Re: NFHR Annual Meeting and Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: divingduoandcor...@comcast.net Looking forward to meeting other fjord people!  I live in Denver and have had my first fjord for a year and a half...excited to be attending my first NFHR Annual Meeting.   The National Western is a long standing tradition here and hosts everything from petting zoos and fancy chicken events to carriage classes (I have seen drafts and mules) and large livestock, Budweiser clydesdales, rodeo and a much-loved competition called mutton bustin.  This is small helmeted children trying to ride sheep for a few seconds. Schedules are online at http://www.nationalwestern.com/schedule/   Beth Merrill , Bob, the Corgis and the Fjord - Original Message - From: Teressa tere...@kodiakfishco.com To: fjordhorse@angus.mystery.com Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 10:31:31 AM Subject: NFHR Annual Meeting and Evening of Dancing Horses Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH_L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l
NFHR Annual Meeting and Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: Teressa tere...@kodiakfishco.com Hello all fjord lovers out there. Searching for a great Christmas present? I was just booking my flight to Denver for the NFHR meeting on January 25 and plan to be there earlier that week to catch the two performances by the Fjord Quadrille in the Evening of Dancing Horses and also to experience the National Western Stock Show in Denver. Now get this! Tickets from Seattle to Denver for those dates less than $75 each way!!! And I hear the Stock Show is not to be missed. Every kind of stock you can imagine, clinics, demos and hundreds of vendors My friend in middle Tennessee also got a great deal on her airfare. Face it. The weather will be lousy almost everywhere and you can get both a shopping and fjord fix at the same time. Sorry for all the exclamation points. I am so psyched about the ticket prices. What a great gift to yourself or your fjord (or any other horse for that matter) loving spouse. Teressa in miserable NW Washington. Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH_L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l
Dancing Horses Wednesday night video up!
This message is from: Starfire Farm starfiref...@usa.net Hello again, I just successfully uploaded the video of Wednesday night's performance. The same routine as Thursday, but some behind the scenes camera work and different announcing (interesting, to say the least!...;-). Of course, no routine ever comes out the same! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N5gaDoY8Gs Enjoy! Beth -- Starfire Farm Beth Beymer and Sandy North http://www.starfirefarm.com Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
Re: Dancing Horses Wednesday night video up!
This message is from: Heather Baskey cavy_l...@yahoo.com Quite enjoyed the behind the scenes camera work!!! Insider's peek ;-) Heather some behind the scenes camera work and different announcing (interesting, to say the least!...;-). __ The new Internet Explorer® 8 - Faster, safer, easier. Optimized for Yahoo! Get it Now for Free! at http://downloads.yahoo.com/ca/internetexplorer/ Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
Re: National Western Stock Show 2004 Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I also will be there as I am taking care of the Starfire horses while Beth and Sandy are at the show. My friend Beth will be going with me, she is the new owner of Starfire Arend and I know she is looking forward to seeing her boy who is still at Starfire being trained. We will be going to the show one evening not yet sure which one. On another note Ginny Cowles of Los Trigos has made a series of bronze figures of fjords, most include a child she calls Alice. They are really delightful and are on display at a Santa Fe gallery. For those of you who don't know Ginny she has about 14 fjords and breeds a couple of mares each year. Her stallion is King Gjestar II. Ginny is closer to 80 than 70 and still rides often on her ranch in the Pecos area of NM. Holiday Greetings to all on the list. Sue Sue Clark-Sorger Crown Oak Fjords Sandia Park NM
RE: National Western Stock Show 2004 Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: Gail Russell [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi all, Just to let you all know that my husband Jim (Halverson) and I will be there. Maybe we will see you there. So far, I think we will be staying until the 25th...have not got departure arrangements made yet. We arrive on the Amtrak train in downtown Denver about 7:15 PM on the 20th. The beauty of Amtrak is that one arrives downtown. We are taking the California Zephr.with a room booked. We will stay in the Marriot City Center hotel (a block from the station) and take buses and cabs to the stock show. (A friend of mine who lives in Denver tells me the car rental prices at that time of year are sky high because of the demand for them by skiers and the bus schedules look pretty good to me anyway.) We have tickets to the dancing horses