The first thing you notice about Norway is how beautiful it is. I mean, really beautiful! Everywhere you look there is another gorgeous, stunning, striking vista. Turn around, and there is another one behind you. After a while, you can hardly take it in anymore. Your brain starts to filter out the beautiful landscapes because, well, you just couldn't get anything else done if you gave them your full appreciation. Sometimes, however, in the middle of a horse show, I'd glance up and it would strike me again - what a beautiful country!

We flew into Bergen from Toronto via Amsterdam, where we met up with our friends Julie Will and Darryl Wolford. From Bergen we drove to Førde (the correct pronunciation sounds like Fur-da), which would be the site of the first youngstock evaluation on the next day. This picture shows the view as we drove down into the village of Førde.

As we drove through Norway and admired the stunning scenery, I noticed something missing. Where are all the Fjordhorses? It turns out that Norway has very little land available for agriculture. Especially at that time of year they couldn't afford to turn the horses out, so the Fjordhorses were, for the most part, in the barns. Testament to the Fjord temperament is the fact that they spend so much time confined while retaining their mental health and sanity. Later in the stallion evaluations we would see how important this trait is in the breeding program. Any stallion that exhibited any stable vice (such as cribbing) was immediately dropped from consideration as a breeding stallion.

Julie's friend Bjorn met us in Førde and took us around to several Fjord farms. At this point we had been awake for well over 24 hours but the chance to see Fjordhorses magically revived us. We visited Karl Vie's farm and got to meet the famous yellow dun mare Faksi, as she was getting a bath for her upcoming role in the Jubilee celebration. What a beautiful typey mare with a gorgeous head and wonderful character. She stood calmly tethered for her bath, and every now and then Karl would feed her a piece of leftover cake. I was able to closely examine her mane while she was wet - no black hairs in there! Karl is the head of the Breeder's Association and a wonderful source of knowledge and information about Fjordhorses.

Coming into Førde

From there we moved on to another farm belonging to a Fjord judge and evaluator. Here we got a chance to see the three-year old grey stallion Siggen (Lisjegråen x Tona - Kvernbu) being prepared for the driving test portion of the stallion evaluation, to be held later in the week. Siggen had been sold provided he was approved. It turned out that he would be approved, and ranked third in quality overall.

The third farm we visited was the home of the beautiful stallion Helgfin. Helgfin went on to get the top 8 year old stallion, with scores of 9/9/8/9/9. We also saw his two year old son Knallfin (Helgfin x Tira Torpedo - Eldar) who the next day in Førde received a rosette with scores 8/8/7/7/7.

It was most interesting to see the small barns full of stallions - it seemed impossible that yet another horse was being brought out of the barn for our inspection. How did they fit them all in? Absolutely every barn, every farm, and every home we saw was neat, tidy and well maintained. The Norwegians make maximum use of their limited space and everything is kept up impeccably. The horses were also beautifully groomed and in excellent condition.

Stallion in the Mist - At Førde

The reason for my interest in the Felix offspring was because Felix had been imported to Canada, and I had bred three of my mares to him that year, so I obviously liked him! What became quite obvious during our time in Norway was how prepotent Felix is. We could look at a young horse, and immediately know, "That's a Felix!" We were quite pleased with how well the Felix offspring were doing in the keurings, and the two two-year old Felix sons that day both received rosettes and placed first and second overall, both scoring an 8 on overall impression.

One thing did surprise me. I expected that, since I was in Norway, most every horse I would see would knock my socks off. I think I expected to be blown away by the quality of every horse. Guess what? I wasn't. In fact, in looking at the youngstock I saw some downright poor animals. Whether this lack of quality in some horses was due to poor care or poor breeding I don't know. What it did confirm for me, however, is the importance of the keurings, where each animal is held up and judged before the standard. And only those that meet the standard are allowed to go on to reproduce themselves. I did get my socks knocked off by some horses, mind you, but certainly not every one!

The next day in Breim was sunny and beautiful and this set the weather tone for the remainder of our time in Norway. Breim had a beautiful facility, there were more horses being presented, and the level of quality in the animals was high. We saw fifteen two-year old stallions, eight yearling stud colts, six three-year old mares, nine two-year old mares, and ten yearling fillies.

Solbjør Borken

	Uls Dun pulling the Dignitaries

The Wedding Party

	The Viking's Speech

The Viking

After the presentation, Stefan asked the handlers of the five different coloured Fjordhorses to line them all up in a row so he could take a picture. It is not often that you get an opportunity to photograph all five colours of Fjordhorse together in the same place! This photo shows the horses together in the glorious scenery. For more photos of them see our Colours of the Fjordhorse page.

The Five Colours of the Norwegian Fjordhorse

The next three days were spent in Nordfjordeid at the stallion evaluations. On the schedule were: four eight-year old stallions, fifteen five-year old stallions who were finishing their six-week station test, and thirty-four three-year old stallions.

The level of testing that the stallions are put through is exhaustive. They are evaluated for conformation and movement in hand, free movement, loose jumping, riding, carriage driving, a 1 km trotting test (which must be completed within a prescribed time), and a draft test which is very comprehensive. At each test everything is looked at, such as the stallions temperament when being harnessed and hitched, not just when doing the actual draft work. Stallions are judged for temperament when being handled, and in their stalls. Any stable vice, such as weaving or cribbing, results in that stallion not receiving his breeding license.

In the draft test, the stallions had to pull a log through a variety of tight maneuvers after which they were hitched to a large wagon which they had to pull up and over a bridge, then take the wagon up a steep hill and stop halfway up the hill. The stallion had to stand, with loose lines, and hold the load of the wagon on the hill. At the top of the hill they did a figure of eight, then came back down the hill and again stopped partway and hold the weight of the wagon which was pushing on his breeching, while the driver sat with loose lines. At all times the stallions abilities, trainability, and temperament are being scrutinized.

The degree of serious scrutiny and horsemanship that goes into the Norwegian breeding program was inspiring. While in Norway, I earned my Diploma in Fjordhorse Judging from the Norges Fjordhestlag. More importantly, I gained a deeper understanding of the little dun horse that we love so much, and the culture which he came from.