Have you Ridden a Fjord Lately?

We brought home a lovely Fjord mare named Sigrid (Sigi)!!  She is 9 years old, sweet and cute as a button.  I'm so delighted!!

There are definitely some mixed feelings being so excited to have a new horse and a mare at that (I love my mares!).  I miss Dani every day; this new horse is NOT a replacement in anyway, no horse ever could be.  We'd been looking for a third horse....for several reasons.  Chance being 28 and with health issues could pass anytime, obviously it can happen anytime unexpectedly to any horse.  We weren't expecting Dani to pass but colic is something that can happen suddenly and without warning.  We also wanted a horse that I can get Steve on once in a while.  Plus....I love horses....I want all the horses!!  Hahahaha.

We went back this weekend to Inner Coastal Livestock where we'd seen that cute little Haflinger with the eye growth.  We'd passed on him and that was sad but it was the right decision.  I'd been keeping an eye on his pages and now knowing that a PPE would be more challenging I accepted the risk of finding a horse, evaluating them and then taking them home without a pre-exam. There had been two Fjords, one was in foal and the other was only 3 so I didn't look at them last time.  The sad thing is recently the mare in foal (Sigi) lost her foal, Isaiah had found a still birth in the field, 8 months along.  He'd updated the page with two more Fjords, or so I thought but it was the same horses just this time with videos.  I reached out and chatted with him about her.  There were also two haflingers of interest.

So Steve and I headed down on Memorial day to check out horses.  We arrived a bit early which was great, a family was looking at buying 3-4 horses so Isaiah was already busy.  In a nearby pasture the Haflinger I wanted to see came right up to us and was very sweet.  I liked him but he had an obvious crack in his front hoof. If I had more knowledge and a farrier with me I could assess if that was an injury that could eventually grow out and be fine but since I was on my own I had to pass on even considering him. Isaiah asked which horse we'd like to look at and we told him the 8 year old fjord mare so he grabbed Sigrid for us. We groomed her and checked her out while the other group was testing out a couple other horses.  Her feet were terrible but I think most of the horses only get trimmed every 10-12 weeks if that. With the high turnover a lot aren't there long enough for trims, that's the thing about horses as a business.

Sigi Arrives!!

Sigi was very sweet and kept putting her head on my chest as if to tell me that I was hers and to take her home. We tacked her up with the saddle Isaiah said would work and when he was free he took us in the ring to test ride.  He rode her first.  Then I hopped up.  The rain started just then, it'd been on and off all day but what cha gonna do? Sigrid and I slopped around in the muddy ring.  I turned her different directions, stopped, backed a little, and trotted (with a gaited horse as my ride I'm gonna have to relearn trotting and posting!).  She was responsive and calm, compared to Seamus she was a F-350 with him being more of a Porche.  I like that I'll have two very different types to ride. Steve figured it would be a waste of time for him to ride, he trusted my decision.

We went back to the dry barn and while Isaiah was finishing up with the other client Steve and I chatted.  I had that feeling about her, everything was telling me she was the horse.  I knew going in a PPE on site was near impossible and more expensive and I knew even when I get vetting at home that I will live with what ever pops up.  Something about her spoke to me, she herself spoke to me.  She wanted to come home with us and I felt like she needed us.  She was overweight; recently being pregnant I'm sure contributed a bunch to that.  She needed a lot of care for her feet, her weight but she was young and sweet. We'd have to work on her stubborn ground manners; it's obvious that she'd been more of a pasture broodmare with minimal training over the past few years. We told Isaiah we would buy her.

This time around we just drove down in a car for the day and didn't have the truck and trailer and we bought a horse.  First time we went down and brought the rig, stayed overnight and didn't buy a horse.  So that's just how it goes!  We arranged for shipping the 2.5 hours to our house and was told that Wednesday would be the day which worked great.  I felt this was the right decision, I was happy!  Steve was pleased too....I already see the thoughts in his head about getting in his Viking clothes and riding her around. Viking pony it is!

On Wednesday Sigrid was delivered by Swift Fox Shipping.  Amanda was the person I'd reached out to about a month ago in case an auction Haflinger was a match for me; she was pleased I'd found a horse.  It all felt very serendipidous. Sigi of course looked around as I led her up our driveway and back to the barn area. She whinnied once.....such a cute little pony whinny. I set her up in Kessel run (our track system around the one field) and then made a electric fence divider to keep the geldings away from her but within view in the barnyard. I'd walked Sigi around the entire perimeter to give her a sense of the space. She took a nice long drink of water.  Later when she was free and exploring I witnessed her dunk her entire face into the trough Dani would dunk just her nose in....is that a mare thing?

We'll get those feet better

Seamus looks on

I plan to keep the horses separated for a few days at least and then start some over the fence introductions.  Rain poured here for a little while after Sigi's arrival, she trotted up and down the one side of the track and whinnied a few times and also rolled a couple times covering herself in mud.  Then settled in to eat some hay in the run in shed while the geldings just starred across the fencing.  Seamus doesn't know what to think! Welcome home sweet girl, glad you are here and hope that you will be happy!

Muddy after the rain and roll but she seems content