Skyview Fjords, LLC

07/22/2024

Lena doing a little light lunging. She is doing great with voice cues, and being tacked up like a big girl. Now I just need a baby cinch so she can progress to carrying a saddle.

07/22/2024

My husband and I went away on a little mini vacation last week to the UP. If you have never been to northern Michigan, it is a beautiful place. Add it to your list of places to visit! I am thankful for my mother in law who watches the ponies so I am able to get away.

I am back and spent some quality time with my young fillies. Lena had a saddle sit on her for the first time! I would have tightened it, but the girth I have is way too big for her with this saddle. I need to buy a baby girth to go with this saddle. She bridled like a champ, and was great with everything else we did. Baby Gertie continued her lessons in standing tied, and worked on some desensitizing. She’s got a little sass 😆.

I am toying with the idea of looking for someone to come out to our farm this fall and be a sort of training assistant for me. It would likely only be a few times, but we will see. I will soon be reaching the point with Lena where it would be nice to have an extra hand. My husband always helps out when he can, but he got a big promotion last fall (yay him!) that has him traveling a lot. He is not always around. If you know me personally and this is something that interests you, shoot me a message. I would love to help a young person who is interested in training horses. The pay wouldn’t be a whole lot, but something! Ideally someone 18 or older, these are young horses. They can jump around a little bit 😆.

07/10/2024

Morning playtime! I just love to watch them.

07/09/2024

The only non fjord I own and the oldest horse on the farm, my 22yr old quarter horse Yankee. He is living his best, mostly retired life. He loves to have a roll in the grass.

07/09/2024

With the promise of a little grain, they always come up for the night when called. I don’t have to ask them twice.

07/09/2024

Looking pretty grown up today! Lena is all dressed in her training girth, and wearing a bridle like a big girl. We did some basic ground work, a light lunge, and some training with the mounting block. She is just coming two in August, so we won’t ride until the end of next summer. She will wear a saddle before this summer is over and a driving harness. Our generous friends at Third Day Fjords loaned me a harness to try on her! I will get to that in the next couple of weeks. I have big dreams of someday driving her as a team with her big brother Kjaer.

07/06/2024

You asked and we listened!

After receiving feedback and interest in a clinic geared towards the basics of showing in hand, Friday evening at 7pm during The Midwest Fjord Club Fun Show I will be teaching an intro to showing mini clinic. It is free to attend! I will be covering the basics of showing in a halter and showmanship class, as well as answering questions about other classes we are offering. I can promise it will be very informal and beginner friendly! I can’t wait!

Pictured is Lena practicing some showmanship this afternoon. She is learning how to square up, and pivot.

07/06/2024

Lena has always been a sucker for scratches. That is the way to her heart. With all the bugs, her new favorite place to be scratched is her udder. She LOVES it. As she is a broodmare prospect, it is great that she is very comfortable with being freely handled this way.

My departed mare Sonja loved udder scratches too.

07/06/2024

Such helpful mares. They are supervising my husband cleaning up the ditch to drain some water away from their paddock because… you guessed it, we got more rain.

Thankfully we did not experience any significant flooding. Many surrounding communities had severe flooding.

07/03/2024

I have been working 9-10 day stretches at my day job to make some extra money to put Kjaer through his driving training. These ladies have been sitting more than I care to admit, and are a little spoiled to say the least. Today I finally had a day off. They each got to do a little work.

Lena wore a bit for the first time! She took it like a champ. No fuss. I took her for a longer walk down the road to a creek crossing. The creek is quite full with rushing water. When we got back we played in our own puddle. I lost my girth, otherwise I would have put her training surcingle on too. Oops

Gertie did some very basic ground work. I put a rope around all her feet and worked on her yielding to that pressure. I do not want her to panic with pressure around her feet. You never know when that might come in handy. We went for a walk up the driveway and worked on some tying. She did NOT want to be tied in the barn if I was not actively brushing her. Even standing 6ft away on my phone was not acceptable. She threw a rather impressive tantrum 😑😆. I was more impressed than upset with her. It is pretty clear what we need to work on. As I’ve said before, I’m not immune to occasional shenanigans. My horses are not perfect. They are babies. Gertie hasn’t been handled as much as she should be. We ended with her in a quiet place, on a good note.

07/02/2024

The link to our fall fun show website is up! Please join us September 21 and 22 for a weekend of fun with fjords. This is a very casual, no stress, and very beginner friendly show!! I hope to see lots of people there!

Must be a club member to show, but it is only $15 for a single membership!

The Midwest Fjord Horse Club hosts this show as a way to show our fjords in a stress-free, and family-friendly environment. We offer a variety of classes to showcase the versatility of our beloved...

06/25/2024

To say we have some extra water is an understatement. In an effort to be positive, I used the water as a training exercise. Yearling Gertie practiced crossing some water. She took a little convincing but then jumped right in. It was a great lesson for her in sending over obstacles. Good girl!

06/21/2024

Kjaer has been away at training for about 10 days. I went to go visit him for the first time today. Other than one naughty incident, he has been progressing every day. He has been used on farm implements and driven single. My husband and I each got to for a ride with him!

