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The pure bred Arabian horse is our passion.
We made our childhood dreams to a reality,
Arabian Fantasie since many years a respected
concept, enjoying a worldwide reputation !!!

Chris van Schalkwijk grew up spending every single minute of his spare time with his aunt Mrs. Tiny Kubbe, who is very well known among the Dutch Arabian horse lovers, for her great skill in driving her lovely Arabian mare and daughter in double harness.

Nestor Arabians, an important stud in those days, was located 'just around the corner' from Chris's parental home, in the typically Dutch area of Broekergouw, with its many canals between the grasslands, and closer still when the owner of Nestor Arabians had taken over Chris's grandfather's farm. This farm, by the way, is still home to lovely pure-bred Arabians; it is now owned by the famous handler and trainer Jan Calis with his Zenith Arabians. So here at this farm, first guided by Nestor Arabians and later by Jan Calis, Chris learned as much as he could about training and handling of pure bred Arabians.  He would often go with Jan to shows, lending him a helping hand and learning all the tricks of the trade. Chris has been involved with Zenith Arabians for four years.

In 1989 Chris was offered a job at the German Arabian horse stud Gestut Dieckhorst . It took Chris just a few minutes to make up his mind and accept this offer. It's not every day that a young man gets the chance to work with 34 pure bred Arabians  of excellent quality. When he returned home at the end of the season, the owners of the new but ambitious stud Hamal Arabians, were looking for an experienced stable manager, and Chris was their man. He worked for the Nanninga family for three years, taking care of and training horses such as World Champion Amal and Reserve World Champion Komplekt, who soon became one of Chris's favourites because of his gentle nature. In 1989 Amal's son Rabhar, trained and prepared by Chris, became Reserve World Champion at the Salon du Cheval in Paris.

While working for Hamal Arabians and handling so many horses successfully at international shows, owners from all over started asking whether Chris could train and prepare their horses for shows. Encouraged by these frequent requests, Chris decided to start up his own training stable, together with his uncle, who could offer proper accommodation. Chris showed 'his' horses very successfully, at both national and international level. As a result, Chris had many 'stars' in his stables.

 At that time, Abigail F. Lighert was looking for a trainer for her colt Anthal, son of Komplekt, who sadly died in 1991. Abigail considered sending Anthal to the Dutch Stallion Licensing Show as a tribute to his famous father. However, in those days, although many promising young colts were presented at this show, only the very, very best would be appointed and would get their licences. So Abigail asked Chris, Komplekt's trainer, to see if Anthal would stand a chance. Chris was only too happy to prepare Anthal and the results couldn't have been better: Class winner, First premium, Best of the Newly Licensed Dutch-Bred Stallions, and although he did not become Senior Champion that day, Anthal got higher overall scores in the Championship Senior Stallions than the world famous Balaton, who would end that day as Reserve Senior Champion. In the two years that followed, Anthal stood at stud next to First Premium Stallions Pasch Vacan and Milak AA.

This really was every girl's dream come true. The story of Abigail and Anthal is truly an exceptional one. Abigail has been riding successfully since she was eight years old.  With her pony Petlin she has won many prizes in the highest show jumping classes as well as in the dressage competition. At the Arabian Fantasie Stud, Petlin, born in 1973, is enjoying his well-earned pension together with 21- year old stable mate Prulletje. Although the ponies were great fun, it was Abigail's dream to possess her own Arabian Thoroughbred. She had seen Komplekt and was completely smitten by him. Buying Komplekt was out of the question, but when she heard of the auction of Liberty Arabians, where Komplekt had stood at stud for a number of years, she realised there was a chance of buying one of this great stallion’s sons. She saw Anthal in his stable and it was love at first sight. She bought him without even checking his movements,. Needless to say, she never regretted going to this auction!

Abigail schooled Anthal and entered him successfully in both show jumping and dressage competition. But not surprisingly, after he was licensed, she became interested in breeding him. Abigail's father, Mr. Nick Lighert, thus acquired their first broodmare Mu Yetla (by Mufag). It turned out to be the perfect combination, resulting in a number of show champions. Mu Yetla is one of Arabian Fantasie's founding mares and is still around, as is Chris's very first mare Kreona (by Neon).

It was in October 1993 that Chris and Abigail decided to join forces and expand their horse training and breeding activities. They looked for and found a very suitable accommodation, which included a riding hall and treadmill. However, just four years later, it had become too small for their business, so they had to start looking for somewhere bigger. Once again they were lucky and found very spacious accommodation with good facilities such as a riding hall, an outdoor riding paddock, paddocks for the stallions, almost 9 acres of luxuriant pasture for the mares and fillies, 32 box stables and 2 large stables to accommodate the young horses in groups. This beautiful accommodation is situated in welcoming and forested surroundings near the small town of Rijssen. It includes a guesthouse and a campsite, which makes it the perfect place to entertain horses and their owners.

Arabian Fantasie Stud is currently one of the leading studs in the Netherlands; our stallions, their offspring and our clients' horses have won more often in the show ring than horses from any other stud or training stable.

 

Chris van Schalkwijk and Abigail F.Ligthert with Elite stallion Anthal -winner WAHO Trophy 2008