San Antonio Equine Photographer | Annie the Brown Dunn Fjord

Annie, TUF Annie, is a Brown Dun Fjord. Her sire is Anvil’s Torbjorn, he is a classic style stallion with excellent evaluation scores. She was bred by Nancy and Richard Hotovy of the Upper Forty Farm in Michigan. Annie currently lives at Landsdrop Ranch Fjord Horses in Bandera,TX.

Fjords are very unique horses and are actually not very common in America. In January I shared a blog post for one of Kelly’s other Fjords, Bastian, her white dun stallion. I was very surprised by everyones reaction to his blog, as there were so many people that were surprised by his distinctive Fjord mane. On my 365 Days of Horses Instagram page I even had one person remark how funny it was that all of my American followers were surprised by his mane, as that was a very common breed of horse where they live. It is so great that we are lucky enough to have Landsdrop Ranch and Kelly here in Texas to help grown and expand the Fjord breed.

Annie is a super special girl, she is the horse that first sparked Kelly’s love of the breed. Fjords have several acceptable body types on the spectrum of sporty to drafty. Annie is very much so the draft type. She is a very solid mare, with a broad chest and strong body. She is also at the upper end of the breed standard for height at 14.3 hands, but Kelly would clone her in a heart beat if she could. She is a great all-around horse, and recently has had a lot of formal training.

Kelly first met Annie when she traveled to Michigan to meet her and went out trail riding. Kelly knew instantly that she needed to bring her home. Since Fjords are so uncommon in Texas, she has been an ambassador of the breed for several years at the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo’s “Horse Discovery” exhibit. Each year thousands of children from local schools visit the Horse Discovery Exhibit at the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo and she has met almost every single one of them.

Annie is mostly a trail riding horse, however she has done horse expos, horseback Christmas caroling, and has given countless pony rides to children and given so many riders their first horseback riding experience. Thanks to the Fjord’s great disposition it is safe to say that Annie is a great horse for so many people to experience the breed for the first time with.

Kelly found her online after looking for a horse with a draft horse brain but in a smaller package. Kelly had seen a Fjord at an auction in Waverly, Iowa, and the breed stuck with her from that very moment. Kelly went to Michigan and met her breeder who was reducing the herd down to just personal trail horses, if it wasn’t for this she would have never been on the market.

This sweet girl loves apples. She loves people and especially children. Annie has the biggest heart. Kelly calls her the “small blonde tank.”

Growing up Kelly always wanted hoers but couldn’t because they lived in the suburbs. When Kelly was 25 she finally had a job where she could afford to keep a horse so she moved to the country and bought her first horse! This was in 2000. Over the years Kelly’s list of things she looked for in horses changed, she has become interested in different sports, activities, and now breedings, so she added some new horses. Kelly has now dedicated her horse life to the Fjord breed because there are so few in Texas and she thinks they are “one of the best kept secrets in the horse world.” I can honestly say that after spending a couple of hours with these horses I can totally see myself owning a Fjord horse one day down the road.

When I asked Kelly about her favorite memory about Annie she said, “Every time she takes care of a child who has never been on a horse, particularly family members, she creates a new favorite memory. She’s just lovely.”

Karinda K Equine Photography is a San Antonio equine photographer located in Montgomery, TX. Karinda creates timeless portraits of you with your beloved horses, and other farm animals. Serving locally Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas communities. KEP also serves Wellington and Ocala, Florida, Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, Aiken, South Carolina, Tryon, North Carolina, and Norco and Woodside, California and their surrounding communities.