I am not a person that knows horses. Matter what I know of animals you can put on the back of a drink napkin and roll it up. This is a very very interesting horse. Who has knowledge of these horses? [video=youtube;Y5XJbSqwriM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5XJbSqwriM[/video]
http://www.friesian-equine.co.uk/history-of-friesian-horse.html Growing up in 'horse world' I did see a few Freisians at horse shows they are beautiful and were used primarily in dressage classes. We weren't dressage people, we had Morgans and western tack, so I didn't hang around with the dressage people too much. On hind sight I should have made the effort as the girls were cute and they usually had $$$.
High-stepping in horses is often the result of abusive training practices. There is a bit of debate about that.
Friesians are very beautiful horses. Powerful and graceful. Their gait IS natural, though, and that's one of the reasons they and Arabians (which also have a natural 'high' gait) are generally agreed to be the two most beautiful breeds of horse. Arabians nudge out Friesians by a small margin though, because they have much prettier heads and are of a finer build. They are also amazing athletes, with a naturally low heart rate and incredible stamina. Probably the result of desert evolution. Horses with artificially high gaits are shunned by genuine horse lovers, in the hopes of dissuading breeders from perpetuating the abuse. FTR, lifelong owner/trainer/breaker of horses. - - - Updated - - - If anyone here is willing, post a clip of Arabian stallions in action - by way of comparison. I'm clueless when it comes to loading pics/vids here.
It's probably more correct to say that Arabians have a floating gait, rather than a basic high gait. They do step a little higher than standard, but sort of 'pause' at the apex of each step, which in movement gives the appearance of being not quite attached to the earth. It's quite remarkable.
As well as the enormous manes. I enjoy them galloping. I noticed they are able to place their feet in some exact way. The more you watch them gallop, the more you learn of them and their special gait. Not saying other horses lack that gait but to my eyes it makes such horses special.
It's indeed abusive. Very very cruel. It's always investigated, when found and reported. See "Tennessee Walking Horse" and similar. There is plenty of footage of the abuse on YT, secretly filmed.
This is educational on gaits. To post a video that this system recoginzes, such as youtube, on the youtube site, copy what you see in the upper bar. It should start with https. with youtube in the title When you have copied that bar, come to this site and use the smaller green icon that sits with a larger green icon to the left. Select the smaller frame green icon and you can post the video there. It is simple and easy to manage. I can't though get videos from Fox to post that way so I simply post the Fox video as I copy it and those who open the post can still see the video but not see the presentation as you usueally can, to wit, you won't see the opening video part quite the same way. But either way you get the full video presentation. With that, watch this youtube video and you will see the video ready to click open. [video=youtube;aoB6FFP7a84]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoB6FFP7a84[/video]
Crank is the person to ask. A local college has a degree in equestrian something or the other. It is just an issue I am aware of in passing having met untold dozens of their horsey girls out and about. I also shared an apartment with two of them one summer and it was interesting for a bit and then absolutely monotonous to listen to them talk about training practices on and on and on.