Re: Off to the Expo
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Have fun out there Amy! Finne and I had a SUPER BLAST at the North American Horse Spectacular (one of the biggest Expos in the country) in November. Too bad nobody else 1) wanted to join us in showing this great breed off to the unknowing (and I extended the offer to share!) or 2) even went to the thing or, if they did, nobody said boo to us. Well, that's not truea new Michigan fjord person did. A nice one! We met at least a few thousand people that weekend and garnered fjord referrals galore. Mary Dixon and Finne, the awesome fjord
Eqine Affaire
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I might be there with my friend who will be signing her immensely popular book, Clifford of Drummond Island, a nice group of stories about Drummond Island MI and her Morgan Horse (he may or may not be there...I have to convince her to trailer him 'that far!'). She is being sponsored by The American Morgan Horse Association. So come on by and meet me! I'd bring Finne but he's in the middle of beginning dressage training and I need his brain right now. When we went to the Novi Horse Expo he was spoiled rotten by all the treat givers! May have a few of my fjord tiles and new ceramic pins and earrings there. Suppose that answers another question about fjords in dressage. Going to see the Eric Herbermann clinic in a few weeks in Chelsea MI. Should be nice to meet him, too. My trainer went to some of his clinics and will also be in this one. Mary Dixon Ann Arbor MI
Clippin' Manes
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I use a nice pair of Fiskars sewing scissors (thanks Bernadine Karns for the great tip!). I was already quite proficient in using them precisely from my nearly ten years of making my polymer dog breed jewelry ( which was sold nationally in galleries, art shops and dog shows). You can use the squeezie kind (nice for details, such as making fjord stripeswhere you snip off an inch of white every five inches or so so the black showsthat's how Finne is right now) or for cutting the white a bit lower so the black is higher in the middle (how I did him for the Novi Horse Expo in Nov), the traditional way. For just zooming down the mane all in one shot, best to use the orange handled regular Fiskars. They're sharp, last a long time, are quiet and precise. Just teach your horse to lick your hand so she puts her head down for you. Then you can just stand there nonchalantly and snip all the way down. Mary Dixon and Finne the wonder fjord
Re: Catching My Fjord
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Having been a dog trainer for twelve years, I taught Finne a few simple dog commands: "Finne, Come!" and "Wait" (for feeding time so heads do not knock) are the best ones. Still working on 'sit' and 'down!' Mary Dixon Having a great time training the world's best Fjord! Thanks Eunice and John! My dressage trainer (who is teaching me how to train as she trains him) was not a fan of fjords before (her experience was stubborn, no ground manners, slow) and Finne is changing her mind! She is amazed at how sociable, interested, curious, cooperative and fast learning he is. We'll be riding within two months! She even brought out one of her students the other day (a grown up woman) who is now contemplating getting a fjord as her first horse.
"ski-joering"
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> In the dog world we spell it "skjoring." Mary Dixon and the incredible australian cattle snow dogs! Who wish they could pull a sled only so they could crash me into a tree and laugh!
Fjord grinstolpe topps!
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi other fjordies... I have taken it upon myself to write to the norwegian fella with the fjords and boars and iron fjord goodies. Here's what he sent me! Correspond to him if you want one of those fence post topsI'm ordering a bunch for our new farm! His engesk isn't really all that badhe writes like it sounds when they talk to you in person! My friend from Sweden talks just like this! When I was reading it, I imagined her voice! Prices are great. He's about 5-6 hours ahead of us (eastern standard time). Mary Dixon Ann Ar-bore MI Here's the whole correspondence: Subject: Re: På USA Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 20:26:06 +0100 From: "Kjartan F. Alnes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> References: 1 Hello Mary - to your questione the ansore is yes we speak english but we are not so good at rating i english. Our fjord deisein we just our on stallion "Hildmann" as a motiv. All the atimes is hand made from the farm bay use. The fjord fig. is made in steel 4 mm and is 14 cm long whis no paint on. (playnsteel). We can paint them if ask or giv them a galveistion tritment agent corrodition (rust). We can make them in ather difrent sais if ask to fit whis ever gatepoll you want. To make the price essy you take away a the 0 ( nkr150 = $15, nkr175 = $17,5, nkr250 = $25) taks inkluded. Paint or galvaistion is 15% or 25% ekstra on the price. NB Shipping & handling is not included. When ordering you just nr. and name on the gift and R or L saide (whis foto) and how meny. Eksapel 1. nr.04 BOK / CD STØTTE 3 ( 3 x $25 = $75) Eksapel 2. nr.08 DØR/VEGG PRYD L 2 and R 7 ( 9 x $15 = $135) Eksapel 3. nr.01 GRINSTOLPE TOPP 2 painted ( 2 x $15 = $30 x 1.15 = $34,5) PS!!! nr. 04 book/ cd holder weigh 1.9 kg. Sory that we havent got aroud to translation our site in english. We are working whis it. We vil send you a mail vend is redy. As you se we are not so good to rait in english. So you si, we need som exsturnel help for that. Med vennlig hilsen Kjartan og Anette - Original Message - From: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 12:56 AM Subject: På USA > Gjøre du tale engelsk? > På USA. > I like fjord grinstolpe topp! > USA penger? > Takk skal du ha! > > Mary Dixon > 5814 Thomas Rd > Ann Arbor MI, 48108 > USA
My Secret Santa ROCKS!
