This message is from: Walter Monheim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Maargaret, Our stallion Lower Forty Bodil's great grandfather on this
mother's side is Dragtind also and I have not seen a picture of him, I
gather from your posting that you have seen some pictures of Dragtind, is
there anywhere I can find one of these pictures for my info. Thanks Sherle
Margaret Strachan wrote:
> This message is from: "Margaret Strachan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> I really don't like tooting horns, but we are very proud to own Valbjorn
> and Dr. Jacobsen's letter has prompted me to write. From the few photos
> I have seen, he bears a strong resemblance to his grandsire, Dragtind.
> He is a very compact short backed horse, yet stands over a lot of ground
> due to good shoulder and hip length. He is built slightly uphill, and
> is nicely balanced and correct. He has large eyes in a very pretty
> head, tiny ears that a bridle slips right off of, and a long neck with a
> good throatlatch. He is 14hh, very dark butterscotch colored brown dun
> and has good striping. He is of what most would call a performance
> type, but he has heavy bone--his cannons measure 9 1/4" just below the
> knee. We use him as a pleasure ride/drive horse and he has never
> required shoes. He is athletic and a lovely mover--very nice to ride.
>
> Valbjorn has a hard to beat performance record in combined driving.
> Richard and Carol Thompson competed him to the intermediate level and
> won several major CDE's with him. He was twice champion pony at the
> California Classic over all breeds. We took Valbjorn to a CDE clinic
> about a year ago where Randy McFarland told me he was certain that
> Valbjorn would have been a winner at the advanced level had the
> Thompson's continued to compete him. Randy is an international level
> driver who represented the USA at the World Singles Championship in Ebbs
> Summer before last. He wasn't taken to the advanced level due to the
> Thompson's divorce and the fact that we do not have the time to
> condition a horse for that level of competition. He is absolutely clean
> legged and sound despite the heavy training he was in most of his life.
>
> Valbjorn is extremely quiet, safe and reliable--real nice to be around.
> He is not at all a hot horse, yet he moves right out when asked. He has
> a superior work ethic and is able to quickly change gears when different
> demands are made of him. He has never even considered refusing a
> task--except maybe picking his head up off of grass. He has been a
> good horse to handle at breeding time and is pastured with a mare all
> the time. We tease with him as well. Breeding wise he has had a 100%
> conception rate.
>
> Foals have been attractive, shown good movement, and are quiet and
> willing. He marks his foals with the short back, the performance type
> conformation and the good work ethic. The oldest one we have is 14.3+
> at 3 1/2 years old. This young horse will never be sold as my husband
> loves to ride him, and he is a super ad for his sire. The Mexican
> trainer we use in his so-so English calls Halsten "happy tempered" and
> that seems to be true of the foals. Coupled with the solid work ethic
> we expect Valbjorn's foals to be stellar performers who will also be
> family friends.
>
> His sire, Becky Vorpagel's Sleipner was not given a chance in the
> performance arena, but it wasn't due to lack of ability. He has proven
> himself a good sire of sires in Valbjorn and a number of Sleipner mares
> have been excellent producers. Margo Saule has two Sleipner mares who
> have produced a number of good dressage horses. The last two Valbjorn
> foals we have sold are destined to be dressage horses as well. Valina,
> Valbjorn's dam is from a strong line of quality mares producing
> quality--her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd dams are all 1st premium mares who have
> received 1st premium awards for their offspring. Her daughter Vanya
> FFF-X-077-M (Valbjorn's full sister) is the dam of Dronning, a very good
> CDE mare and the only other Fjord to be named champion pony at the
> California Classic. Vanya has also produced a blue ribbon evaluated
> mare.
>
> We have one Valbjorn foal left. He is a 5/7/99 colt out of Katrina who
> is by Tim and Ellen Page's Dutch stallion Sivert out of their star mare
> Zora. Froden has extravagant striping, lots of bone, is correct and
> simply a handsome horse. He will be gelded as soon as the weather stays
> cool because there are plenty of quality stallions around and good colts
> need to be gelded, used, and help promote the breed outside of breed
> circles. He is easy to handle, was imprinted, and has been pasture
> raised with other horses. Please contact me privately if interested.
>
> We have other stock by several of the mentioned stallions and consider
> them to be of high quality and are proud to have them. We think a good
> percentage of high quality horses are being produced not only in Europe,
> but here also. Nor