for Thursday the 22nd, and for the Draft horse show the next night. We may go to the rodeo on ensuing nightswho knows. If you want to stay at the Marriott City Center the cheapest reservations are available thru a stock show special. Go to the plan your trip section of the national Western Stock Show site.and go into the part where it shows Marriott as hotel sponsor of the show. Attempt to book a reservation online. It probably will not workbut somewhere in there, there is a code that you can use when making the reservation over the phone. I think it was stch. The room was $89. Other places they seem to be double that. It may be that this is a lousy roomthat they reserve for these specials...but it is better than I could find thru all the other sites...hotels.com and the Marriott's own online site. Apparently the Angus folks are staying there too...with whom I would expect Fjord people to fit right in. If you want to stay away from the center of the city the hotels are cheaper. I chose this because the transport to the show seemed easier. Get your evening tickets soonthe best ones were already gone when I reserved a week ago. Hope to see you there. If you want to know which section we are sitting in for the show...e-mail me privately and I will dig out my reservation. Gail http://www.theresgottobeapony.org/pony.htm The dates for the evening performances are January 21st and 22nd, 2004. We will be moving the horses into the National Western Events Center the evening of Jan. 20th..com
National Western Stock Show 2004 Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: Starfirefarm [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello Everyone, The Evening of Dancing Horses at the National Western Stock Show is going to be a little different this year. It's going to be a story, called There's Got to be a Pony acted out with a kind of equestrian operatic feel. The Norwegian Fjord Quadrille will be performing one act in the program. Here is a url to explain the program and, if your interested, you can get to the National Western website to purchase tickets online. http://www.theresgottobeapony.org/pony.htm The dates for the evening performances are January 21st and 22nd, 2004. We will be moving the horses into the National Western Events Center the evening of Jan. 20th. We, as usual, will be busy with preparations, but if you come to Denver on those dates, do come by our stalls for a visit. We'd love to see you there! Beth -- Starfire Farm Beth Beymer and Sandy North http://www.starfirefarm.com
Re: Fjords on TV! Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ruthie, Thanks for the memo. That's not a bad idea to find out aboutgetting in touch with the program itself and finding out if a taping of some sort would be available. I'll look into that. Gretchen Karlson A HREF=http://hometown.aol.com/fjordlove/myhomepage/index.html;Karlson Equestrian Portraiture/A
Re: Fjords on TV! Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Beth We have had such a horrible winter here in Virginia that my husband and I have taken to watching the Encore Western Channel - we have gotten reacquainted with Matt, Doc and Miss Kitty. Yes, our winter has been that bad! We also saw the promo for dancing with horses, but didn't realize that the whole program was going to air. If you hear of the times, I would appreciate knowing. The promo was great - showed several clips of fjords as well as other beautiful performances. One was a beautiful huge belgian doing some beautiful dressage movements. We have snow and ice on the ground here again Mary Harvey
Re: Fjords on TV! Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: Starfirefarm [EMAIL PROTECTED] I have a copy of the long version of the promotional tape and it says something about Taking you On the Trail to an Evening of Dancing Horses. Maybe their On the Trail thing is just a snippet about the show. Bummer if it is, and if so, I'm sorry I got everyone excited about it. Hopefully, some of you will get to see the long version, which shows several clips of the quadrille itself. Ah well, any air time is better than no air time! Beth -- Starfire Farm Beth Beymer and Sandy North http://www.starfirefarm.com
Re: Fjords on TV! Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: ruth bushnell [EMAIL PROTECTED] Gretchen, so far... all we have seen is a very brief commercial advertizing the dancing horses event (it's compromised of mostly a couple of very large draft horses mincing around) but toward the end you can see a couple of Fjords standing behind the promotional speaker... we got so excited we missed the message! hee hee even so, I do believe it is referring to the event itself and in all liklihood, may very well not be televised (at least not on that particular channel). it would be splendiferously wonderful if it were on tv, and I would sure enough record it for you if it were. maybe someone with the show itself will do just that and reproduce a video for the many Fjord fans in Fjord List land ...? Ruthie, nw mt This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For the lucky individuals that do get this program - would someone mind taping it? I wouldn't mind reimbursing for time and expenses so I can watch it as well! Thanks!~ Gretchen Karlson A HREF=http://hometown.aol.com/fjordlove/myhomepage/index.html;Karlson Equestrian Portraiture/A
