The fabled Norwegian Fjord! We are celebrating these horses as our October Breed of the Month on YourDressage!
Did you know that dressage riders who choose a Norwegian Fjord as their dressage mount are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry is a participating organization?
Here, a Region 8 Certified Instructor shares the two Fjords, who have become the bookends of her career and her family.
By Cody Moore
When I was 16 years old, my parents bought me Ludevic, an 18-month-old Norwegian Fjord colt. Eventually, he was to be used, as my United States Pony Club (USPC) games pony. Lude (pronounced “Ludy”) was the first horse I ever castrated with my vet. I was right down and involved in the whole process at the ripe age of 16 (I think my mom was hoping this would keep me away from boys a bit longer).
Lude was also the first horse I trained, and other than being fearless and having a good seat, I really had no idea what I was doing. We had no formal riding ring, just a grass pasture or the side lawn – whichever was dryer or had shorter grass that day. We didn’t have a saddle wide enough for the broad fella at that time, so I broke him bareback. That pony never did anything wrong… except… stand… still. Yup, he didn’t move. I tried everything my 16-year-old experienced self had in my back pocket… right down to what actually worked – recruiting my younger sister to walk or run backward with a bucket of carrots, bribing this LAZY but clearly food-motivated pony to move. IT WORKED!
Needless to say, Lude has never been a man of speed, so our career as a games duo didn’t pan out. What did happen, looking back, is incredible.
On November 30th, Lude will be 28-years-old. This pony has been the backbone of my lesson program for 24 years, and he has taught thousands, if not more, of lessons in his career. He has done pony rides for charity events and parades for Christmas, escorting the “Ice Princess” (Elsa from Frozen) and bringing smiles and tears of joy to both children and adults alike. But the biggest joy of all, and something a 16-year-old girl never dreamt of, was that this pony taught her own child how to ride.
Because of Ludy, I will ALWAYS have a Fjord as a part of my life and lesson program. When COVID hit, and reality started to set in, I started to question where I went from here. Horses were getting expensive and hard to find. I asked myself, “Do I want to wait and settle on my next Fjord, or do I want to raise and train my own from scratch again?”
That is when FMF Tolgryn (Renny Roozer, aka Ren) came into our lives, she was 9 months old. I vowed that this time, I would train this horse correctly.
In the spring of 2023, I had a work-study student, a high school senior, at my farm for a few hours each day. We spent our time breaking Ren to wear a saddle and teaching this student how to start a horse under saddle correctly. This student is currently enrolled in a college equine program, once again demonstrating how the relationship between an amazing Fjord and a teenage girl can shape a rider.
Ren will eventually be a lesson pony in my program. She is a zippy little thing and much the opposite of Lude. Both these blonde bombshells bring so much joy to my life and students, past and present. They truly are the bookends for my career and family.