06/18/2024

Happy Birthday to Kjaer! He is 4 years old today!

I have owned and trained him since he was a weanling. The time has flown by. He has grown into such a nice boy! I missed seeing him today, but I will go visit him on Friday to see his progress in his driving training.

06/17/2024

The day I met her, and just last week all cleaned up to go to her first solo show. Gosh she was a cute little fluff ball. She is growing into a beautiful filly.

1dr Hlin “Lena”, my coming two year old white dun filly.

06/11/2024

And then there were two fjords again.. big brother Kjaer is officially away at driving training. He will be gone until August or September. While he is away, Lena will take the training spotlight. She will begin to learn long lines and some more advanced groundwork. I am excited to get her going a little bit more as she approaches her 2nd birthday.

06/09/2024

Lena on course! The tires were the last obstacle in our pattern. She was quiet, careful, willing, and brave to all obstacles. So proud of her!

I will post more pictures in the coming days.

06/08/2024

Baby’s first blue! Lena won her in hand trail/obstacle class out of 3 horses. She was amazingly well behaved during the show, and during down time at the trailer. She truly earned her blue. Our only big bobble was a side pass, which we really haven’t practiced a whole lot. For her first solo trip away from the farm, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Good girl ❤️❤️

Lena is not quite two years old, she will be two in August.

06/08/2024

It was a very rainy morning at the show. Lena became thoroughly desensitized to umbrellas.

06/08/2024

Lena has been amazing all day! Here are a couple clips from her warmup! She didn’t bat an eye at anything.

06/07/2024

Lena got the whole spa treatment today. She is off to her first solo show tomorrow. An in hand (for us) trail/obstacle challenge. I have no expectations of her. We are going to get off the farm, hopefully have a little fun, and learn some things. She was pretty well behaved for all the pampering. Getting a horse prepped for a show can be a training experience in itself, especially for a young horse. She was bathed, dried by the fan, sprayed, brushed, and clipped.

All was well until shortly after putting her back outside… I realized her tail bag just wasn’t going to stay. Too many bugs to swat at. I simply wanted to remove her tail bag.. that turned into what felt like 45min trying to catch her 🙄. She REFUSED to be captured. No matter now pretty the picture, I am not immune to undesirable behavior from time to time. She is young and simply had had enough of me, but that behavior isn’t acceptable. A little persistence and she was wrangled. Here’s hoping we got the sass out today and we will have a good day tomorrow!

06/07/2024

Not a fjord, but just as cute! As I’ve shared before, I consider myself a beginner when it comes to driving. I need all the professional help 😆. My driving trainer who helped me start Kjaer last fall, invited me to a local driving club get together earlier this week. He let me drive his pony, Cody.

It was great to meet other drivers who I can learn from because… Kjaer is leaving Monday for driving training! While I lightly started him last fall, he needs to go where he can have some real consistency for a few months. I lack all the equipment and education to do so. I am so excited for him.

06/06/2024

Happy late first birthday to baby Gertie! (I was a little busy and missed it by two days.. oops).

This week she had her first farrier appointment! My own mistake, I hadn’t handled her as much as I would have liked in the week leading up to her appointment (it isn’t your farriers job to train your horse). Due to my lack of recent handling, I had low expectations and was ok if we had to skip her until next time. With a hay net to occupy her and a buddy in the barn, she stood super well. She fussed a little on the first hoof, but quickly figured out what was going on. Good girl!

06/05/2024

The event for The Midwest Fjord Horse Club fall fun show has been published in the club Facebook group “Midwest Fjord Horse”. That is where you can follow along for registration information and other details.

This show is fun and welcoming of beginners! No show attire required. There will be a class for everyone!

Please join us with your Fjord September 21-22nd in West Salem, WI!

06/04/2024

Well look… it’s raining again 🌧️

Will it ever dry out long enough so I can ride my horse again?

05/28/2024

I sure am happy it is going to rain again this afternoon. Our mud is looking a little dry.

05/24/2024

She is finally white again 😆. Her winter crusties are gone.

Lena, my white dun filly, is standing next to her full brother Kjaer.

05/21/2024

Gertie had big firsts this morning! It was her first time standing tied for her entire groom, including having her feet cleaned! I did untie her for fly spray just in case, but she did great. It was also the first time I have brought her in the barn alone and she did not call out to the other horses. She is getting more confident in herself and me every day.

05/21/2024

They will always come running in for snacks! They only get about 1lb of ration balancer a day, but they think it’s a big deal 😆.

05/15/2024

After our regular work, Kjaer and I took a ride up the road to the corner and back. We encountered our first traffic under saddle. One truck drove past us, and one drove by on a cross road a ways in front of us. When I saw the truck coming, I did ride off to the side quite a ways to be safe. Kjaer never flinched at either vehicle. It was the farthest he has ridden away from the barnyard, and he had no nerves there either. No rushing back to the barn. He walked home at the same pace that he walked out. Good boy ❤️