This message is from: "Birgit Mortensen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
A little more than a month ago I was busy trying to be ready for my first trip ever to the US. I could only stay for 10 days, which I still regret. But being a board-member in Denmark I simply had to go home to prepare two meetings in the end of October and a general assembly in November. This has been done, so now is time to tell you all how much I enjoyed to be in Winona. It was bitterly cold and windy ... at least outside .. especially the first couple of days, but I must say that you folks compensated for that more than I have experienced in any other country. Some of you I have met on earlier occasions, partly in Norway in May (stallion exhibitions) and partly in Denmark in August (our 65th), and it was great to see you again. But it was also great to get so many new friends in Winona, and to have faces combined with names I only knew from the Digest that was fun too. It was also great to meet European friends from Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland (and since most of us stayed at the same hotel there is also many good memories from the breakfast table and late evening tables .). So many things from your 25th are worth talking about: - I was impressed of the hospitality you showed the European visitors - It was incredible that you could gather so many horses from so far away (here in little Denmark we must sometimes listen to whining, if members have to travel 2-3 hours to take their mare to an evaluation place ..) - Your stallion presentation on the first evening was so interesting - The banquet was great, excellent food and not too long speeches ... And again a lot of people who really seemed to like to have us there, what more can you wish for .. - The evening of dancing fjords was terrific. In 2004 the German association celebrated an anniversary, and at that time I stated that their show was better than every other fjordhorse show I had seen before. Sorry Germany - today I have to say that the Winona show is the number one show. - It was both interesting and educational to follow your evaluation and the many other classes, in many ways different from what we do in Denmark When you visit an exhibition or anniversary in another country it is quite natural that one of the things you take special interest in is, if some horses from your own country are participating. There is not many Danish bred fjord horses living in North America. Green Valley Farm has imported the stallion Kastanjegardens Fernando and the mare Thilde, Pat Wolfe has imported three mares: Hirse Klattrup (now at Olivia Farm), Katrinedals Vanessa and Hojgaards Emmeline. Then there are three (or is it four?) young horses in California, another young horse in Canada and maybe 22 year old Malene Stanstorp is still alive. 3 year old Katrinedals Vanessa and 10 year old Kastanjegardens Fernando were both in Winona. It was fun to see them again, and the number of ribbons they received was truly amazing. Blue ribbons to both of them in conformation, Fernando scored 86 point, which as far as I understood made him to one of the best scored stallions in North America. Apart from that he was entered in a lot of other classes and so was Vanessa. In Denmark she was evaluated as a yearling with good scores, and Fernando has twice been appointed stallion of the year in Denmark. So it felt quite good to be Danish in Winona .. A thing which was not so good was that I had left my camera in Denmark. If any of you has taken some pictures of these two horses I would be very grateful, if you would mail them to me - especially if you will allow me to use them in an article about your 25th I am going to write to the next issue of the Danish fjord horse magazine. Other spectacular photos will also be welcomed. I cannot wait to buy the DVD's, I have told a lot of people how great is was 'over there', and I know they will enjoy to see proof of that. So once again: thank you so very much to all of you (nobody mentioned - nobody forgotten) for some great days in Winona and many wonderful memories. Don't hesitate so send me a mail if there is anything I can help you with or if you are planning to pay Denmark a visit in the future. But don't come in November, this month is awful (grey, rainy - and if you are unlucky cold too, we had our first snow in the beginning of this month, but is disappeared very quickly). The season for our horse events are from April (young horse shows) to September (foals shows). When it comes to 2011 at least three countries/associations can celebrate their next anniversary: NFHR, Sweden and Denmark. I think it will be a good idea to co-ordinate the dates ... Birgit / Fjordhesten Danmark [EMAIL PROTECTED] P.S. Hope this message will reach the list. I have had problems posting to the list during many month, but luckily Steve was among the people I met in Winona and he promised to fix it - let me thank you here for that (my thank-you-mails have come back for some unknown reasons). However a new problem seems to have arisen: the digest does not arrive regularly as before so I have to send mails to friends to receive them when I see a number missing, e.g. the latest number I have seen is no. 252. The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
