This message is from: "Arthur Rivoire" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello Everybody from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia -
Carla is one of the prettiest, sweetest, perkiest, darkest colored Fjords in the world. Her sire is the Dutch stallion, TJOSTAR, who is in Bob van Bon's book, and looks exactly like Carla. -- Very up-headed, big-eyed, short backed. I can tell you everything about Carla -- We imported Carla from Holland sixteen years ago. I'm not 100% sure, but I think she came on the same shipment of three horses that included the stallion, Holunder, who we were importing for the Hempels. If my memory does serve me correctly, then Arthur and I drove to Newport Quarantine Station in NY to pick up the horses. It was a stock trailer, and we put Holunder in the front, and Carla and a Solar son gelding in the back. It was a pretty good trip except Holunder kicked our trailer up a bit. Carla was in foal to one of my all-time favorite Fjord stallions, Hjerter-Knaeght. Well, we delivered Holunder and brought Carla and the gelding home to our New Hampshire farm. That was in the Fall. Soon afterwards, on a cold and very blustery late October day, there was a knock on the door, and it was a husband and wife interested in the Fjords. The woman was small and very feminine, and I immediately thought of our new mare -- also small, feminine, and pretty. We went out to take a look at Carla and Joyce loved her immediately and asked to see her ridden. The girl who worked for me saddled her and rode her in the ring and Joyce was so impressed that Carla was so very quiet when the wind was really howling and leaves and branches were skittering about. They wrote out a deposit check immediately. Well, Carla went to her new home, and we heard from Joyce from time to time, and all was well. Then Carla had her foal, a filly Joyce named April Love. Joyce had bred quite a few Morgans and was truly astounded that Carla was such a trusting mother and Joyce didn't have to fear for her life going into the stall with the mare and foal. Two years later, we got a call that Joyce was interested in selling the filly. I got in my car immediately and drove to southern NH to have a ook. --- The filly was absolutely gorgeous!!! Dark colored with extraordinary markings (Hjerter-Knaeght influence), and a lovely mover, and very lively. I bought her immediately, brought her home, and immediately called Mike to see if we could change her registered name from April Love to just about anything else. -- Changing the name is against the rules, but Mike is understanding and sensitive to all things Fjord, so he understood that a beautiful Fjord mare couldn't go through life with a name like April Love. --- We changed it to a good Dutch name --- MARYKE. Of course, we still have Maryke and she's about to produce yet another foal for us. --- Some of Maryke's offspring (Carla's grandchildren) are - BDF Idar, BDF Miss Naveta, BDF Nora, BDF Lillehammer, BDF Quentin Durward, BDF Jubilee Canada, BDF Phoebe. --- All sired by Gjest. --- Every one of those offspring are beautiful, big-eyed, friendly, and great performance horses. -- - The interesting thing is that all the fillies are dark like Carla and Maryke and Maryke's sire, Hjerter-Knaeght, but all the males are light colored. -- We still have BDF Phoebe here on the farm. (She's owned by Suzanne Egan and Cheryl Tortoriello in NYC). Phoebe is now 4 years old, and looks EXACTLY like Maryke. Same height, same terriific, strong build, and same really dark color. BDF Nora is dark, as is BDF Miss Naveta, and BDF Lillehammer, although Lilly's not as dark as the others. Well, the story goes on . . . . We moved to Nova Scotia in 1991 bringing 18 horses with us. Only a couple of years later, we had a call from Joyce saying that due to personal circumstances she needed to sell Carla, so we immediately bought her back, and put her into our Beginner Driving Vacation program. She was a hit!!!! Absolutely adorable, and 100% dependable. A few years after that, we had a call from Anne Sullivan in NH who was a lady "of a certain age", and looking for a really really quiet horse. The funny thing was that Anne had called about a grandson of Carla who was also for sale, but in my opinion