Gio

Gio is just an amazing stallion in every way! He is sired by the Norwegian born stallion Hermansen, who is approved for breeding in Norway with Kåret and the Netherlands with 40p. 

Gio is approved for breeding in the Netherlands and Belgium and also has approved offspring in these countries. At the evaluation in Belgium in 2016 he was the best stallion of the show and received an honorary medal from Fjord Horse International. Three years later, in 2019, he received another honorary medal from Fjord Horse International for the best stallion in show at the evaluation in the Netherlands, where he earned his lifetime breeding license. He has achieved an AA in his riding test, with an impressive 10 for his canter and several 9s for his trot, temperament, obedience and character. Gio has awards for dressage at studbook level AND he has a jumping award at the studbook level, making him the first Dutch Fjord stallion with both awards! 

Gio has not only proven himself competitive within the breed, he also has an impressive show career in dressage, eventing and jumping!  While jumping in Training Level (3' 3"), he has also worked his way up to be competitive in Third Level dressage!  This huge show success reflects how talented Gio is! Aside from showing and competing, Gio has produced quite a number of offspring in Europe and has proven himself as an outstanding producer.  

Gio came to the USA in winter 2020/2021 and after a rocky journey getting him registered, he began his new live with us in Valley, WA. We have been thrilled by his first foal crops in the US in 2022, producing three quality stud colts that will continue to spread his genetics, as well as three lovely fillies for us. 

In 2022 he attended multiple clinics and competed in Novice Level eventing with Junior rider Abigail Popa. The pair placed 3rd at their first show together at the SSHF Spring HT, 1st at Aspen HT in June, 5th at Rebecca Farm and 5th at Aspen HT in September. A huge highlight was the AEC (American Eventing Championships), which this year was held at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, MT and Gio and Abi had qualified for. The pair had an amazing dressage test, a double clear cross country round, but the energy was out the last day for stadium jumping to make it into the placing. Still, be are beyond proud of this amazing stallion, showing off what Fjords can do and how competitive they can be! 

Watching Gio on the cross country courses and his attitude on the show grounds, made us realize that Gio is so much happier being a show pony than a breeding stallion. Therefore, we have decided that Gio should do what he loves most and continue his prime years representing the Fjord breed at the PNW show circuit. 

We are thrilled to have two lovely fillies from Gio in our program, including a very special yellow dun. We have two more mares in foal to Gio for 2023, which we will be retaining if they happen to be fillies.

We will always be cheering for Gio and wishing him all the best!