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Thanks so much for the surprise package this morning, Linda Lottie, my secret santa and goat's milk goddess! The soap is fantastic and I love the grooming apron with assored groomin' goodies (though how long it'll stay clean is the big question!). Thanks so much for the present! I love it! Finne thanks you, too. He loves being scrubbed down. Here is one fjord who doesn't like being dirty. He knows when he's pretty and acts cuter then, too. Mary Dixon Ann Arbor MI
Re:NON benefits of the older horse
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> As a first time horse buyer, I, of course, was looking for that confidence building, bomb-proof, reliable push button horse that wouldn't think of killing me. I found him in Max, a 17 year old tradtitonal-style morgan. What a guy! Bay and beautiful (but a bit skinny) and would give his heart to you. After I got him home, the bills (and education about buying and keeping an older horse!) started racking up but I loved him and gladly paid. The first lesson was about seller's lies! He was, in fact, in his mid-twenties, according to my vet! I suppose 17 years old is that age that sounds not too old and not too young! So watch out! He needed his teeth floated twice a year, he had one hoof that had foundered a long time ago and needed to be watched (and was prone to season-related thrushiness), needed egg bar shoes on the front, special older horse diet (tried every other brand without weight gain on him and finally learned about Moorman's from a saddle repair guy. I would never feed anything to an older horse but Moorman's Senior Glo plus their stabilized Rice Bran-- http://www.moormans.com/equine), special grass-only hay, needed to be kept outside on pasture board to be away from dust so as to combat his coughing, trimming of facial warts and (for me!) dyeing his grey hair on his face brown occasionally with organic water based vegetable hair dye (I love living in Ann Arbor!). He had no bad habits, I had clicker trained him about a dozen nifty tricks and was drank from the hose full blast. Loved dogs and you couldn't have a better pal. His usefulness to me as a confidence builder had seriously waned the day I was dozing while riding! Yes, I was bored and started thinking about younger horses I could train myself (having been into Parelli Natural Horsemanship-even sans horse-since early 1995) but I was unable to afford boarding two horses. Another deciding factor was his bills, which in the second year topped 3500.00. I compared this to the price of a young, healthy fjord (their hardiness and natural health was very attractive to me) and made the big decision to sell him to another beginning rider (but she already owned a non-riding older morgan horse--I sold him quite honestly, with a full resume of his problems, needed upkeep, vets, equine dentist and me as the right of first refusal should she decide to ever sell him. Plus a list of his cues and tricks, of course!). She and I keep in touch occasionally and I can see my beloved Max in his pasture anytime by driving down the very same road my fjord, Finne, lives on. All in all, I am not unhappy with what I did with Max. He was a terrific first time horse, great confidence builder and friend. Just be careful if you go shopping for an older horse. They have been around the block, yes and they know their manners, yes but you could be in for a similar education. There are now books on keeping older horses. Get one of those! Mary Dixon Ann Arbor MI
Song of Norway scenery
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I can trim some frames out of my film print and take them to the photo machine. Let me know what scenes you like! Mary Dixon
Icelandics
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> They can be any color variation. I think an icy crossed with a fjord would be cute. Considering the icys came from fjords anyway. As for the australian cattle dog and the dalmatian, a lot of different dog breeds went into the making of our breed. Most dog breeds were made from other breeds. That's what's so unique about the fjord. It's only made of fjords. I think they're using the fjord mares up there for Premarin due to the soundness and temperament factor. At least the foals are not wasted. Premarin is a necessity in our aging society. If all of us women died before menopause like nature probably intended, then we wouldn't have that problem! Buying their foals is not a crime. At least they don't end up in a dump somewhere. Mary Dixon former high volume, full service humane society worker (2 years) and president of The Australian Cattle Dog Rescue of MI, Inc
Blundstone (not blunderstone!) Boots
