Events made for Participation

The Ontario Friesian Horse Association hosts a variety of events each year where the members come together and share our talents with the horses.

A favourite is the “Driving Day” hosted by different members about 3 times per year.  Members take their horses and carriages and meet at someone’s place to drive.  They tack up the horses and find everyone a spot on a carriage followed by a relaxing and very social cross country drive.   After the drive they set up an obstacle course with cones or “ringsteken” (Friesian sport where a rider uses a wooden "gun" to catch a ring that is suspended at the end of a wooden arm).  Members from all over Ontario have come, with or without horses, and also with or without experience.  Experienced drivers try to improve their skill, as new drivers learn the art with help from those experienced.  Not only do we love the fun with the horses, but the social time is also well worth being there.

For those who rather sit on a horse than behind them, we have the “Riding Days”.  Like the driving, we get together at someone’s farm, tack up our horses and go for a nice relaxing but very exciting ride.  The ride usually goes through fields, bush and even the odd creek.  However there is always a way to go over a bridge for those who rather not get their feet wet, one of the first riding days only the women could get their horses in the water.  It's a great sight to see members ride down a trail with a large group of friends all riding Friesian horses.

We also get together every year at the “Keuring”.   Between showing, grooming and being nervous, there a lot of time to socialize, check out other member’s horses and meet new Friesian friends.

Every year in January we have our general meeting, where we reflect on the past year, as well as discus new ideas for the coming year.

All these events help us to become close friends, and achieve new and exciting things with our horses, because we are all bound together by our love for our Friesian horses.

After the great success from our driving days and our riding day last year, we have decided to plan new days for this year.  We invite all members with horses and without to come to our driving days, because we always have extra spots on the carriages to take passengers.  It doesn’t matter if you have never driven before because our experienced members would love to teach those new ones.   On a riding day it is more difficult to double up on a horse, so if you want too ride we suggest you arrange to have a horse available.

OFHA events start at approximately 10:30AM, and we ask that everybody bring a salad and desert for a potluck lunch. If you intend on coming to the event we ask you signup by the Thursday night preceding the event, so our hosts have adequate BBQ ready, by contacting our secretary Nanda Vervoort; (519 229 6365 or info@ontariofriesianhorse.com), or event hosts. If you decide you want to come after the preceding Thursday evening, you are still welcome to come.

In case of a rainy day everybody will be notified on the signup list of a changed date. We hope these events will be a great opportunity to enjoy our horses, help each other, meet new members and just have plain fun. 

If you have questions about any of the events below contact us at info@ontariofriesianhorse.com

* After a long drive/ride we will join for a BBQ, so we ask everyone to bring some side dishes/dessert to share.