1dr Acres Farm

Ole is a stallion that we purchased late in his life. I had watched him presented for evaluation in 2003 and drooled over what I was seeing. When I got the opportunity to purchase him, I was overjoyed. It was 2019 and we were his 7th owner. His mellow willing temperament, nice movement, depth, thickness, bone (9” cannons), angles, height (14.3 hh), and presence (plus the loads of gorgeous hair) was just what we’d been looking for in a stallion! His pedigree is here.

Ole was a complete gentleman among the mares, which you can see in this video post here, and in the picture above, where 26 year old Ole is giving a pony ride in the pasture with his mares, to a girl who had never ridden a horse before. There were mares in heat that day, and he bred one shortly after we released him back to his girls after the pony ride. He never even acknowledged the mares while he had that precious cargo on his back.

Ole in 2019, meeting more mares than he had ever encountered in one place, on our farm. Photo by Cherrie Nolden. This was only the second year in his entire prior life when he was allowed to pasture breed. He lived the rest of his life in a herd here on our farm, being fully a horse.

Photo by Cherrie Nolden.

Ole earned a blue in his evaluation scores and was highly praised by the NFHR Evaluator, Wayne Hipsley, who summarized the qualities of each horse presented. I loved attending evaluations back then due to the honest and detailed comments that were shared with the attendees. We were there to learn what makes a good Fjord, and there’s no better way than to see the different qualities, structures, traits, behaviors, movements, etc in person and have a highly qualified Evaluator point them out to help us train our eye. I attended 6 evaluations in the past, to learn the traits that make a great Fjord.

Cherrie Nolden leading Ole out to the mare herd for breeding in 2021. Photo by Livvy Rene Goddard.

Patricia Holland (Feb 2016) said the following: “Ole has the disposition the Fjord breed’s reputation was built on. Wayne Hipsley made it a point when evaluating Ole to state that his type needed to be preserved. He was/is one great sire…Within the breed standards he was considered draft in type. However when riding him, he was nothing of heavy. Note his shoulder angle and how balanced he is. He really was a wonderful animal.”

Photo from the draft test at the 25th Anniversary NFHR show. This and many more photos can be seen in this post.

Patti Jo Walter (Feb 2016) said this of Ole: “I owned Ole for 12 yrs and it’s been 8 yrs since he has not been here on my farm, and I STILL miss his presence. He always stood proud and gorgeous and was the most submissive horse I ever owned! Patricia is right, he was NOT heavy, and only took a Med/wide saddle. He was not WIDE, but big boned!”

Photo of Ole in 2021, by Cherrie Nolden.

Jean Ernest: “Ole is one of the best Fjord stallions! Great conformation, great temperament, one of the old draft style fjords, which we need to keep in the bloodlines!”

Michele Noonan: “Oles a gem we leased him one year!!”

Lisa Woodward Pedersen: “Anvil’s breeding top and bottom, cant go wrong. My stallion Fair Acres Nels is his 1/2 brother.”

Ole in 2015, by Tammy Rost.

Kathy Monroe: “We had a wonderful foal from him (Terje) when he and we still lived in the Midwest. She benefited from the wonderful temperament and fluid movement of her breeding. Ole is a wonderful guy. Congrats to you and to those will be able to extend the numbers of his offspring.”

Patti Jo Walter: “Nice baby (Kelly Kemper’s Francis)! Ole is a GREAT stallion. I owned him for 12 yrs did all the training and it was FUN! He’s super cool and what a brain on him!! Love that boy! :-)”

Cherrie riding Ole without tack in the bachelor herd in 2021. Photo by Allen Philo. Video can be watched here.

Fjord vaulting on Fair Acres Ole at Corinne Stanton’s Willow’s Edge Farm.

This stallion was truly one of the great ones in the breed!