Ineke fan de Groenbank

ACHIEVEMENTS

2010 - KFPS 2nd Premie Foal
2013 - KFPS 3rd Premie Studbook Mare
2016 - KFPS 3rd Premie Studbook Mare
2016 - IBOP Performance Test - 65 points

Ineka fan de Groenbank (or ‘Neeky Nooz’ as we call her) has the privilege of being the first Friesian in the UK to be born by Embryo Transfer. She started life in her biological mother, KFPS Model mare Femma and after 8 days was flushed out and popped inside her surrogate mother, Jubilee, a large, roomy chestnut warmblood mare who we leased from Twemlows stud in Cheshire.

Born during the very cold January of 2010 she looked very much like a big woolly bear for the first 6 months of her life. By the end of the summer, she was a tall, elegant lady who achieved a 2nd Premie at the FHAGBI inspections in September. One of the things that amazed us about Neeka was her very long legs and the speed in which she grew. She has undoubtedly grown into a tall beautiful mare, with an interesting quirky personality.

Neeka’s mother Femma is quite a hot-headed mare, and her father, Tsjerk 328 can throw offspring that are quite sharp. We knew this breeding could potentially produce a quite sensitive temperament but we knew it was a lineage proven to throw very good quality horses.

Neeka is extremely beautiful with a great 'racial type' making her extremely photogenic. Her weakness is in her movement which is not as fluent and supple as the KFPS inspectors would like to see but good enough for her to gain entry to the studbook with a 3rd premie.

Neeka was backed in Summer 2014. As expected, her feisty character did make it a bit of a challenge to get her under saddle - we had to take each step carefully and slowly due to her anxious nature and tendancy to blind panic when out of her comfort zone . We often say, if she were human and to be given a label she may be considered to have some autistic characteristics which have been interesting and educational to work with over the years!

The journey has been challenging but as Neekas matured she has become a truly wonderful riding mare who has even been jumping at Craven several times. She can be a little erratic in her paces and due to her anxiety and tension it can take her a while to relax in her walk especially out hacking where there are often monsters lurking in hedges! Her happy place is out on the open sands of the beach due to the open spaces and she loves a good gallop.

In 2020 she was found to have some inflammation in her stifle joints which resulted in some discomfort for her whilst schooling. These have been medicated and will be managed in conjunction with our vets to ensure she remains comfortable in her work. She is a lovely mare to school, albeit still a bit quirky at times with some riders but she will be available to a few riders for schooling during experience days.

Neekas journey can be followed on our social media and online training packages.