This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dragtind (pronounced Drog'-tind) will be a name that's new to some of you. My grandfather, Harold Jacobsen, had started raising Fjords in 1973. By 1977 we had a small handful of mares who were mostly descended from the Fjords that were imported to the Broadmore Hotel in Colorado Springs in the 1950's. Given the small number of Fjords in the US at the time, it was difficult to find a stallion that was unrelated to these mares. So Harold and my older brother John headed to Norway to purchase a stallion with the help of John Hegdal, head of the Norwegian "Registry".
They came home with a with a four-year-old stallion named Dragtind N1781 who had just been awarded third prize at the stallion show in Nordfjordeid. I believe he was ranked as second in quality of all the stallions of that age. (For those unfamiliar with the Norwegian system of judging, Fjords are not awarded a prize until they are at least 3 years old. At their first judging, if they are of sufficient quality, they are usually awarded a 3rd prize. An outstanding horse is sometimes awarded a 2nd prize. They are judged against the breed standard, not against the other horses there, so a number of them can get the same prize. They are ranked against each other though, and said to be "first in quality" and "second in quality" and so on.) Dragtind was sired by the stallion Ola Gik N1703 1.pr - 2. avk.pr. (The "1.pr" means he had been awarded first prize for himself, and the "2. avk. pr" means he had been given 2nd prize for the quality of his offspring.) Ola Gik was a grandson of Torbjorn N1417 1.pr, who was descended from Hakon Jarl N645. Dragtind's dam was Goma N13425 1.pr. Goma was a daughter of the excellent stallion Valebu N1569 1.pr - 1.avk.pr. Dragtind himself was never judged again for a higher prize, though I feel he was of high enough quality to have received one. At the time Dragtind was born (1973), Norway was beginning a shift in focus from the Fjord as primarily a draft animal to a horse more suited for a variety of disciplines. Dragtind was one of the first of these stallions, and according to a letter written to Harold from Sven Huseby, there were a number of breeders in Norway who were sad to see Dragtind go as they hoped he would be licensed when he was old enough and they would be able to breed their mares to him. I regret that I don't have exact measurements to share with you, but if memory serves, Dragtind was around 14 hands and weighed 1050-1100 pounds at ideal weight. He was a nicely balanced stallion with average muscling and bone size and very nice striping on front and rear legs. His withers were slightly higher than his hips and he had a nicely sloped shoulder. His conformation gave him a smoother gait with better reach than most Fjords at that time. I remember him having quite a bit of action with the front legs at the trot though, which was typical for some of the faster trotters. I will always regret that he was never really trained, shown or competed. He was a very sweet-natured stallion with a long forelock and a beautiful face. I hope Mike and Sue Davies don't mind the comparison, but to give you some idea what Dragtind looked like, he looked similar to their stallion Montano as he is shown in the Herald (on page 9 in the most recent issue). Dragtind was slightly shorter and just a little stockier than Montano appears in that picture, with a slightly more developed rear end. Dragtind was quite a gentleman with the ladies (mares). We had one mare in particular who would not let Grabb touch her, but who thought Dragtind was quite charming. (Grabb is the other stallion we imported. I'll describe him in a separate post). We had 14 foals born on the ranch in Colorado who were sired by Dragtind. There would have been more but Grabb arrived on the ranch in 1980, and Grabb got the lion's share of the breedings after that since he was new and was so good and so well-known. Despite Grabb's widespread reputation, to Dragtind he was just an unwelcome intruder. Usually the two were kept quite far apart and out of site of each other, but I remember one time they got together. If there are two stallions around, if one gets out, you can just about count on him letting the other one out too and them having a nice fight. We were able to get them separated quickly though before any real damage was done to either. Fortunately a stallion fight is just half fighting and half strutting, snorting, and screaming. A fight between two mares is actually much more dangerous unless the stallion fight is just allowed to go on and on. The two stallions must have vowed to continue the fight when they could, because they got together again several years later at Clif Balsley's ranch in New Mexico. This time the fight resulted in Grabb's death. (Years later a son of Grabb and son of Dragtind would continue the family fued - more on that later). Dragtind lived into his early 20's in New Mexico where he sired a number of other good foals. Dragtind has quietly left his mark on the Fjord breed in the US. He presently has 3 NFHR registered sons and one grandson breeding mares in this country: -Sleipner NFR-T-016-S (out of the imported mare Stina N13715 whose sire is Rollo N1714 2.pr) is owned by Becky Vorpagel and Robert Thilsted in Oregon -Torungen NFR-T-004-S (out of Kirsten who was by King Harold) is owned by Dennis and Marge Johnson in Idaho -Leif NFR-T-005-S (out of the imported mare Lenda N13717 who was by Askov N1722) is owned by us here at Norwegian Fjordhest Ranch in North Carolina. -Valbjorn FFF-Y-076-S is the grandson. (He's by Sleipner and out of the imported mare Valina N13718, who was by Valin N1708) Valbjorn is owned by Margaret Strachan in California and you can see him on p. 43 of the most recent Herald. I'll mention our son of Dragtind, Leif, in another post and perhaps the owners of the other stallions mentioned will say something about theirs. To other stallion owners; Please don't be shy in sharing about your stallions. If you are like me, it is a little daunting to follow the likes of Solar, etc. I'm sure, though, that Lindsay would be the first to say this is not a contest about whose stallion is best. This has been some of the most interesting and helpful information presented on the List so far. Please write in about your stallions. Thanks, Brian Jacobsen, DVM Norwegian Fjordhest Ranch Salisbury, North Carolina
