The timeless
beauty of the Friesian horse is noble and majestic. They'll
capture your heart as they did ours. Just as the Friesian
stole our hearts, the Barock Pinto impressed us with the
qualities of a Friesian, their unique striking black and
white contrasts of color, and the sport abilities of the
Warmblood. We invite you to take a look around our
TopHatFriesians.com website and to visit with us on
Facebook.
Top Hat
Friesians & Barock Pintos is located in South Florida in
Northern Palm Beach County. We began as Top Hat Friesians in
2006 when we purchased our first Friesian filly. Soon
thereafter, we imported several more. Over the next several
years our horses did well at the keurings. In 2009 we
imported three six month old weanlings; a KFPS Friesian stud
colt, Eike van de Terp from the Netherlands, and two Barock
Pintos; Picasso's Masterpiece and Nikita from Denmark. Eike
van de Terp was awarded Ster status in October 2013 at the
KFPS keuring in Lexington, Virginia. Picasso and Nikita were
the beginning of our interest in the Barock Pinto. As our
dreams were coming true of setting up a Barock Pinto
breeding program, the economy took a downturn and we were
affected. Unfortunately, we had to sell some horses that we
never intended to part with in order for our family to
survive, but we still held onto the dream of one day putting
our Barock Pinto breeding program back together.
Our goal of
breeding Barock Pintos was to produce homozygous tobiano
horses, which are very rare in the breed. We achieved this
goal and have produced more homozygous tobiano Barock Pintos
than any other Barock Pinto breeder in North America. Over the years we
produced three homozygous tobiano chestnut stallions, one
homozygous tobiano black and white stallion, and four
homozygous tobiano black and white fillies. We also produced
many homozygous black horses as well. In 2019 we
expanded into Warmbloods but then in late 2020 decided to
semi-retire and sold all of the Warmbloods,
leaving only Barock Pintos. We incorporated as Top Hat
Equine, Inc but kept the name
Top Hat Friesians, because that's who we've been since 2006
and how we're known in the industry. Life can be full of
twists and turns, and now in late 2021, fifteen years after
we began, the time has come to
close our doors and completely retire from breeding. Raven
and Electra were our last foals to be bred by us and born on
our farm. We are keeping Picasso, Zoey, and the minis as our
personal horses and everyone else will be sold to
approved homes.
We put a great deal of thought and time into the
creation of our KWPN Barock Pinto breeding program. We
selected and imported horses that met our specific needs by
studying their pedigrees and finding mares and fillies that,
when bred to our Barock Pinto stallion Picasso, would produce top quality foals
that would be suitable for equestrian performance sports as
adults. We also breed for temperament
and looked for horses with a willing attitude, calm demeanor
and desire to work. Picasso has these desirable
qualities and passes them to his foals. We also wanted the same
qualities in our mares so we were very thorough in our
search. Now that Picasso's grandson, Otro Armani, a black
and white homozygous tobiano who carries red sired by
Picasso's son, Knight of Hearts, is soon to
be of breeding age, we have ensured that all future foals,
whether sired by Picasso or Armani, will be KWPN B Book registered.
When the Barock
Pinto breed was started in Europe it was a cross between a
Friesian and a Warmblood, specifically the Gelderlander and
Groningen, which are the two breeds that were also used as
the foundation for the Dutch Warmblood. Within our KWPN
Barock Pinto breeding program we strive to meet the original
goals of the Barock Pinto breed by only breeding Barock
Pintos to Friesians, Warmbloods or other Barock Pintos. We
also strive to produce horses that meet the breeding goals
of the KWPN which state: that horses have the potential to
be able to perform at Grand Prix level; that they have a
constitution that enables long usefulness; that they have a
character that supports the will to perform as well as being
agreeable and good natured towards people; that they have
functional conformation and a correct movement mechanism
that will enable good performance; and that they have an
attractive exterior that is related to refinement, nobility
and quality.
If you're
looking for your own Barock Pinto or Friesian, please check
out
sale barn
to see what we have available.