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> As a Blundstone veteran (been wearing them since 1995 or so) I'd just as soon get in touch with the originators of them on this side of the world. They are in New Hampshire and their website is here: http://www.blundstoneusa.com I talked with the owner of the company back then and she told me the story: Her daughter was a competitive hunter jumper and was in Australia and found these boots. She started importing them and they became the sole (ha) rep for the USA. She told me where to find them here. They aren't all that expensive- I buy mine for about 150.00. Here in Ann Arbor MI that's pretty good for decent shoes! My feet are worth a lot more than that. You should never buy cheap shoes. Mary Dixon Ann Arbor MI
film print of Song of Norway
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Since I am fortunate enough to live in a film household (Steve's been a film collector most of his life-mostly cartoons, though) and have lots of equipment, projectors and the man to work em, I am going to get that 16mm film print of Song of Norway on ebay! Then maybe, someday, when we have a trailer and can make it to Blue Earth or Turlock or Vermont, we'll bring along the movie and we can all enjoy it the way it was meant to be seen- full size and in cinemascope to boot! Theater size! Unless, of course, there are some fjordies in MI that would like to come over to our house to see it here! Mary Dixon (always looking for a way to combine Steve and his films with my hobbies! You should have seen us at Eastern MI's University's astronomy camp ten years ago when we showed the space cartoons up in the thumb in Lapeer, MI! It was the only way I could get Steve to come to astronomy camp!)
broken ankle
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi all! When I was fjord shopping last spring I had recently gone all the way down outward on my right ankle in the dog yard (dog pothole) and also had my every-three years bronchitis, the only sick I ever get! I told the Bosomworth's in Ontario, "I just want a horse that isn't doing what I'm doing-coughing and limping!" Got some laffs out of that but as you know a sprain is far worse than a break. It is still tight in there even now despite nightly foot crackling massages from Steve! Not long after I went down on my other ankle (not as bad) while putting up new chicken fence. So I basically spent the entire summer lame but somehow I managed. How you ask? Aha! I have the greatest boot collection combo for nursing hurt ankles. 1 pair of 8 lace-hole Doc Marten boots (worth every penny-this pair I have on now is going to be 6 years old this summer and I wear them all the time. No wear-holes anywhere yet and can you say comfy?! Not to mention cool looking, important to this here artist), for winter a pair of Mountain Horse thermax lined boots (so warm) from State Line Tack and of course I am on my second pair of black Blundstones with the stretchy gussets on the sides. Those are the high ranking favorites as they don't hurt to put on during tender times and they cover those ankles. Plus they're cool looking and australian (I am the head of The Australian Cattle Dog Rescue of MI, which I started in 1990). They are the hip thing for artists in my town. They last about 2 to 3 years with constant wear and are also worth every penny. Get a half size up on all of these so you can wear thick woolen socks. It is tre importante to keep your ankles warm while they heal. Another tip?? Okay, then. Get yourself a bottle of green Absorbine horse liniment gel and put that on your ankle every night, with a wool sock over it. M!!! MUCH better than Ben Gay! Another tip? Uckele's Capsa-Cream. Made for animal use but then, that's what we are, too! Aloe vera gel mixed with peppermint (a pain reliever) and capsaicin (the extract of hot peppers-speeds blood flow and also a pain reliever, believe it or no. I used to make hot sauce and collect others so I know all about this magical stuff). http://www.uckele.com I live about a half hour from them and it's easy for me to just go get but you can order it, too. It feels really, really good on hurt tendons and bones and stuff. Also kills pimples. Mary Dixon "ankle master"
Bit size/browband size
This message is from: Steve and Mary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Just sewed up a brand new leather browband for Finne, size 18" across. I think this one will fit. His new draft bridle's browband hits his ears and it looks uncomfortable. What size do other fjords wear? Just curious. How about bit size, really. Once and for all. Just taking a consensus. I am using a 5.5" antique sweetiron snaffle. Mary D in Ann Arbor