Re: Fjords on TV! Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For the lucky individuals that do get this program - would someone mind taping it? I wouldn't mind reimbursing for time and expenses so I can watch it as well! Thanks!~ Gretchen Karlson A HREF=http://hometown.aol.com/fjordlove/myhomepage/index.html;Karlson Equestrian Portraiture/A
Re: Fjords on TV! Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 2/27/2003 9:02:47 AM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: For those of you who get the Starz Encore Group Westerns channel, the Evening of Dancing Horses is supposed to be shown sometime in March. Apparently, the promotional spot about the show has begun airing, as one of my students told me that a friend of hers saw it in New Mexico? The dates and times of the show are supposed to be available, or begin airing, on Feb. 28th? I'm not sure. We don't get the Westerns channel. We have seen the video footage of the long promotional piece and several shots of the quadrille are included. Sami Poirier and Cheryl Gioia were interviewed and did a great job! Oh I am excited now about this I can't wait. To think I was going to cancel my Starz package!!! LOL, that won't be happening now! :) Pamela A HREF=http://hometown.aol.com/northhorse/index.html;Northern Holiday Horses/A
Re: Fjords on TV! Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: ruth bushnell [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Everyone, For those of you who get the Starz Encore Group Westerns channel, the Evening of Dancing Horses is supposed to be shown sometime in March. Apparently, the promotional spot about the show has begun airing, We don't get the Westerns channel. Thanks. Beth We've been watching that particular commercial on the Westerns channel (is there any other? =))) and are thrilled to see the GREAT looking Fjords on it ! Even one with a fancy zig-zag cut mane that looks terrific ! (the black is left standard long, while the lighter hairs have been cut into diamond points ^^ with the black as a pattern background. (hard to describe). Just one more good reason for buying a Fjord horse, so you can have a fancy mane job =) Ruthie, NW MT
Fjords on TV! Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: Starfirefarm [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Everyone, For those of you who get the Starz Encore Group Westerns channel, the Evening of Dancing Horses is supposed to be shown sometime in March. Apparently, the promotional spot about the show has begun airing, as one of my students told me that a friend of hers saw it in New Mexico? The dates and times of the show are supposed to be available, or begin airing, on Feb. 28th? I'm not sure. We don't get the Westerns channel. We have seen the video footage of the long promotional piece and several shots of the quadrille are included. Sami Poirier and Cheryl Gioia were interviewed and did a great job! If anyone sees it, will you let us know? Thanks. Beth -- Starfire Farm Beth Beymer and Sandy North http://www.starfirefarm.com
Re: Photos of Evening of Dancing Horses - Rescued Fjord
This message is from: Carol J. Makosky [EMAIL PROTECTED] Starfirefarm wrote: This message is from: Starfirefarm [EMAIL PROTECTED] For your enjoyment (and for those who haven't seen the video) we have updated our website to include photos from the Evening of Dancing Horses at the Stock Show. Hi, I really enjoyed the photos and thank you for sharing them. Is there going to be a video for sale? -- Carol M. On Golden Pond N. Wisconsin
Photos of Evening of Dancing Horses - Rescued Fjord
This message is from: Starfirefarm [EMAIL PROTECTED] For your enjoyment (and for those who haven't seen the video) we have updated our website to include photos from the Evening of Dancing Horses at the Stock Show. Go to our website and click on Stock Show 2003 on the list on the left side. Also, one of the fillies that was rescued with the efforts of Lynda Welch has ended up at our farm. She certainly is well traveled! We have photos of her and her new owners, Makanah and Bob Morriss, on another page. They have named her Miracles Abound. You'll find a link to her page on our link bar (along with a typo in her name;-) near the Stock Show link. http://www.starfirefarm.com Enjoy! Beth -- Starfire Farm Beth Beymer and Sandy North http://www.starfirefarm.com
Re: AN EVENING OF DANCING HORSES
This message is from: Carol J. Makosky [EMAIL PROTECTED] Green Valley Farm wrote: This message is from: Green Valley Farm [EMAIL PROTECTED] AN EVENING OF DANCING HORSESAN EVENING OF DANCING HORSES Sophie and I were fortunate to attend the Western National Stock Show in Denver and visit with Beth Beymer, Sandy North and their Fjord friends. Do I wish I lived closer and could see this in person. Is there going to be a video available? I have one from a couple of years ago. Remember, the Fjord can be whatever you want him to be -- you are free to chose -- a best friend to feed and love, a steady trail or packing horse, an english, western or hunter horse, a work horse or a driving horse. The choice is yours and you are only limited by your imagination and skills. I think this is so well said. -- Carol M. On Golden Pond N. Wisconsin
