‘Tanner really belonged to me’ said Marcel Barneveld

Yesterday Marcel Barneveld announced on his Facebook page that the studbook stallion The Friendshof Tanner has passed away at the age of 28. The Friendshof Tanner was bred by J. de korte out of the combination of Baledon Jerimiah x Nightingale's Tarifa.

“I remember very well how I got Tanner, I worked at Lauw van Vliet in 1992 and the breeder of Tanner then came with a mare with foal to have it inseminated. This foal was Tanner and I bought him right then!”

Young stallion inspection

“The NWPCS used to have a young stallion show in October, this was meant for the young stallions so also foals. I took part in this with Tanner who was then in the lead. After this I reared him and only showed him again as a 3 year old. At the stallion inspection he showed well and was referred to the 2nd viewing. I had no experience with welsh horses, so Henk Zoet came to me and said that he should be foiled differently and you can borrow a bridle from me. And indeed the day after he was placed in the lead and champion!”

“Tanner got quite a lot of stud requests we already had 20 mares in his first week! But the mares didn't get pregnant. Then we had his sperm retested and unfortunately that proved to be insufficient. We tried everything with him in the field with the mares but he never had an offspring. I was allowed to use his sire Baledon Jerimiah. A lot of these offspring are still walking around here.”

Nanny grandpa

“As a 4-year-old we showed Tanner again at the stallion show and here he was again placed in the lead. After this we gelded him and rode some children including my own son. When he was 10 years old we castrated him and after this he became a babysitter grandfather. He raised the young KWPN horses here until the end. As a 15 year old I showed him once more as a gelding and even then he was in the lead again. Tanner has meant so much to me he just belonged to me and that's why he never left.”