written by Anne Appleby

Many people reading this may have heard of Wez but some may not have. He is a fjord gelding of humble beginnings , born on a ranch in Alberta, Canada who gained international notoriety for his accomplishments in the sport of Dressage. He was written up in articles and graced the cover of magazines and calendars world wide.

To me he was a food driven, hard working, good natured fellow who distinguished himself by his huge personality and by pouring his heart and soul into any task at hand. Once described as "Old Shep" by a horse show judge, Wez went on to reach the Grand Prix level in dressage and ultimately earn the coveted USDF Gold Medal; the only fjord horse to ever do this.

He was (is) my once in a lifetime horse who I eventually retired from the show ring at the age of 24 because of a stifle injury. Like everything else in life Wez embraced his disability with grace and determination, learning to limp quite effectively and efficiently, whatever it took to get what he wanted! He has a spirit to match none.

One afternoon a year ago I came into the barn and to my horror found Wez down in the stall. Soaked with sweat, sides heaving, eyes wide and nostrils flared, he was in a panic and couldn't get up. How long had he been down? I was alone... what could I do? I had arranged to meet two people at the barn who wanted to "learn about horses" and they arrived and watched helplessly as I pulled and pleaded and frantically tried to help him. I gave it everything I had but the harder I tried the less he did. Finally his eyes rolled back in his head and he lay back and gave up. I tried to be brave but my heart was breaking as I faced the most devastating decision of my life. I had to make the call I had long rehearsed but desperately dreaded for years.

The first call I made was to my partner,Bill. When he answered I could only squeek out "Wez" and the sob on the other end told me he understood. I hung up. The vet call was more difficult because I had to actually speak... the vet said he was on his way. It was Dr. Ernie Grubb DVM from Chambers Prairie Veterinary Clinic who had cared for my animals for over 20 years

The visitors asked if they should leave and I said probably. I didn't think I could share this moment with strangers.

I sat down with Wez and held his head in my lap. What could I say to my old friend? My soul mate? There were no words. As I waited for the vet I decided to indulge my old food hound with any treat he wanted. His eyes were closed now so I knew it was more a gesture for me than for him but WTH. I got up and got a big carrot and on my way back to the stall snapped it in half like I always did. That's when things changed..... Wez's eyes popped open and his head jerked up.
"Carrot? Carrot? Did I hear a carrot?"
OMG!!!!

... ... CLICK HERE to continue this nice story !!

Other pictures in our GALERY search for : "2015 Wez and Anne"

During an exchange by e-mail, Helena Kättström is telling me about an exciting experience she could share with the fjord horse participants at the 2015 International Horse Show, one of Sweden's biggest equestrian exhibitions! Everything happened in the Friends Arena, situated north of Stockholm and the event was welcoming 89.000 visitors over four days.

To promote the fjord horse breed, 17 fjord horses took part in this event. They did a lot of different things on different moments, different presentation arena's ... Six of them were painted like zebras and took part at the big Circus Show in the big arena. Others were driven or ridden and found a place in the Circus Show as well as the Christmas Show!

In a smaller arena, the fjord horses were showed in demonstrations to an interested public while comments were given about the breed and how to show correctly a horse.
They also took part in an Open Dressage Competition with other breeds, where the Fjord horse was the winner!

This International Equestrian Event was a very big opportunity to promote the nice fjord horse and the Swedish Fjord Horse Association could register some new members during the show.

Thank you, Helena for this news and all the Fjord horse participants for these very nice and positive promotion of our lovely breed!

MD

Photos by Helena Kättström.

CLICK HERE to view a short video of a part of the Christmas Show.

CLICK HERE to visit the photo galery with more photos ( Galery :  search for 2015 Int Horse Show Sweden )

For your agenda !

The 2016 edition of the Norwegian stallion expertise will start on Wednesday 4th of May and the final results will be announced on Saturday 7th of May.  Everybody is very welcome on  this event, where worldwide fjord horse breeders and friends are coming together. The Fjord Horse International association will, traditionally, organize the FjHI General Assembly and a International Meeting on this occasion. More detail will be published on this homepage.

The FjHI team hopes to welcome many of you during these events!

MD