AN EVENING OF DANCING HORSES
This message is from: Green Valley Farm [EMAIL PROTECTED] AN EVENING OF DANCING HORSESAN EVENING OF DANCING HORSES Sophie and I were fortunate to attend the Western National Stock Show in Denver and visit with Beth Beymer, Sandy North and their Fjord friends. The highlight was the two sold out performances of An Evening of Dancing Horses with the live music of Michael Martin Murphey and the Rio Grande Band. Michael Murphey talked and sang of the Freedom to Be. The thread of freedom was evident in the program. Freedom to choose your breed from a Mini to a Shire; Freedom to design your presentation from an Oldenburg stallion doing an advanced level musical freestyle, two Quarter Horses doing a musical reining pattern, two Andalusian stallions mirroring each other, a World Equestrian Games participant doing vaulting on his Belgian, to the Favorite Fjords performing a quadrille and a very special second act. Each of the performances is an art of skilled horses and riders but none win the heart like the Fjords. Some of the other breeds' tails are wringing with the displeasure of their work while the Fjord tails are swinging to the beat of the music and showing how they love their work. Beth is a visionary to come up with the pattern sequences for 8 horse/riders and a single horse/carriage that make it interesting and flow well. Taffy Plaisted and groom, Sally Peterson, drove Solveig II in a canter serpentine pattern through four pairs of Fjords who stood like statues. Solveig did simple lead changes as she cantered between the Fjords. In another move Solveig did tiny canter circles (as close to canter pirouettes as you can get in a carriage) as the rest of the group did perfect canter circles around her. The double pinwheel was a crowd pleaser with Beth/BDF Obelisk and Laurie Prindle/BDF John Arthur taking turns as anchor and out person setting the pace. This act was appropriately named The Real Horses and Girls that Won the West What do you do with 5 horses, 2 gals and 1 saddle? Ride Like an Eagle, performed by Beth riding her stallion BDF Obelisk while driving two geldings, BDF John Arthur and BDF Magnum, with Sami Poirier roman riding her two mares was an imaginative act incorporating a lot of skill and courage. Sami stood on the back of Hanne and Haylee (the Perfect Pony) while walking and trotting alongside of the driven pair and performing circle maneuvers with and around them. The five some were so perfectly behaved and the audience was in such awe that you could have heard a pin drop. The talent of these two gals is unbelievable. Someday we will see Beth doing FEI dressage on Obelisk and Sami at the World Equestrian Games or the Olympics with a Fjord. After the show the audience was invited to visit with the performers in the practice arena. Needless to say the Fjords stole the show once again. The audience asked a million questions and expressed their admiration of this wonderful horse that can do it all. A big thank you to these Colorado gals for promoting our fjord breed and showing the public the many talents they possess. Remember, the Fjord can be whatever you want him to be -- you are free to chose -- a best friend to feed and love, a steady trail or packing horse, an english, western or hunter horse, a work horse or a driving horse. The choice is yours and you are only limited by your imagination and skills. Howard Sophie Fiedler Green Valley Farm
Dancing horses
This message is from: Knutsen Fjord Farm [EMAIL PROTECTED] Way to go, Beth, at al! Wish I could have seen it. I, too, would be interested in a video if someone made one. Bye, Peg Peg Knutsen - Ellensburg, WA http://www.eburg.com/~kffjord/
Evening Of Dancing Horses - Thanks and how it really went
This message is from: Starfirefarm [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks, Pamela, for posting your friend's critique of our quadrille. We returned home yesterday morning after spending an exhausting, yet invigorating, week at the Stock Show. Words can't describe how proud I am of our horses and riders (I still get teary eyed thinking of it.) It takes a lot of dedication, determination, and teamwork, as well as a healthy dose of good humor, to ride with precision in such a charged atmosphere. This is the sixth year that the fjords have been part of the program and they have definitely attracted a following. In fact, in the stabling area this year, I overheard more visitors telling their friends what kind of horses they were, and That the stripe in the mane is all natural, than us having to answer those questions. Quite a difference from six years ago! It seems that I answered more questions this year about the fact that we body clipped them and