Sales Policy
At DDungård horses are not just our business but part of the family. As a breeding farm we mostly sell young stock by our stallions and one of our mares. We have invested a lot of resources, time and afford to produce each individual with high quality and capable parents and are raising these foals with the best care possible to unfold their potential.
Our stallions and brood mares are selected on pedigree, movement, performance & disposition. Some of our horses are stronger in one or the other and we try to make good matched between our mares and stallions to improve upon the next generation with each cross. We know our horses, mares and stallions, and usually have a very good idea how the resulting foal is going to turn out based on experience and known dominant traits of the individuals. But each horse/foal is unique and therefore we try to give potential buyers our honest opinion about their traits, ability, potential and personality. As much as our name and reputation goes with the foal, also our vision, thoughts and so a part of "us" goes with each foal.
To train a young foal from the start can be challenging, rewarding and fun! To train it the way you want and build a wonderful relationship of trust and respect right from a very young age, is a dream of many horse owners. While we try to make good matches between our horses and interested parties based on their ability and drive, buying a young Fjord from us means buying a prospect! That means, just because we believe our foal could be an outstanding dressage horse (prospect), it will not automatically win every ribbon without sufficient training and upbringing!
Because of the high quality in our breeding stock, our foals already command a higher price level as soon as they are born. With each passing year, more and more goes into an individual and the prices reflect then quality, training and progress of each horse.
All of our horse are current on vaccination, de-worming and trims when being sold. We enclose any issues we have observed with each horse.
First and foremost, we are producing high quality Norwegian Fjord foals for our own program as future performance horses and breeding stock. Since it doesn't make sense to keep colts out of our own stallions to raise for breeding, we do offer most colts for sale.
We have some crosses each year available for in utero purchases, but most of the time we like to determine first, if we want to keep the produced foal for our program or make it available. We spend a lot of time researching and envisioning future crosses, therefore there is a lot of hope and thought in each individual cross.
In utero foals start at $7,500 and are only available until 8 weeks before the mare's due date. We are happy to keep you in mind for a future placement, if you are expressing interest for the foal within this window. After the foal is born we will assess the value of the foal based on conformation, temperament, gender, color etc.. and price it accordingly. All foals - sold in utero or later, will be registered with our farm prefix "DD". We are happy to discuss names with the future owner, if the foal is not already named. Based on past experiences, the name needs to be mutually agreed upon.
Payments for in utero foals are based of our 1/3-1/3-1/3 payment schedule meaning 1/3 when signing the contract, 1/3 when the foal is born and the balance of 1/3 by the time the foal get's weaned and is ready to go to it's new owner. For foals being sold after they are born, we require a 50% down payment and the balance by the time the are weaned.
When purchasing (in utero) foals, all veterinary cost will be covered by the new owner. General maintenance as far as deworming, vaccination, trims will be covered by us until the foal is weaned. After weaning the buyer has 1 months to make arrangements for transport. After 1 months our normal weanling board rate applies (2023 - $10/night). We can arrange with our vet clinic for interstate travel documents if needed.
All of our foals are 100% purebred Norwegian Fjord Horses. We take great pride in producing crosses with minimal line/in- breeding to preserve the genetic diversity and long term sustainability of this wonderful breed. Our Fjord Horses are registered with the Canadian Livestock Records Corporation (CLRC) through the Canadian Fjord Horse Association (CFHA). We feel that their mission, vision and politics align more with ours, than the US based registry. In accordance with their rules for registration all our foals are microchipped. When a foal is sold, we are sending the CFHA registration papers to the CLRC to get the ownership record updated. The CLRC will send the updated registration papers to the new owner. If a horse is dual registered, we will only update the ownership record with the CLRC/CFHA, but happily forward the NFHR papers to the new owner.
Due to trends that we have seen with respect to the selection and use/misuse of Fjord Stallions, both nationally and internationally, that we do not feel supports quality and genetic diversity within the breed as well as and mixed experience with regard to the ability of individuals to successfully raise stud prospects to maturity and manage mature stallions in a way that represents the breed, his parents, breeders, etc. well, we will sell colts with a gelding requirement in all but the most rare of circumstances. Trends that we have seen include excessive linebreeding/inbreeding, color breeding, breeding forward with stallions that are not of similar or better quality than their sire and crossbreeding. On rare occasions, we will sell a colt as a stud prospect. In order for a colt to be considered for sale as a stud prospect, it first has to be able to meet our criteria that we firmly believe that the breed, as a whole, would benefit from the qualities it has to offer with respect to breed character, conformation, movement or temperament. Furthermore, it has to meet or exceed the qualities of it’s sire and dam as it does not make sense to breed forward with something that isn’t at least as good. Even if all of these conditions are met, we will still nearly always sell Fjord colts with a gelding requirement as we know that raising a stud prospect is a long road that takes a lot of guidance and direction above and beyond that required of a gelding or a filly. It takes a special home and a special set of conditions to raise a stud colt to a point of maturity where it will be able to represent his parents, owner, breeder and ultimately the breed well. There are a variety of reasons why someone might want a stud prospect, but in order to be considered, prospective purchasers must be able to indicate that they have a reasonable plan in place for his development, use and breeding along with the experience and/or guidance needed to be successful. If you are interested and wish to be considered, please contact us so that we can discuss your individual situation and needs.