wasn't the most suitable horse for this ady. --- So, Anne came to Nova Scotia, did our Driving Program, and bought Carla. Anne was a good and serious horsewoman, and she had a wonderful time with Carla riding dressage, trailriding, and driving. --- Anne lived very near Pony Farm, and that's where she took Carla for clinics, and where Carla wowed the New England driving world. It's wild, but everybody seems to have seen Carla and Anne at these clinics and all were totally impressed with this little mare. Well, I think three more years went by when one morning I turned on the computer and the Fjord Digest came on with Anne's ad for selling Carla. I think she described her something like "The world's best horse". My husband, Arthur, was in having breakfast when I told him the news that Carla was for sale. ---- He said, "Let's buy her back". Carla is little, dark, pretty, sweet, and quiet --- Exactly like Arthur's all-time favorite Fjordhorse, Tessa. --- So, we called Anne up, and without quibbling about price, we said we wanted Carla. Soon after that, we drove down and brought her home. This was last Spring. THIS STORY IS GETTING VERY LONG --- But, when I get going on the Fjordhorses in our lives, I'm sorry, but I can't be brief. Now I have to backtrack a little - Brammie Cooke from Maine had purchased an imported 2 yr. old filly named Tyrza from us the year before, and sent her back to us last summer for training. When Brammie drove up to pick up Tyrza, that's when she met Carla. This winter Brammie called me, and said she thought maybe she should sell Tyrza (now 3 1/2 years), as she traveled a lot and really didn't have the time to put in the training a young horse needs. I said I'd take her back, and somehow in the conversation we talked about Carla, and Brammie was ecstatic at the idea of owning this older, very dependable mare. So, on February 17th, we very tearfully put Carla in the trailer and sent her to Mt. Desert Island, Maine to Brammie's lovely farm. Frankly, I really felt horrible about sending Carla off yet again. She was so settled here and doing so well. It was really bad. Carla actually cried as our transporter, Glen, was pulling out. My heart was wrenched. --- But, this story does have a happy ending. Brammie is overjoyed with Carla, and she and her husband have just bought a place down in Southern Pines, N.C. where Carla will spend the winters away from the frigid northern climate. Carla is almost twenty now, and I'm glad she'll have the luxury of going south for the winter. --- It's not easy surviving a Maritime winter as we get older. Sweet Carla is in a good place and will have a good life, and I expect, that she will charm the pants off the Southern Pines driving community. Well, you did ask about Carla's history . . . . Best Regards, Carol Rivoire PS - No, Carla was never owned by Deb Stevens. Yes, Carla and Anne did clinics with Holly & Muffy, and they told Anne that she had possibly the "best driving pony in New England". Subject: Looking for Carla's history > > This message is from: "Joanna Crell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Hi, > Carol,Dave McWethy and or anyone else, my friend Brammie just bought > Carla, a lovely little mare. I went to meet her and help Brammie adjust her > harness,from Tyrza'a measurements. Is it possible that this is the same > Carla that was from NH and went to Pony farm Clinics with Holly Pulsifer and > Muffy Seaton? And I thought was owned by Deb Stevens? I hope so, that was > the nicest horse and very smart. I drove Signe Mae, the sweet, and > remember having a lot of fun despite all the rain. Any way, I just wanted to > ask that, and her age out of curiosity. I know my friend will have a > wonderful time with this Carla , she was terrific when we took her out. My > own fjords are well and raring to go out more themselves. Wish I had some > clones. of me, not them. although; a herd of fjords is a good thing... > Thanks, > Joanna > http://www.beaverdamfarm.com Beaver Dam Farm Fjords II R.R. 7 Pomquet, Nova Scotia B2G 2L4 Tel:(902) 386-2304 Fax:(902) 386-2149 Carole Rivoire, author of THE FJORDHORSE HANDBOOK, only book in English on the Fjord breed, available from Beaver Dam Farm, $36.95 US includes P&H http://www.beaverdamfarm.com/book.htm
