat classical type with a very sweet character. ‘Because I have a walking disability I let my horses walk free when I bring them in from the field. Imkje is the one who always lingers at the entrance of the stables until I have arrived.’ In 2011 he had her impregnated by Uldrik 457 (Dries 421), but that was not through routine procedures. ‘I very much wanted Uldrik 457 because I thought he was a gorgeous stallion. But he was fully-booked. Then at a stallion show I met a woman who had reserved Uldrik 457 but in the mean time had sold her horse. She wanted to do me a favour and gave me her stud reservation. A year later Nynke Ven was born, later to become dam of Boet 516.
In Boet 516’s dam report the at that time 7-year-old Nynke is described as follows: ‘She exudes breeding type, is longlined and high-legged. She has a slightly long, expressive head. With her long neck the mare displays lots of front and she has abundant feathers. The head-neck connection is light. The withers are well-developed and flow smoothly through to the back. Strength of the topline is satisfactory but she needs to develop a bit more muscling. The long croup should be a little less steep. Because of the long foreleg body shape is horizontal. The mare has clean and dry legwork. The hind leg is a little small-angled. The foreleg is slightly toeing-out but correctly placed under the body. Nynke Ven walks with good length of stride and well through her body with very good rhythm. The trot has good scope with satisfactory strength in use of the hind leg, but slightly lacks self-carriage.’

Star of the test
Boet 516’s performances were excellent and won him the title of star of the 2019 Central Examination. With scores of 84.5 in the riding test, 87.5 in the driving test and 82.5 in the showdriving test he proved to be hugely talented for all disciplines. ‘In use, Boet 516 is the most ideal Friesian. He has a super good walk, a very fine trot, has a good canter and lots of suppleness and balance’, as Performance Jury member Herman Smit summarised. In terms of exterior Boet 516 is a very breed-typical stallion with a great front. His conformation is correct but slightly downhill. Dry and clean quality of the legwork is satisfactory. Stance of the foreleg is correct, the hind leg is a bit angled. In terms of character this young stallion is very pleasant to work with and very reliable. The Performance Jury’s advice is to use Boet 516 for ‘mares that need improvement of breeding type, walk and movement and that have satisfactory uphill body conformation.’ We eagerly await his offspring’s performances in this year and the next few years.

Roaring
In the course of the CE 2019 Boet 516 was diagnosed with roaring. This concerns paralysis of one or both vocal cords. It can manifest itself audibly in the shape of a whistling sound during exercise. The most common type of roaring is the hereditary type, but there can also be other causes, like strangles or a severe cold. Because multiple genes are involved the hereditary degree of roaring is a complex matter. It is therefore difficult to predict what the chances are of any offspring being affected with the same disorder. In spite of the presence of roaring, the Stallion Inspection Jury decided to approve Boet 516 on the basis of his exceptionally positive exterior and performances. The Jury does however emphasise to breeders that there is an increased risk of roaring in his offspring. The KFPS hopes to be able to determine the extent of roaring in this stallion’s offspring by examining the offspring via scoping (throat examinations) and to compare the results with a control group

As posted from KFPS Newsletter