— The author

Lieke de Vries.

Second-generation Friesian breeder, head of training at Royal Friesian Horses, and the current operations contact during the estate’s closure. Daughter of Marieke and Hendrik. Primary author of the estate’s reference guides — price, colour, sport horse, FAQ — and most of the journal since 2024.

If you have written to the estate in the last two years, your reply was almost certainly from me.

— Biography

Friesians, from before I could walk.

I was four when my mother imported Sjoukje — the first mare that made Royal Friesian Horses a programme rather than a hobby. My first jobs on the property were leading foals out of the field at suppertime and holding them at the keuring. I am thirty-four now, and the work has not changed all that much.

I completed the KFPS young-horse training programme in the Netherlands in 2018 and rejoined my parents full-time in 2021. Since then I have led the training side of the estate — every horse on the current inventory was started, schooled, or finished under me. When my mother stepped back from day-to-day operations in 2024, the writing side of the work — answering enquiries, drafting the reference guides, the journal — came with the role.

I am based at the Wellington, FL estate. When I am not on a horse I am usually answering email. If you have a question about a horse on the inventory page or about Friesians in general, write — I reply personally.

— Credentials

What I’m qualified to write about.

KFPS young-horse training certification
Royal Dutch Friesian Studbook (2018)
Five Ster-predicate horses produced
as primary trainer, 2021–2024
Twelve KFPS keurings attended in person
in the Netherlands and the US, 2014 onward
Member, FHANA
Friesian Horse Association of North America
Member, USDF
United States Dressage Federation
Born and raised on the estate
thirty years of Friesians, daily

— Authored on this site