History
Jan Boelstra
Stal de Hameren is a family owned company that is being let by Anna-Sjouk and Taeke Okkema. The company started as a regular farm were all the work on the land was done by horses.
Anna-Sjouk’s grandfather, Jan Boelstra, started with the horses before the Second World War. These horses are the ancestors of the horses form the Ritta-bloodline, mareline NL-015. These were hard working horses and didn’t need any motivation for the hard farmwork. They needed to be strong to work in the rough Frisian clay. Sometimes the work was so hard that they had to walk on their knees, but they always kept going. This drive is still one of the key features of the Ritta-bloodline. During the Second World War there was a real chance that these valuable workers would be confiscated by the Germans, but Jan Boelstra countered this by slamming the horse-shoes badly under the feat. Causing the horses to become crippled for a short time. The Nazi’s didn’t care for crippled horses. Because of this action the Ritta-bloodline is still present at Stal de Hameren.
After the Second World War Jan Boelstra had a significant part in changing the horses from working horses to sport horses. He did this with the combination BOG (Boelstra, Oosterbaan and Gerbens). With a clear vision and goal and with the help of the NWP (North Studbook) a lot of horses were imported from Germany. These horses form the beginning of the Dutch sport horse breeding.
Jan Boelstra had a significant part in importing the horses Marco Polo, Magneet, Farn and the mother of Sineada . He also imported the mare Freiminka (Camillus), which is the foundation under the Freiminka-bloodline, mareline NL-038. Jan Boelstra was also important for the breeding of Dutch sport horses. From the Ritta-bloodline came the NWP approved stallion Akteur (Amor) and the full brothers Senner and Sportman (Sineada). From the Freiminka-bloodline he bred Viola. This Farn daughter has been very important for the Dutch sport horse breeding. Viola gave birth to Topas (Marco Polo) and is grandmother to Vindicator (Amor) and Jodokus (Ramiro). The Ritta-bloodline and the Freiminka-bloodline are still the two bloodlines that we breed with at Stal de Hameren.
Anna-Sjouk Okkema-Koopmans
In 1979 Anna-Sjouk Koopmans became farm manager of the
Molenruiters riding school. Anna-Sjouk took care of the
training of the young horses and the stallions. At this
time there also was a stud farm at the Molenruiters.
Stallion of the century Nimmerdor and the stallions
Vindicator and Topas also ware trained here by Anna-Sjouk.
In 1984 Anna-Sjouk married Taeke Okkema and they lived
in the town Vrouwenparochie were the Molenruiters
also are situated. On the farm were Jan Boelstra had his
stables, Anna-Sjouk’s uncle Sieds-Siebe Boelstra now had
his farm. In 1986 Anna-Sjouk and Taeke switched with
Sieds-Siebe and Anna-Sjouk begun building new stables on
the ground were her grandfather once started both marelines. Anna-Sjouk left the Molenruiters and took the
horses and the title stud farm to the new residence. In
1988 Anna-Sjouk and Taeke called their stables: Stal de
Hameren.
Freiminka
The name Stal de Hameren originates in the region were it is situated. The region was called De Hameringen and in the 17th century that changed to De Hameren. In the 1950s this region name disappeared from the map.
Anna-Sjouk has meant a lot for the sport horse breeding, amongst others by the stallions Topas, Vindicator and Jodokus. Jodokus and Topas had a big influence in one of the greatest jumpers of all time: Okidoki (Jodokus X Topas).
In 1986 Anna-Sjouk and Taeke had their first son: Okke-Jan. And in 1988 their second: Adriaan. Both children combine their studies with the training of young horses and sport horses. In 1994 Anna-Sjouk and Taeke had their third child: Djoeke, who momentarily rides two dressage horses and goes to the HAVO.
In the present Stal de Hameren is an all-round horse company.