why we left their leg hair long. Our week started last Saturday (Jan. 18th) when we set up our stable area for the horses. We moved the horses into the Events Center on Sunday. Our fjords were invited to be the honor guard for the opening ceremonies for the freestyle reining, so I, Jeanne and Samantha Poirier, Cheryl Gioia and Taffy Plaisted readily agreed. We rode through a practice session Sunday evening at about 10:00. The actual opening ceremony was at 1:30 Monday afternoon. Samantha and I carried the American and Canadian flags while flanked by Jeanne and Cheryl. Taffy followed the colors in her carriage with the singers. Our horses, Hanne, Haylee (aka Trudie) Troika, Maerta and Solveig II stood almost stock still while both anthems were sung. We were very proud of how our horses behaved, especially after seeing the Denver Mounted Patrol's horses having some difficulty standing still during their opening ceremonies. We had started developing our quadrille in late September. The Evening of Dancing Horses is a two night performance. To be in the show, we had to audition during a one week time period in December. We made the cut with two acts, the Quadrille (which was called The Real Horses and Girls that Won the West) and a what if number with Sam and me. Dress rehearsal with the live band began Tuesday evening before the actual performances. They let us know at the beginning that if any of our horses couldn't cut it that night, they would be excluded from the show. We didn't worry about our fjord horses, of course, but you never know! It began at around 7:30 p.m. and went until about 3:00 a.m. the next morning. Our quadrille's rehearsal went through three go-rounds to get the music timing right (giving ample opportunity to work out some horse jitters.) We were in and done with that by 10:30 p.m., however, Sami and I didn't get to our rehearsal until 2:00 a.m.. We called our act (Ride Like an Eagle) and after two run throughs with our routine, we were able to put the horses to bed and we were back at the motel by 3:00 a.m.! Every year we try to offer something interesting, exciting and different. Our quadrille patterns are usually based upon dressage training gymnastics, so include full and half 10 meter circles, crossing the diagonal, 20 meter canter circles, riding down the centerline, plus a couple of drill team moves; a flank and a double pinwheel; and anything else that helps make a pattern sequence that is interesting and flows well. The addition of the carriage just makes it that much more challenging and fun. We revived a routine that we had performed with 6 ridden horses and one carriage, with a few changes to the pattern. This year, we had an impressive 8 horse/rider combinations combined with a single horse/carriage. The horses/riders were: Cheryl Gioia and Troika; Sami Poirier and Haylee; Jeanne Poirier and Hanne; Sandy North and Maerta; Kathie Hibbard and BDF Magnum; Diane Krause and Snowy's Melody; Laurie Prindle and BDF John Arthur and myself and BDF Obelisk. Taffy Plaisted drove Solveig II with her friend Sally Peterson as groom. Several of our team had performed in previous years. Cheryl Gioia was new to the team this year. She had an extremely high learning curve, as she was neither familiar with the patterns or dimensions of the gymnastics of dressage at all. Both she and Jeanne Poirier had done very little cantering prior to riding this pattern. Neither had ever ridden the canter in a dressage saddle! A challenge to both, but they lived up to it. By performance night, you wouldn't know that they had started cantering only a few months prior! We wore buckskin riding skirts, black shirts, black cowgirl hats and red sequined vests. Our music was a medley of The Old Chisolm Trail, The Yellow Rose of Texas and San Antonio Rose played by Michael Martin Murphey and the Rio Grande Band. In our second act, Sami was Roman Riding her two mares while I rode our stallion and drove our pair in front of him. While we called
RE: Evening of Dancing Horses
This message is from: Cynthia Madden [EMAIL PROTECTED] Way to go, Beth Sandy, et. al. That's how to promote Fjords. I wish I could go see them one year. It seems they get better and better every year. Of course, with Beth in charge how can they not! When's the movie coming out! = Cynthia Madden Las Cruces, NM [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
Re: evening of dancing horses
This message is from: sandra church [EMAIL PROTECTED] kicked myself for not bringing a video camera Does anyone know if Beth had a video tape made of the performance? Was a professional tape made that the general public can buy? Two friends of mine performed with their warmbloods at a similar performance (musical kurs) in Raleigh, NC last fall I wanted to buy a video of that but they were only available for the actual participants since The Lion King music is protected' or whatever the legal term is. I would love to buy a tape of the fjords' performance. I've enjoyed watching the tape that was done 2(?) years ago. Sandra in Va. MSN 8 helps ELIMINATE E-MAIL VIRUSES. Get 2 months FREE*.
