The five mare generations of Ted and Tina Vanderkooi

The Vanderkooi family with five generations of Friesian mares

The Phryso.com editorial team received a remarkable photo with an even more special story behind it. Five generations of mares beginning with the 25-year-old Meintsje fan de Hôfpleats Star Preferent (Jillis 301 x Reitse 272) from the Ted and Tina Vanderkooi breeding stud.

Good health
Meintsje is still in excellent health, Ted Vanderkooi tells us: ‘She’s getting a bit stiff and suffers from the onset of arthrosis, but every day children from our neighbourhood come to mollycoddle her. From time to time they take Meintsje for a short ride.’ Ted and his spouse Tina emigrated to Ontario, Canada in 1999. Back then they took the at that time 4-year-old Meintsje and her full sister Baukje with them: ‘We bought the two sisters from breeder Minke Hoekstra-De Boer. They both became Star and Meintsje even rose to Preferent on her first four offspring. A few years ago Baukje died at the age of twenty.’

In front of the carriage
Ted Vanderkooi used to do a lot of driven work with Meintsje and Baukje: ‘I have a carriage and did lots of weddings. The sisters were very reliable and I could take them everywhere.’ Son André and daughter-in-law Lisanne live on a dairy farm close-by with their family. Ted laughs: ‘André was an incurable smoker. Years ago I told him: if you give up smoking I will give you a foal.’ And that’s what happened, so now André owns Meintsje’s daughter Renske Nynke Crown AA (Sibald 380) and some of her offspring.

Horse sleigh
Ted has served six years on the KFPS Member Council on behalf of FHANA. Every year he still teaches a few young Friesian horses the work in front of the carriage. ‘Around here there are woodlands with sand tracks, which is ideal for young horses to get used to the work. In winter times when there’s a thick layer of snow I switch to the horse sleigh. The horses just love it. When André has some spare time we often go for a drive together.’ Wife Tina adores the Friesian horses and is the one who takes to the camera to make beautiful photos.

Five generations in one photo
On the picture, from right to left: Meintsje fan de Hôfpleats Star Preferent (Jillis 301 x Reitse 272) with Ted and Tina Vanderkooi, the 16-year-old Renske Nynke Crown AA (Sibald 380) with granddaughter Kaitlin Vanderkooi, the 11-year-old Hiska Renske Star (Sipke 450) with daughter-in-law Lisanne Vanderkooi, the 5-year-old Amelia Hiska (Julius 486) with grandson Justin Vanderkooi and yearling Nika Amelia (Meinte 490) with son André Vanderkooi