RE: Evening Of Dancing Horses
This message is from: The Mercers [EMAIL PROTECTED] It's nice to hear how amazed the rest of the world is when they get to see what we see every day. Congratulations and thanks to Beth, et al, for making such a wonderful positive impression! Taffy Mercer Owned by Reina, Lisken and Thor -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 6:24 PM To: fjordhorse@angus.mystery.com Subject: Evening Of Dancing Horses This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] My friend in Longmont, Colorado, who bought my palomino filly, went to The Evening Of Dancing Horses. She sent a critique to my little email circle, and I asked permission to forward it to this group, as I figured this was Beth's drill team. And she'd want to hear what a quarter horse person thought of their performance. Here is her critique: One of the performances that just blew me away, though, was an all Fjord drill team. The riders were dressed in black shirts and pants with red sequined vests and cowboy hats. They rode what looked like Australian saddles. It was hard to tell exactly from where I was sitting. They had obviously worked hard on their routine and it definitely showed. Every move was absolutely precision. They had about 10 riders and a woman driving a small carriage. Those little Fjords were relaxed and having a terrific time. They weren't the least bit bothered by the moving spotlights or the big crowd or the live music. I was really impressed. I wish you could have heard some of the comments about their performance. People were very impressed. First of all, the sight of all those Fjords in the ring together in front of a heavily non-Fjord knowledgable crowd, made a big impression. Then the skill of her riders and the obvious disposition of the horses made a huge impression. I thought about you and kicked myself for not bringing a video camera. I had no idea they would be there. I'll be ready next time. Pamela A HREF=http://hometown.aol.com/northhorse/index.html;Northern Holiday Horses/A
Evening Of Dancing Horses
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] My friend in Longmont, Colorado, who bought my palomino filly, went to The Evening Of Dancing Horses. She sent a critique to my little email circle, and I asked permission to forward it to this group, as I figured this was Beth's drill team. And she'd want to hear what a quarter horse person thought of their performance. Here is her critique: One of the performances that just blew me away, though, was an all Fjord drill team. The riders were dressed in black shirts and pants with red sequined vests and cowboy hats. They rode what looked like Australian saddles. It was hard to tell exactly from where I was sitting. They had obviously worked hard on their routine and it definitely showed. Every move was absolutely precision. They had about 10 riders and a woman driving a small carriage. Those little Fjords were relaxed and having a terrific time. They weren't the least bit bothered by the moving spotlights or the big crowd or the live music. I was really impressed. I wish you could have heard some of the comments about their performance. People were very impressed. First of all, the sight of all those Fjords in the ring together in front of a heavily non-Fjord knowledgable crowd, made a big impression. Then the skill of her riders and the obvious disposition of the horses made a huge impression. I thought about you and kicked myself for not bringing a video camera. I had no idea they would be there. I'll be ready next time. Pamela A HREF=http://hometown.aol.com/northhorse/index.html;Northern Holiday Horses/A